Give Them Five: The Heather Hosting Michigan Amateur Championship Once Again
By Greg Johnson
The Michigan Amateur Championship returns in June for the fifth time to The Heather course at The Highlands in Harbor Springs, the famed first golf course in the Boyne Resorts 10-course collection in Michigan.
The Heather, credited with launching the resort golf industry in Northern Michigan and designed by legendary golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr., will host the state’s best players for the 113th edition of the championship.
Results of the previous four state championships played at The Heather:
In 1998 Shawn Koch of Howell beat Stephen Polanski of Livonia 2 and 1 in the final match. Koch, who also won the GAM Championship that summer, went on to an award-winning PGA professional teaching career in Georgia. He is currently the director of instruction at The Atlanta Athletic Club.
In 2006 Greg Davies of West Bloomfield beat Ryan Brehm of Mount Pleasant 5 and 4 in the final match. Davies, GAM Senior Champion in 2023, is a member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame. Brehm, the 2007 Amateur champion, has played on the PGA Tour for several years and won the Puerto Rico Open in 2022.
In 2011 Willie Mack III of Flint beat defending champion Joey Garber of Petoskey 4 and 3 in the final match. Mack III, the first African-American winner of the Amateur, played on the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour in 2023, as did Garber, who has also played on the PGA Tour in recent years.
In 2020 Tyler Copp of Ann Arbor beat James Piot of Canton 2 and 1 in the final match. Copp has since turned professional, including finishing fourth in last year’s Michigan Open. Piot, a two-time GAM Champion, went on to win the U.S. Amateur championship in 2021 and in 2022-23 played on the LIV tour.
“It seems like the best players from our tournaments on The Hearther have all gone on to do something more at another level,” said Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services for the Golf Association of Michigan. “I think it shows that over the week of a championship with the best players, the Heather proves who has the all-around game.”
