Michigan Golf Journal June 2020

Michigan Golf Journal Sr. PGA Champion get back there, but I guess I can hold onto that title for another year. That’s a positive.” Currently, the PGA Tour Champions are set to resume their schedule in Michigan , at the Ally Challenge presented by McLaren, July 31-Aug. 2 at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc. Tanigawa plans to play, potentially with fan favorites like Kenny Perry, Chris DeMarco, Fred Couples, Rocco Mediate, Tom Kite, Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer and defending champ Jerry Kelly. When Tanigawa beat out former UCLA college teammate, Scott McCarron, last year for the Sr. PGA Championship it made him the fourth consecutive Sr. PGA winner who had also earned Rookie of the Year. “It was fantastic, to be honest,” he said about being in the final grouping with his old friend. “It was a lot of fun. It was a comfortable pairing, obviously. And it was fun to play along Scott and he’s of course a force out on the Champions Tour. To be able to play on that big stage and to come out on top was certainly beyond rewarding.” Unlike McCarron and other famous names on the senior circuit, Tanigawa spent much of his life as an amateur golfer. He did play three events on the PGA Tour soon after college, but then gave up that lifestyle to work for the family business, eventually regaining amateur playing