HALL FINANCIAL MICHIGAN OPEN: Eric Lilleboe of Okemos Wins Second State Title

By Greg Johnson

  ROCHESTER – Eric Lilleboe of Okemos kept the lead through the final three rounds and won the Hall Financial Michigan Open Championship Thursday at Oakland University Golf & Learning Center.

  It was the second time the 36-year-old PGA Tour Americas player won the coveted 107-year-old state title. He also won in 2019 and will have his name inscribed on the James D. Standish Trophy for the second time.

  He did it by shooting a closing 1-over 72 in wind-whipped conditions on the Katke-Cousins course and finished with a 6-under 278 total, four shots clear of the field to earn the $15,000 first-place check.

  “It’s very nice,” he said of winning for the second time and taking the winners’ walk up the final hole with a significant lead. “That course was a bear today, really firm greens, really tough to play in the wind, and I was very happy obviously to be where I was.”

   Tyler Copp of Ann Arbor, a PGA Tour Americas player who led after the first round, made birdie on the par 5 18th hole to end up in second place alone. He shot 73 for 2-under 282. He earned $10,000.

  Six golfers tied at 1-under 283.

  Jeff Cuzzort, the golf services manager at Grosse Ile Golf & Country Club and the 2015 Michigan Open champion, jumped up several spots with a 4-under 68, the low-round of the day, to finish at 283.

  The others included two-time Michigan Open champion Jake Kneen, a graduate assistant coach at Oakland University who shot 74 to close, new professional Nick Krueger of Spring Lake, who shot 74, new professional and former Oakland University golfer Colin Sikkenga of Kalamazoo, who shot 70, Zach Robbins, a mini-tour professional from Grand Rapids, who shot 74, and the low amateur for the championship, Joe Montpas of Flushing, who shot 71.

  Lilleboe’s lead was trimmed to two strokes a few times during the final round, but even after he made a double-bogey to start the back nine, he still managed to have a three-shot lead as the others chasing him had issues with the whipping winds and fast greens, too.

  “After making the double-bogey, I just told myself to keep going because I figured that hole was playing over-par for the day into the wind,” he said. “I was looking (at the leaderboard) more today because you just don’t know if someone’s playing well and is maybe 5-under or something. So yes, I was looking, and I saw a lot of bogeys being made. So, I was hanging on and trying to hit good shots, get on the green in regulation and have putts at it.”

  Lilleboe, who heads for British Columbia and the North America part of the PGA Tour Americas, said it means a lot for him going forward with his 12-year professional touring career.

  “It also means a lot to me to win my state Open,” he said. “I think just about every golf pro in the state feels that way.”

  He said the first-place money will be especially helpful.

   “We really have to stretch our dollar out there and we spend a lot, you know, spend a lot to make a little,” he said. “This is a big check for me.”

SCORES: at michiganpga.com