GAM Player of the Year: Spring Lake’s Nick Krueger
By Greg Johnson
Just prior to winning the 2022 Michigan Amateur Championship, Spring Lake’s Nick Krueger had decided he wanted to play professional golf after his collegiate career at Grand Valley State University.
“Then playing the way I did and winning helped get rid of any doubts and the questions like should I try this,” he said. “The list of names on that trophy includes so many golfers who had pretty successful professional careers. That reinforced for me that I was headed in the right direction and it is something I want to pursue.”
The 21-year-old future professional who is currently a junior at GVSU with plans to maintain his amateur status through his senior year, has been named the 2022 GAM Men’s Player of the Year.
Winning the Michigan Amateur by topping Patrick Deardorff of Clarkston and Eastern Michigan University in 19 holes in the championship match at Hawk Hollow, helped Krueger total 644 points for the summer.
August Meekhof of Eastmanville, a Michigan State University, finished second with 625 points. He won the 2022 GAM Championship. Bradley Smithson of Grand Rapids, another MSU golfer, was third with 615 points.
Krueger said having his complete game come together during the Michigan Amateur highlighted his summer.
“I struggled in stroke play as I worked through some things with my swing,” he said. “I felt pretty good about a lot of my game, but I needed ball-striking to come around and for some reason in match play everything clicked at the right moment. I was able to rely on every part of my game. It’s special when you can play golf and not have to worry about a single part of the game.”
Krueger’s father Bill started him in the game before age 10, and golf has become the family game with his mother, Amy, and sister Kayla, also playing at Spring Lake Country Club.
“About the seventh grade or so I decided I wanted to pursue the game, practice and get better,” he said.
“My Dad, Josh (Lathwell, Spring Lake CC) and (college) Coach Bissell have all helped me along the way and made sure I worked on the right things to get better,” he said.
