HARBOR SPRINGS – Boyne Highlands Resort’s premier Heather and Moor golf courses will welcome a standout field of 155 golfers Wednesday and Thursday in the 37th GAM Mid-Amateur Championship presented by OmniKinetics.
Boyne Highlands is hosting the championship for Michigan male amateur golfers over age 25 for the 18th consecutive year and 22nd time in the history of the event. The Highlands, also home to the Country Club of Boyne, features four courses that are part of 10 golf courses that can be played at three Boyne Resorts in the northern section of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
The field is split in half this year to take on the Heather and Moor courses for the 36-holes and two days of stroke play competition, and an overall Mid-Am winner and winners in three other age categories will be determined (Mid-Amateur age 25-and-over, Mid-Seniors 45-and-over, Seniors 55-and-over and Super Seniors 65-and-over).
Boyne Highlands has long featured the Heather, a Robert Trent Jones course that has been listed by Golf Digest among America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses and was named the Michigan Golf Course of the Year in 2018 (Michigan Golf Course Association) and the National Golf Course of the Year (National Golf Course Owners Association) in 2019.
The Heather was Boyne’s first golf course, and Jones created a classic that features wide tree-lined fairways, sculpted bunkers and challenging water hazards. The Mid-Am field is very familiar with the Heather. In addition to hosting the Mid-Amateur multiple times, it hosted the 100th Michigan Amateur in 2011 and will host the 109th Michigan Amateur in 2020.
The Moor was the second course built at Boyne Highlands and challenges golfers with numerous doglegs and water hazards. It, too, has a championship pedigree as host of past Mid-Amateurs, the AJGA’s annual visit, the Kircher Cup and Harbor Cup tournaments.
Josh Richter is the director of golf at Boyne Highlands. The head golf professional at The Heather is Dave Trudell, and Jeremy Neer is the superintendent. The head golf professional at The Moor is John Myers and Nick Shaw is the superintendent.
Defending champion Scott Strickland of Bloomfield Hills is in the field and joined by seven other former champions.
The former champions include 2017 champion John Quigley of St. Clair Shores, three-time winner Anthony Sorentino of Shelby Township (2006, ’15, ’16), 2012 champion Erik Schleicher of Boyne City, two-time winner Greg Davies (2003, ’05) of West Bloomfield, three-time winner Russ Cunningham of DeWitt (2001, ’02, ’03), 2000 winner Kevin Vandenberg of Oswego and 1998 winner Randy Lewis of Alma.
A year ago, Strickland finished birdie-birdie to shoot 68 for 136, catch and pass Brad Bastion of Shelby Township and win by one shot. Michael Anderson of Northville bested the Mid-Seniors group with a closing 71 for 142. Jim Lewis of Novi won the Seniors title with a closing 72 for 146 and Tom Rex Jr. of Charlevoix had to go three sudden-death playoff holes to top Mike Fedewa and win the Super Seniors. They were tied at 150.
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