Richland’s Max VanderMolen Wins 44th Michigan Junior State Amateur

By Greg Johnson

Max VanderMolen has been the youngest – or the first – to do a lot of things in golf. And the 14-year-old from Richland did it again.

He won the 44th Michigan Junior State Amateur at A-Ga-Ming Golf Resort’s Sundance course by fighting off Kewadin’s Josh Lavely, the local favorite who has played that course regularly for most of his life, in a tense 21-hole final match.

VanderMolen became the youngest winner of the championship and the first to win the 15-and-under bracket and then follow it up by winning the overall title the following year. He was 13 when he won the 15-and-under at TPC Michigan a year ago.

“I played up (in age division) because you know, I won last year, and I felt like I had already proved myself,” he said. “So, I was like, let’s give it ago. I knew it was going to be tougher with the state’s top players here. I mean, this means a lot to beat some great players like Josh and be the champion.”

While VanderMolen has many years ahead as an amateur, it can be noted that five former winners of this tournament since 2000 have gone on to play in at least one PGA Tour event – two of them earning Tour cards.

VanderMolen at age 10 was the youngest to ever qualify for the Michigan Junior State Amateur, finished second in the National Drive, Chip and Putt Finals at Augusta National at age 11, and at age 13 was the youngest to ever made the 36-hole cut at the Michigan Open Championship.

A new 15-and-under champion was crowned, too. Leandro Pinili of Rochester Hills, age 15, topped Isaac Scavarda of Kalamazoo 5 and 4 in the title match for the younger division. The sophomore-to-be at Birmingham Brother Rice High closed out his title match win with consecutive birdies.

“I was 3-under in the match,” he said. “I was tired but hitting good shots. This is my first GAM win and first win of the year, so it’s big for me.”