Michigan Golf Journal February 2020

Celebrity Golf Lansing native John Smoltz, the Waverly High grad and Cy Young Award winner who played virtually his entire MLB Hall of Fame career with the Atlanta Braves after an “overnight stay” in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system – won the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions Celebrity pro-am division for the second straight year. Combined with the LPGA Tour season opener in Orlando, Fla. (Jan. 16-19) the tournament was made up of 26 LPGA Tour winners from the 2018 and ‘19 seasons, with 49 celebrities in the four-day, 72-hole field. Smoltz finished with +150 points in Modified Stableford scoring. The celebrity portion finished on Sunday evening, but the LPGA did not and went into a Monday morning playoff. After swapping five pars at the par-3 18th hole as daylight waned Sunday night, Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka  returned to the Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club Orlando to determine a winner.  Inbee Park was eliminated on the third playoff hole, but on the seventh try between Lopez and Hataoka, Lopez drained a 25-foot-plus birdie to win the title. “I love competition, but I’d be lying if I told you there were times I didn’t get nervous,” Smoltz said after the win. “There’s a lot of firepower with a lot of younger guys. And last year helped a lot, taught me a lot about my game…Not getting any younger, so I’ve got to maximize the opportunities. This was a lot of fun.” Smoltz was apparently nursing a sore hip. “This was a big week for me. Besides the defending part, I wanted to see how my body was going to hold up walking five days,” he said. “I brought my trainer in. But this is a big hurdle mentally because, when you get tired or you get stiff, you’ve still got to make a good golf swing, and I was able to make enough of them... This is a win for the old guys because I’m in my 50s and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hit it with these guys. It will be fun to know that I’ve won it twice in a row and I’ve got a chance for three, lo and behold.” MGJ Michigan’s John Smoltz Wins Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions Pro-Am Celebrity Division By Tom Lang Diamond Resorts