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.”

Crystal Mountain's Michigan Women's Open still going strong

The Buick Open. The Ford Senior Players Championship. The Bay Mills Open. The Treetops Par-3 Shoot-out.

The tournament scene in Michigan has lost many great events over the past five years, but only a handful have weathered the financial storm.

The Michigan PGA Women's Open is one of them. The 54-hole championship enters its eighth year when 80 top female pros from 14 states tee it up July 12-14 at Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa in Thompsonville to compete for another $40,000 purse.

The field features top amateurs and players from both the Futures and LPGA Tours, including LPGA Tour winners Elaine Crosby and Cindy Figg-Currier, LPGA veteran and recent inductee into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame, Sue Ertl, as well as Laura Kueny, the Big Ten Player of the Year.

Rehmann has pledged its support as the first Green Sponsor of the Open. Wind energy credits will be purchased through Renewable Choice Energy, a longtime partner of Crystal Mountain, to cover the carbon footprint of the Pro-Am. The number of participants, travel distance, transportation, food consumed and energy costs are among the factors included in that calculation. In total, this commitment by Rehmann will prevent the release of approximately 15.45 metric tons of CO2 or the equivalent of planting 450 trees.

“Rehmann is honored to be the first ‘Green’ sponsor of the Michigan PGA Women’s Open,” remarks Steve Kelly, Rehmann Chairman and CEO. “We have been committed to the success of the people and businesses of Michigan for nearly 70 years and are proud to be a part of this prestigious event.”

This latest partnership with Rehmann is consistent with Crystal Mountain’s commitment to environmental stewardship. The resort was among the first members of the Michigan Turfgrass Environmental Stewardship Program and was one of 15 resorts nationwide recognized by Golf Digest for their environmental commitment which most recently included the addition of the Midwest’s only LEED-certified spa. This spring, Crystal Mountain CEO Jim MacInnes was honored as one of 16 Michigan Green Leaders by the Detroit Free Press.

Fouch wins Michigan Women's Open; Buick Open gone for good

This week's "news" isn't really news at all.


But it's still worth blogging about.


Two things that were sure gimmees happened -- Allison Fouch won the Michigan Women's Open and the Buick Open announced it was leaving Michigan for good.


Fouch, an LPGA Tour player from Grand Rapids who is ranked among the top 80 players in the world, birdied the last hole, the par-5 18th on Mountain Ridge, to win the $5,700 first prize at Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville. She finished at 8-under-par, one shot better than Whitehall's Laura Kueny, who led the tournament the whole way.


“That’s the way I prefer to win. I did what I had to do. The adrenaline was flowing pretty good but I tried to stay calm and handle my emotions. Whew! What a nice way to win,” said Fouch, who lost the championship in a playoff in 2003. “Competition like this helps. I haven’t been in game face mode in a while. I never lost my confidence. I stayed patient.”


Even though Fouch was clearly the favorite, she still performed when she had to and is to be commended for her first Michigan Open win in her eighth try. Fouch has earned just over $79,000 on the LPGA Tour this year, including a T-12 finish at the Jamie Farr Classic in Toledo in July. She's arguably the most successful pro golfer from Michigan on any Tour. Former PGA Tour golfers like Tom Gillis, a Lake Orion native who won his first Nationwide Tour event in July, and Doug LaBelle, a Mount Pleasant native with just two top 25s on the Nationwide this year, have never been able to achieve Fouch's lofty world ranking.


As for the Buick Open, its impact on Michigan is profound, financially and psycologically. It is just another blow to Michigan's image. Now we're lumped with golf's ugly stepchildren -- states like Indiana, Wyoming, the Dakotas, etc. -- that don't host the Tour.


Its also a another blow to the Flint area economy, from the non-profits to the local hotels and restaurants that counted on the tournament for cash flow. The Tour has indicated it hasn't given up on Michigan yet, and would like to return, but without the deep pockets of the Big Three, it's highly unlikely. Maybe somebody can convince Compuware or Little Caesars want to switch their corporate dollars from hockey to golf.


The Little Caesars Open has a nice ring to it.

Crystal Mountain's Michigan Women's Open still going strong

From all indications, the 2009 Buick Open will be the 51st, and last one, for golf fans in Michigan.

What a heartbreak.

Earlier this decade, Michigan hosted a full docket of professional events, two from the Champions Tour, one from the LPGA, one from the PGA Tour, and one apiece from the minor-league Canadian and Duramed Futures tours. It has even lost the second-best amateur tournament in the country, with the Western Am. leaving Benton Harbor for the Chicago area last summer after a 30-year run at Point O' Woods.

Just two smaller events are left standing: the Michigan Open and the Michigan Women's Open, both run by the Michigan section of the PGA. The Women's Open, in its seventh year at Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa in Thompsonville, tees off this week with play Aug. 3-5 on the resort's scenic Mountain Ridge course.



With the Buick Open's pending demise, this is now the only tournament in Michigan to entice top pros to visit the Wolverine state. The $40,000 purse has attracted the LPGA Tour’s Cindy Figg-Currier, Cindy Rarick, Sue Ertl, Anne Marie Palli and Allison Fouch, as will a handful of former champions with LPGA Tour experience on their resumes, players like Elaine Crosby and Suzanne Green-Roebuck.



Fouch, a standout from Michigan State, is currently 82nd in the Rolex World Rankings. Between 1985 and 2000 Cindy Rarick recorded four LPGA Tour victories and collected earnings totaling over $2.5 million. A tournament-record 111 players will tee it up, marking the third time in five years the event has broke its own high standards.

The Michigan Open attracts some solid pro talent as well, but its top players -- like past winners Ryan Brehm, who won at Orchard Lake Country Club earlier this year, and 6-time champ Scott Hebert, who won the 2008 national club pro championship -- couldn't even make the cut at this year's Buick Open.

Michigan has too many good courses, players and fans to see such a shortage of high-caliber tournament golf. Unfortunately, the state of the game greatly reflects the state of our economy. Both are on life-support.