Exciting as it is to be a club champion, wouldn’t you like a chance to be a champion of champions?
The GAM Tournament of Champions and GAM Tournament of Senior Champions are coming up and if you are a club champion, you are eligible to play in these events! Test your skills against those of all of the other eligible club champions around the state and enjoy a great round of Michigan autumn golf while you’re at it.
The events are also open to anyone who has won a GAM Championship.
Detroit Golf Club, which hosts the PGA Rocket Mortgage Classic next year, is the host for this year’s GAM Tournament of Champions. A tradition in the city for more than 119 years, Detroit Golf Club is a Donald Ross design with all of his signature undulating greens, challenging bunkering and long par 3 holes. Accuracy will be key for TOC participants on the tree-lined fairways of Detroit Golf Club.
The event is open to anyone, male or female, who has won their club championship. Monday, Oct. 8 is the day of the event; the format is 18 holes of stroke play.
Last year’s TOC champion, Dave Praet, had competed in several different GAM events over the years but had never won one. He was club champion at last year’s host club, Indianwood Golf & Country Club, and earned the TOC championship trophy despite carding five bogeys on the day. Fortunately, he also managed seven birdies and an eagle to grab the title.
Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, coach of the MSU Women’s golf team, was the champion of the women’s division and managed the win despite being unfamiliar with the course.
The GAM Senior Tournament of Champions will be Sept. 27 at Travis Pointe Country Club, the same course where LPGA pros played in the LPGA Volvik Championship the past three years. This Ann Arbor gem has hosted several tournaments over the years including the Michigan Amateur, Women’s Michigan Open, and Women’s Western Amateur. The Bill Newcomb design should provide an enjoyable challenge for the participants in this year’s Senior TOC.
Julie Massa and Curt Brown were the winners at last year’s event which was held at Warwick Hills Country Club – home to the new PGA Tour Champions Ally Challenge tournament. Massa had been eligible to play in the event previously but 2017 was the first time the GAM Tournament of Senior Champions did not conflict with anything else on her busy schedule. Her first time competing, she won the women’s division of the championship!
Brown was last year’s club champion at Oak Pointe Country Club and had participated in the Michigan Amateur and other GAM tournaments in the past. But his first win in a GAM tournament came in last year’s GAM Senior Tournament of Club Champions where he shot a 4-under 68 to clinch the trophy.
If you are a club champion, don’t miss out on this great opportunity to have fun competing against your counterparts!
To register for the GAM Tournament of Champions click HERE. <Jayden – for uswe need to activate this link with the click here words> https://gam.org/Docs/2018%20Entry%20Forms%20Sponsor/GAM%20Tournament%20of%20Champions%202018.pdf
Register here: https://gam.org/?Championships&view=GAM&ttid=6&tid=35 for the GAM Senior Tournament of Champions.
Inaugural GAM Tournament of League Champions
This year, the GAM will be hosting its first-ever Tournament of League Champions! For a club to be eligible to participate, it must currently be using the USGA’s Tournament Management software for its league. There will be a lottery selection for the 20 teams that will participate. For more information or to enter your team(s) into the lottery, please contact Kelly Serr at kserr@gam.org no later than September 26th.
