Local Sports Journal
BLOOMFIELD HILLS – Five players from West Michigan will be in the field Monday in the GAM Tournament of Champions event at Oakland Hills Country Club.
Oakland Hills Country Club has hosted 16 major championships, including six U.S. Opens and is one of Michigan’s national golf treasures.
A field of 144 championship-decorated golfers will get the honor of playing at the storied club Monday in the GAM Tournament of Champions presented by Preferred Data Systems. Any winner of their member club championship or a 2014 GAM championship is eligible to compete in the grand finale of the 2014 championship schedule.
Players with West Michigan ties are Mike Buckner, of Whitehall and Ryan Mouw, of Muskegon, along with a trio of Grand Haven golfers — Scott Wagasky, Kolbey Nelson and Mike Kiss.
There are no area women players entered in the women’s portion of the tournament which will be played on the North Course at Oakland Hills.
Buckner and Mouw will tee off at 10:10 a.m. and Kiss at 11 a.m. on the first hole. Wagasky is scheduled to begin play at 10:20 a.m., and Nelson at 10:40 a.m. from the 10th tee on the South Course.
The field will fittingly feature many of the state’s top golfers, who will compete over 18 holes of stroke play. The men will take on the storied South Course, or “Monster” as Ben Hogan dubbed it after winning the 1951 U.S. Open.
The women will play on the North Course, which has been a regular site of GAM championships including multiple Michigan Amateur Championships (1992, 2012).
Oakland Hills was founded in 1916 and has impacted golf history since opening. Legend Walter Hagen was the club’s first head professional, and Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Hogan are among winners on the South Course, which in addition to being a U.S. Open venue has hosted three PGA Championships and the 35th Ryder Cup in 2004.
Top players registered for the tournament include Randy Lewis of Alma, who won the 1992 Michigan Amateur on the North Course and Tom Werkmeister of Kentwood, the 2009 Michigan Amateur champion who was the runner-up in the 2012 Amateur won by Drew Preston of Ada on the North Course.
Greg Reynolds of Grand Blanc, a former U.S. Senior Amateur winner and multiple winner of the GAM Tournament of Champions, 2013 GAM Player of the Year Brad Bastion of Shelby Township, this summer’s GAM Champion Ryan Johnson of New Boston, Nathan Clark of Charlotte, Greg Davies of West Bloomfield, Scott Strickland of Birmingham and GAM Junior Stroke Play Champion James Piot of Canton are in the men’s field.
Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc, the recent GAM Senior Women’s Champion, defending champion Greer Clausen of Bloomfield Hills, GAM Junior Stroke Play champion Anika Dy of Traverse City and Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll of Haslett, a two-time Michigan Amateur Champion, are notables in the women’s field.
The Tournament of Champions for men has been presented since 1984, and the women have competed since 1993.
