GAM Junior Kickoff, Women’s Mid-Am and Men’s Senior Match Play
By Greg Johnson
PJ Maybank III of Cheboygan beat the rest of the boys by 6 shots and Ariel Chang of Macomb Township topped the other girls in the field by 8 shots in the GAM Junior Kickoff Championship at Washtenaw Golf Club.
A field of 153 junior golfers played in the first GAM junior tournament of the season, and champions were also determined in the 15-and-under age groups. Griffin Mawson of Traverse City was the top 15-and-under boy, and Lauren Timpf of Macomb won the 15-and-under girls’ title.
“I had a rough start with a bogey on the first hole, but then I had four birdies in a row on the front nine and that definitely helped the score,” said the 15-year-old Maybank, a past Drive, Chip and Putt champion at Augusta, who shot a two-round 141, choosing to play in the age 16-18 championship group. 
The 17-year-old Chang, who fired a 144 total, said she left a few putts out on the course, but overall felt great about her round. “I’ve won age groups before, but this is the first (GAM) championship and it was a goal,” she said. “I just came out and tried to do my best. I showed up and I’m very pleased.”
Chang still has a year of high school remaining and has verbally committed to the University of Detroit Mercy women’s golf program.
Midland’s Kimberly Dinh birdied the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Ann Arbor’s Ashley Mantha and won the 22nd GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship played at Country Club of Lansing.
The 27-year-old former University of Wisconsin golfer who recently completed her PhD in chemical engineering at MIT reached the par 5 first playoff hole (No. 5) in two shots and almost made a 40-foot eagle putt before tapping in for birdie.
“It feels great to compete and win again,” Dinh said. “I knew it was close, but I wasn’t looking at the scores (online scoreboard). I didn’t want to think about anything but playing my game. I hit three really good shots on the playoff hole and I’ll always take a tap-in birdie.”
Mantha, a 34-year-old high school teacher (at AA Pioneer) and golf coach (at AA Skyline) rallied from three shots off the lead to force the playoff, and just missed an 8-foot downhill birdie putt that would have pushed the match onward. Michigan women’s golf coach Jan Dowling took third place, and MSU coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, a 10-time past champion of the tournament, was fourth.
An emotional Mitch Wilson of Portage won the GAM Senior Match Play Championship for the second time in the last five years. After he turned back Charles “Chip” Anderson of Grand Rapids 2 and 1 in the championship match at Gull Lake View Golf Club and Resort’s Stoatin Brae course, he called it a special trophy, a special week and then dedicated the win to his mother Jeddy Wilson, who passed away two weeks prior.
“She was the one when I was a youngster that would get me over to Grand Prairie Golf Course where I could play golf for 50 cents,” he said. “She is really the one who got me going with playing golf. So, this one is for you mom. Thank you.”
Top 50 High School Tournament
The Top 50 Tour held an event on June 4 at Eagle Crest Golf Club in Ypsilanti with the hope of giving high school players a chance to recreate the high school state finals that never took place in the spring due to Covid-19 canceling the entire MHSAA spring sports season.
Carter Housler of Grand Ledge won the title in a playoff with Ian Smith of Plymouth High. Each shot 1-under par in regulation. Three more players tied for third at even par: Brian Marx of Notre Dame Prep, Colin O’Rourke of Brother Rice and Evan Johnson of Grosse Ile.
Brother Rice won the team portion with combined scores of 304, followed by Detroit Catholic Central at 309 and Plymouth at 318.
