14th GAM Junior Stroke Play Championship

Max VanderMolen, Lauren Timpf Win Their Second Junior Stroke Play Championships

By Greg Johnson

Max VanderMolen of Richland and Lauren Timpf of Macomb have won their share of trophies as junior golfers and now they are starting to repeat themselves.

VanderMolen, age 14, won a second consecutive boys’ title in the 14th GAM Junior Stroke Play Championship – while Timpf, 15, added a second girls’ title to the one she earned in 2020 at age 13.

VanderMolen’s final-round even-par 71 for 3-under 139 helped him hold off Cooper Reitsema of Ada, who shot 73 for 141. Andrew Chang of Bloomfield Hills tied for third with Adam Thanaporn of Ann Arbor.

Meanwhile Timpf’s closing 69 for 139 was six shots clear of runner-up Lillian O’Grady of Grand Rapids, who shot 145. Grace Slocum of Traverse City and KT Leinwand of Kalamazoo tied for third at 147.

Champions were also crowned in the 12-and-under age groups, who played nine-hole rounds each day. Saisha Patil of Okemos, 11, won the girls’ title for the second consecutive year, and this time it took a 20-foot birdie on the first sudden-death playoff hole to turn back Madison Manning of Dexter. In the boys’ competition Tommy Preston of Grand Rapids, 12, shot 37 for a two-day total of 73 to win.