Tournament Results
Record-Setting Scott Hebert Claims 3rd Michigan PGA Match Play
Scott Hebert of Traverse City Golf & Country Club won the Michigan PGA Match Play Championship for the third time, and in the process set a record for the most major championship wins in Michigan Section PGA history.
The 55-year-old head professional made five birdies in 14 holes and topped Scott Cook of The Mines Golf Club in Ada, 5 and 4, in the championship match at Eagle Eye Golf Club.
It was a record 18th Michigan Section major title for Hebert, breaking a tie at 17 titles with fellow Michigan Golf Hall of Famer Jeff Roth of Boyne Golf Academy. In addition to his three Match Play wins, Hebert counts eight Michigan PGA Professional Championship titles, six Michigan Open Championship titles and a Tournament of Champions win, too.
“I’ve had a decent summer, had a chance at the (Michigan PGA Professional Championship) in Benton Harbor, and I was disappointed that I had to withdraw from the Michigan Open with a work commitment,” said Hebert. “I was playing well then. But hey, it’s nice to finish out the year with one. As you say, it’s been a minute.”
GAM Senior Tournament of Champions
Leo Daigle of Wixom and Lori Schlicher of Lewiston closed out the golf season with wins in the GAM Senior Tournament of Champions presented by BOYNE Golf at Oakhurst Golf & Country Club.
Daigle, the Michigan Publinx Senior Match Play champion earlier this summer and a recent runner-up in the GAM Senior Championship, shot a 1-under 71 to edge a tightly packed top of the leaderboard in the men’s field.
“It was a battle,” he said. “It helped that I’ve played here in the past quite a few times, so I knew what to expect.”
Schlicher, a Garland Lodge & Golf Resort member and the recent Michigan Women’s Senior Amateur champion for the second consecutive year, shot a 74 to pull away and top the senior women’s field.
“I had kind of a rough start on the greens with a few three-putts, and then I kind of got it going,” she said. “I did have three birdies once I got used to the greens, which helped a lot.”
GAM Junior Invitational
Adam Thanaporn of Ann Arbor won his first GAM tournament and Alena Li won for the third time this year in the 12th GAM Junior Invitational Championship, at MSU’s Forest Akers West course.
Thanaporn, 17 and a senior at Ann Arbor Huron High School, shot a final-round 3-under 69 and pulled away from the boys’ field to win by five shots.
Li, 16 and a senior at Okemos High School, shot a 74 in the final round and topped the girls’ field by six shots.
In the 15-and-under age group competitions, Saisha Patil of Okemos topped the girls for the second consecutive year in the season-ending tournament, and Parker Westcott of Manchester won his first GAM title. Patil shot a final 77 and pulled away to win by seven shots, and Westcott shot 74 and won by two shots.
The junior golfers in the field were invited by the GAM based on performances in GAM championships and a variety of other state and national competitions.
GAM Senior/Mid-Am Team Championship
Grant Bruce of Birmingham and Michael Coriasso of Royal Oak made an alternate-shot par on the 4th hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the 15th GAM Senior/Mid-Am Team Finals presented by Shanty Creek Resort at Oakland Hills Country Club.
It was the second time the fellow Detroit Golf Club members teamed up to win the popular championship that started in May with three qualifiers and 139 teams featuring a senior golfer (55-and-over) teamed with a mid-amateur golfer (25-and-over.) The duo also won in 2019.
Eight teams played in the championship finals on the North course at Oakland Hills with Bruce and Coriasso shooting a 1-under 69 and tying with Mitchell Wayne and JJ Modell of Bloomfield Hills in regulation play (nine holes of four-ball or best-ball and nine holes of foursomes or alternate shot).
“We played very well, solid all day,” Bruce said. “We had a couple hiccups, but not much.”
Coriasso said they never really struggled. “I can’t think of a hole where we were really in trouble, and we played the alternate shot well, and that’s what is the decider in these things.”
GAM Team Rides Four-Ball Success to Victory in 52nd Fuller Cup Matches
The Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) team built a 5-1 lead over the Michigan Section PGA team in morning four-ball matches to take control early and eventually won 11.5-6.5 in the 52nd Fuller Cup Matches held at Blythefield Country Club.
Top amateur golfers representing the GAM and top professionals representing the PGA squared off in a Ryder Cup-like format with six four-ball matches and 12 singles matches to determine a winning team. The GAM, which has won six times in the last seven years, still trails in the historic series, 36-14-2. The PGA dominated the matches in the first three decades of play.
The GAM won both sessions, four-ball 5-1, and singles 6.5-5.5.
Michael Coriasso of Royal Oak, Joe Montpas of Flushing, McCoy Biagioli of White Lake and Ferris State University, and Drew Coble of Lake Orion and Grand Valley State University won four-ball points with their partners and also won singles matches to lead the GAM victory.
