Written By: Greg Johnson
EAST LANSING – The final four at the 115th Michigan Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland at Eagle Eye Golf & Banquet Center features the defending champion Caleb Bond of Williamston, last year’s runner-up PJ Maybank III of Cheboygan, the 2024 Michigan Amateur Champion McCoy Biagioli of White Lake and Logan Price of Grand Blanc.
Who is Logan Price?
He’s a 28-year-old salesman for Ebock Flint, a reinstated amateur and no stranger to the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) or the Michigan Amateur. He has been in the final four before, too. It was in 2020 when he was playing golf at Florida Golf Coast. He lost in the semifinals. Tyler Copp of Ann Arbor beat James Piot of Canton in the finals. They are both professionals these days, which is something he tried, too.
“I had a good run (at the Amateur) at Boyne (The Highlands) in 2020 and then I tried the mini-golf tours and got my butt kicked,” he said after winning two matches Thursday to earn a spot in Friday morning’s semifinals. “So, I got reinstated as an amateur last year after taking about a year-and-a-half off from competition. To be back here in the final four and have this chance again is great. I’m thrilled. I’m always looking for improvement. That’s what golf is, so this means a lot.”
He will meet Bond, the defending champion who most recently was on Michigan State University’s team, in the 8:15 a.m. semifinal. Maybank, a University of Oklahoma golfer will take on Biagioli, another MSU golfer, in the 8 a.m. semifinal.
The winners will advance to the championship match in the afternoon.
Price beat Michigan State golfer Lorenzo Pinili of Rochester Hills, but it took 19 holes, in the morning round of 16. Then he battled 18 holes with Shea Harmeson of Traverse City, a recent Kansas State golfer, and won 1-up.
The match with Harmeson was tied through 15 holes and on No. 16 Logan said he probably hit his best shot of the day.
“I had 165 into the wind and flighted a little 7-iron to between 15 and 20 feet,” he said. “I was able to tap in there when he missed his par putt, and that gave me the lead.”
Clutch pars on 17 and 18 kept him on top and Price said he felt pretty comfortable with the pressure of two long matches.
“I’m exhausted, but I feel pretty comfortable with the pressure,” he said. “I play a lot with young college guys all the time. Part of me didn’t expect to be here, this far into the event, but I’m excited I’m playing Friday in the final four.”
Bond, his next opponent, made it back to the semifinals with a 5 and 3 win over Nick Gunthorpe of East Lansing and a 6 and 5 win over Jack Julian, the Wayne State golfer from South Lyon. Julian went 23 holes in the morning before turning back David Szymanski of East Lansing in the Round of 16, the longest match this week.
Bond jumped to a big lead in the match with Julian, who earlier this summer won the Michigan Publinx Medal Play title.
“I was hitting it pretty well, and then I just started making the putts and it kind of added up quick,” he said. “He didn’t play his best, but I had to try and keep the pedal down.”
He said he’s excited to be in the final four and doesn’t want to think about who he might meet in the final, potentially Maybank, who he beat in the finals last year, or MSU teammate Biagioli.
“It’s exciting to think about it, but I just have to take care of business in the morning and then we’ll see what the afternoon could look like,” he said.
Maybank earned his final four slot by outlasting Robert Burns, an Oakland University golfer and a close friend in 19 holes in the Round of 16, and then topped Joseph Mancinelli, a general contractor from Northville, 3 and 2 in the quarterfinals.
He said it felt great to be back in the final four.
“It’s just a brutal long week and it never gets easier,” he said. “It’s important to remember everyone is playing the same conditions with the heat and wind, so it’s not just you out there. I’ve just kind of been plugging along. It was nice (on Wednesday) when both of my matches finished early, so I haven’t played a bunch of holes like some of the other guys.”
Biagioli has played the fewest holes of any golfer in the final four. He won by convincing margins in the Round of 64 and 32 on Wednesday and did much the same Thursday.
First, he topped Andrew Daily of Brighton, a Wayne State golfer, 4 and 3 in the Round of 16, and then stopped Joe Montpas, the IT Technician from Flushing, 5 and 3 in the quarterfinals.
Montpas was his first match play opponent to take a lead on him when he birdied the first three holes of the match.
“I found myself 2-down, and then I proceeded to birdie the next three to get one up, and from there I just kind of continued to just play smart golf, no bogeys, middle of the green, and found the birdies when they came,” Biagioli said.
He said he has never played in the same pairing with Maybank and is looking forward to the challenge.
“The game plan is the same – to just play smart golf, limit the mistakes and find the birdies when they come to me,” he said.
