BY GEORGE EICHORN
Golf fans are having a feast this summer throughout Michigan.
The PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic was hosted by Detroit Golf Club in June for a sixth consecutive year. Cam Davis of Australia become the RMC’s first two-time champion in front of thousands of golf fans in the Palmer Park and University District area. More than $2 million has been raised to assist Detroit agencies in need with more that $9 million given in total since the RMC was started.
The PGA Champions Tour returns to Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club in Grand Blanc for the Ally Challenge, August 23-25, with a purse of $2.2 million up for grabs. Vijay Singh won the 2023 Ally with a score of 202 and 14 under par.
The LPGA made two earlier Michigan stops. Lilia Vu won the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give at Blythefield Country Club in Belmont. The purse was $3 million. The LPGA Dow Championship was staged June 24-27 at Midland Country Club with another $3 million purse. The team of Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand) and Ruoning Yin (China) won.
Oakland Hills Country Club is next in the golf spotlight. It hosts the USGA Junior Amateur Championship, July 22-27, Bloomfield Hills. The scheduled participation by Charlie Woods, the 15-year-old son of Tiger Woods, one of golf’s best ever, will be a great draw here. The field size is 264 of the 3522 entries received by the USGA. A competitor cannot have a Handicap Index exceeding 2.4, and not reached his 19th birthday by July 27, 2024.
The Oakland Hills South Course (opened in 1918) is the championship venue while the North Course (1923) is the stroke-play co-host venue. Donald Ross, the famed architect, designed both course while renovations were by architects Robert Trent Jones (1950), Reese Jones (2006) and Gil Hanse (2021). The South Course is 7,303 yards/par 70 and the North Course is 6,808/par 70. The field size is 264 of the 3522 entries received by the USGA. A competitor cannot have a Handicap Index exceeding 2.4, and not reached his 19th birthday by July 27, 2024.
Plenty of fans and media hope to see the younger Woods participate in front of his father. Although no public announcement of a Tiger Woods visit is confirmed it would be great seeing the elder Woods return to Oakland Hills.
He last participated as a professional at Oakland Hills representing the United States at the 2004 Ryder Cup which the Americans lost in a stunner Europe, 18 ½ to 9 ½ points at the South Course.
Oakland Hills has a slew of major championships in its storied history and more scheduled in the decades ahead.
The 2031 and 2042 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2034 and 2051 U.S. Opens are scheduled here. Four additional USGA amateur championships – including next week’s U.S. Junior Amateur were also awarded to this gem of a golf venue. The clubhouse was destroyed by a fire February 2022 and plans are to have a newly built clubhouse ready well before the 2031 USGA event.
Reach George Eichorn at geichorn@yahoo.com or on X at @Sandgsports99.
