Houtteman wins $10,000 at Boyne's Tournament of Champions

Tournament season in Michigan hit its zenith, as several big events proclaimed winners.

Turns out, Scott Hebert, a six-time Michigan Open champ, isn't the only stud teaching out of the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in Acme.

Lee Houtteman of Traverse City won the Boyne Tournament of Champions on the Alpine course with a birdie on the first playoff hole. The 50-year old teaching professional finished regulation at 5-under par along with Andrew Ruthkoski and Jeff Cuzzort in the 54-hole event at Boyne Mountain Resort.

Houtteman entered the final round tied for third and one shot behind leaders Cuzzort and Korey Mahoney. Mahoney struggled at the finish with bogeys on two of his last 4 holes while Houtteman birdied four of his last seven. Cuzzort birdied the last hole in regulation to earn his spot in the playoff.

All three players laid up on the par-5 18th hole. Houtteman stuck a gap wedge to four inches for an easy tap in birdie, while Cuzzort and Ruthkoski both missed their birdie putts.

“I’ve won pro-ams and chapter events,” Houtteman said after receiving the $10,000 winner’s check. “But this is special. Unbelievable. There are great players in this tournament. Heck, just last week I saw J.R. Roth playing on TV with Hale Irwin at the U.S. Senior Open. I’m thinking I have no chance.”

Mahoney finished with a final round 71 and tied for fourth with Hebert, a former champion.

The Tournament of Champions is a unique 54-hole event that pits men, women, juniors, seniors, professionals and amateurs against each other. They all have won a Michigan major golf tournament. The equalizer for the diverse field are three sets of tees on Boyne Mountain’s Alpine Course. The forward tees play to 5,905 yards and are used by all women and men age 70+. The middle tees measure to 6,562 yards and are played by men 50+ and any junior men with high school eligibility remaining. The back tees are used by all men 49 and under and measure 6,938 yards.

This is the first year Houtteman played from the middle tees. He admits “it helps me on at least 3-holes and is probably good for a couple of strokes per round.”

Not to be overlooked, Christine Meier, a Rochester Hills resident who plays at Michigan State University, won the 95th Michigan Women’s Amateur at Prestwick Village Golf Club by defeating Meagan Bauer, 1 up.

The victory was sweet, considering it came over a current University of Michigan player. “I guess the third time is a charm,” said Meier who was the runner-up last year and was ousted in the semi-finals the year before.

Bauer played near flawless golf on the back nine, but a couple of bogeys on the front hurt her in the long run.

“I played as well as I could have on the back,” said Bauer. “Christine is very consistent, that is what makes her tough to play against. You have to make birdies if you’re going to have a chance at beating her because she is going to make her pars.”

This month, you'll see fewer and fewer events as the high-school kids gear up for fall sports.

Summer in full swing in Michigan

With July 4th having been celebrated, we are in the heat of the summer golf season in Michigan. The next two months will make or break the bottom lines of many area golf clubs. Let's hope the weather holds up for a fine summer.

Here's a few notes to keep up on the Michigan golf scene:

1, Greg Johnson of the Grand Rapids Press beat me to the punch in writing about the new men's golf coaches at Michigan (Chris Witten) and Michigan State University (Casey Lubahn). I'll let him tell the story how these two Grand Rapids high school standouts are good friends but still rivals. See his story here.

2, With the Michigan Open just around the corner, I got a chance to check out The Orchards, the Washington Township course that hosted the 2002 U.S. Publix Championship. This is the first of back-to-back Michigan Opens for the Robert Trenton Jones Jr. course that opened in 1993. The track should be a fine test for the state's top pros July 11-14. When I played the course in June, it was already in tournament shape. The greens roll true. Above is a picture of the pond guarding the 18th green. Orchards head professional Jeff Stalcup will have his hands full, not only helping run the tournament but he'll be playing as well. "I don't have any expectations," he said when asked about his chances of playing well.

3, For players looking for some competitive action, a new event, the Michigan Pro-Am at Shanty Creek, should get the juices flowing.
The Golf Connection's first stateside Destination Pro-Am will be held September 7-11. This premier pro-am event will showcase the beauty and appeal of northern Michigan for professionals and amateurs from the United States and Canada. Entries are now open at www.michiganproam.com
“The Michigan Pro-Am and Shanty Creek Resorts will allow us to provide our attendees with a destination golf experience unlike anything we currently offer in the Caribbean,” says Tom Jaronski, Tournament Director and President of The Golf Connection. “Our September event dates are perfect for U.S. teams from the Sun Belt looking to escape the heat of a long summer, and a great way for Canadian clubs north of the border to extend their tournament season.”
The 54-hole event will be contested over Shanty Creek Resorts’ The Legend, designed by Arnold Palmer, the Tom Weiskopf-designed Cedar River Golf Club, and Schuss Mountain Golf Club.
All players and guests will enjoy the hospitality and northern charm that Shanty Creek Resorts offers including the newly renovated Lakeview Resort and Conference Center at Summit Village, which overlooks Lake Bellaire and northern Michigan’s beautiful landscape.
Tournament packages, which start at $1,749 per person (double occupancy) if booked by August 1, include four-nights lodging, all meals, three tournament rounds plus additional unlimited golf, evening dinner receptions with hosted beer and wine, tournament favors and more! Visit www.michiganproam.com for more details.
“We are very excited to showcase Shanty Creek Resorts to club professionals and amateurs from around the country”, said Chris Hale, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Shanty Creek. “Our location in northern Michigan and the quality of championship golf courses make Shanty Creek a natural fit for the Michigan Pro-Am and to showcase northern Michigan as one of the top golfing destinations in the country.”
With the support of the Michigan PGA Section, golfers in need of a Club Professional will be paired up with an in-state PGA Club Professionals. The Golf Connection LLC welcomes entries from individual players and teams without host professional, providing all amateur players meet the entry requirements outlined on the tournament website.
"We welcome PGA Professionals from Michigan and across the country to enter a team and participate in this exciting event,” said Kevin Helm, Executive Director for the Michigan PGA. “We will also arrange for any of our local Michigan PGA Professionals to play with groups that do not have a host Professional. Our Section Members are proud of what our state has to offer and look forward to the opportunity to host and participate with amateur players coming to experience golf in northern Michigan."

Former Spartan cashes in at Michigan Women's Open, Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass

It's been a great week for women's professional golf in Michigan.

Hopefully these two back-to-back events -- last week's $100,000 Island Resort Championship presented by Delta County Chamber of Commerce in the Upper Penninsula June 24-26, followed by the Michigan PGA Women's Open at Crystal Mountain Resort June 27-29 -- can continue to piggy-back off one another to attract more top players.

Nobody took better advantage of the two tournaments in such close proximity as former Michigan State University star Laura Kueny of Whitehall. The former Big Ten Player of the year shot a final round 69 to win the Michigan PGA Women’s Open, just days after finishing in seventh at the Island Resort Championship.

“It was another win for the Spartans and there’s no other place I’d like to get my first win than Michigan,” she said after completing rounds of 71-71-69 (211) on Crystal Mountain's wonderful Mountain Ridge course.

Kueny was tied with Ashley Tait of Littleton, Colo., and Jean Bartholomew of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., going into the final round. But her “short game came through” while Bartholomew and Tait were slow out of the gate. Bartholomew’s first tee ball shot into the woods resulting in a double bogey.

Kueny's win at the Michigan PGA Women’s Open earned $5,500. She will continue to play on the Futures Tour and enter LPGA Q-school in the Fall. Kueny shot 74-68-73 for a 215 total to earn $2,968 at Sweetgrass.

Tait has also had two good weeks. She won more money for finishing second at the Michigan Open ($4,400) than she did winning the Texas Women’s Open the week prior ($4,300). Maybe more aspiring LPGA Tour players will notice that the Michigan Women's Open is only a notch below a Futures Tour event and remains one of the country's top state-wide events. Unfortunately, only 63 players participated in the Michigan Women's Open, coming from from 11 states and Brazil. Amazingly, there were more amateurs (38) than pros (25) in the field.

As for the Futures Tour event, the first in Michigan since 2005, it was a solid success, especially for its new venue, the Sweetgrass course at Island Resort & Casino in Harris near Escanaba.

Teenager Stephanie Kim earned her first professional victory in wire-to-wire fashion.
The 2011 LPGA and LPGA Futures Tour rookie carded rounds of 67-72-70 to win by two shots at 7-under 209, securing the trophy, a cardbook check for $15,400, and a handmade Native-American blanket. Kim edged runner-up Jane Rah (70) of Torrance, Calif., who finished at 5-under 211, and Hanna Kang (72) of Seoul, South Korea, who finished third at 4-under 212.

“It wasn’t as hard leading the pack as it was hitting the fairway today,” said Kim, 19, of Bayside, N.Y., who hit only nine fairways in regulation in the final round. “I was scraping it around, but making a lot of putts. When my swing fell apart, I guess I just dug deep.”

Tee Times 4 Turf online auction benefits the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation

Looking for affordable golf?

I've got one better. How about affordable golf for a good cause?

There's a great online golf auction program that benefits turfgrass research at Michigan State University through the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation. The auction is called Tee Times 4 Turf and can be found at www.teetimes4turf.com. The online auction runs May 1-15. You will find more than 200 golf packages from all over the state of Michigan at good prices.

All of the money raised will go directly to Michigan State University for turfgrass research to make the game of golf better and more cost effective. And, because the money goes through the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation (a Michigan 501(c)3 foundation specifically raising money for turfgrass research at Michigan State University), there is no overhead or costs taken out. Every penny of your bid price goes directly to research.

Let the bidding begin.

Brehm wins Michigan Women's Am, Pressel visits Carl's Golfland

ST. CLAIR -- It was an all green and white final at the 94th Michigan Women’s Amateur at St. Clair River Country Club. Michigan State University senior Natalie Brehm (Mount Pleasant) defeated incoming freshman Christine Meier, 4&3.

Brehm was the 2009 runner-up and was driven to win this year.

“I was really hoping I wouldn’t end up getting the second-place trophy again,” said Brehm. “It was fun to play against Christine. She played really well and I can tell you from what I saw today we are going to have a great team at MSU this year.”

The only thing that could have made the day more perfect for Brehm was if her brother Ryan could have been in attendance. He was runner-up in the Men’s Amateur in 2006 and won the championship in 2007. That makes the Brehms the first brother-sister tandem to win the state amateur.

“He’s playing in Alabama this week but I talked to him on the phone last night and he said he really wished he could be here,” Brehm said. “It is really cool that we both were amateur champions. I guess its kind of historic.”

Both Brehm and Meier, of Rochester Hills, struggled with putting through the first seven holes of the championship round. Brehm had back-to-back birdies on the par-5 8th hole and par-4 9th and kept pulling steadily ahead after making the turn. Her birdie putt on 15 clinched the match.

“It was great because I didn’t have to play that par 3 on 16 again,” said Brehm. “I really struggled with that hole this morning and it gave me some problems earlier this week. But I felt like I played a lot better overall this afternoon.”

Both semifinal matches went to 18 holes with Brehm defeating Lindsey Lammers (Milan/University of Detroit) and Meier defeating her sister Amy Meier (Ohio State University).

“It was just a battle this morning,” said Brehm. “I didn’t feel like either one of us was playing our best golf and it came down to the last hole.”

Meier said it was fun to play two familiar foes in one day; her sister and her teammate.

“It was just a lot of fun and Natalie is such a sweet girl,” said Meier. “It was a great tournament and it's exciting just to make it to the final. And my coach was on my bag yesterday so feel like I got a little taste of what it's going to be like playing for the Spartans.”

There were may Spartan supporters in the gallery which Meier and Brehm both appreciated.

“It was great to hear ‘Go green! Go white!’,” said Brehm. “So many people from the club and the community came out to watch us and support us. It really means a lot and the atmosphere at the tournament was just wonderful.”

SPECIAL VISIT: Female players around the state should take advantage of Michigan's own Morgan Pressel returning home to host a clinic 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3, at Carl's Golfland in Bloomfield Hills. Pressel, from Grosse Pointe, is fresh off an eighth-place finish at the Ricoh Women's British Open.

Michigan produces top head pros, superintendents

It never ceases to amaze me.

Whenever I go to play golf, I meet someone from Michigan who works in the industry. It just proves how entrenched the game is in the fabric of life here.

Two weeks ago, I hopped off the airplane in Albuquerque, N.M., and headed immediately for the first tee at Isleta Eagle Golf Club, a solid resort course just 15 minutes from the airport. There I met head professional Mike Ciolek.

I found out Ciolek went to college in Michigan and had recently come home to play some golf, teeing it up at Shepherd's Hollow in Clarkston.

It was deja vu for two other trips I've taken in the past year. Last fall at The Broadmoor, the 5-star retreat in Colorado Springs, Colo., head professional Mark Kelbel proudly proclaimed he was Michigan born and raised and loved to get back home whenever he could.

At the luxurious Kiawah Island Golf Resort in S.C. last February, I enjoyed a round of golf with Mike Vegis, the resort's public relations director who went to Michigan State University and still loves his beloved Spartans.

Michigan might not produce PGA Tour-quality players like many other golf-crazy states -- the season is just too short -- but it produces some of the industry's best managers, golf professionals, superintendents and other key behind-the-scene positions. Give thanks to the turfgrass program at MSU and the golf management program at Ferris State University for pumping out these talented folks who are passionate about the game. Many of these people stay in Michigan to work out the 1,000 or so golf facilities here. Still, many more move to warmer climates.

Next time you're traveling to a course far away, don't just zoom in and out without talking to the golf staff. Chances are you'll meet a new friend who grew up or went to school in Michigan. You might have more fun talking about the Wolverines or Spartans or Pistons or Lions than playing the course.