Written By: Greg Johnson
EAST LANSING – When McCoy Biagioli of White Lake won the 2024 Michigan Amateur Championship he and his caddie had a mantra for the week – all gas and no brakes.
That’s what it looked like for Biagioli on Wednesday in the 2026 Michigan Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland at Eagle Eye Golf & Banquet Center.
The Michigan State University golfer stormed into the prestigious Sweet 16 with a decisive 7 and 5 morning Round of 64 win over Wayne State golfer Grant Ofield of Ada and then topped it with an 8 and 6 win over University of Detroit Mercy golfer Mason Sokolowski of Northville in the afternoon Round of 32.
“It’s awesome to be back in the Sweet 16,” Biagioli said. “Getting knocked out last year in the Round of 32 was a little disappointing. But to be back this year feels great.”
Biagioli shot 30 on the front nine and then won three of the first four holes on the back nine against Ofield. Against Sokolowski, he won holes 5 through 8 and then 10 through 12 on the back nine.
“The first match started a little slow, well, not slow, but I just made a few pars and then I got the ball rolling on (No. 4). I hit a 3-iron to about five feet and made eagle, and then birdies 6, 7 and 8 to go 4-up, and then made another birdie on 10,” he said. “The last two weeks I’ve been figuring it out, starting to play pretty well, so it’s been kind of fun.”
He said he was hitting trap draws with his irons.
“I’ve got the (swing) path a little more neutral now, so I’ve been going at flags and making more birdies,” he said.
Biagioli was joined in the Sweet 16 by defending champion and recent MSU teammate Caleb Bond of Williamston, as well as another Spartan, last year’s stroke play medalist, Lorenzo Pinili of Rochester Hills.
Last year’s runner-up in the championship, PJ Maybank III of Cheboygan and the University of Oklahoma, is also back among the final 16, as is his fellow stroke play medalist from Tuesday, Matthew Novak of Mattawan and the University of Denver.
Of the 16 players remaining, nine played college golf this spring around the country. The oldest player in the group is Chet VandenBerg of Portage, a 37-year-old turf environmental business manager. The youngest is Nicklaus Smith, a 17-year-old Rochester Adams High School student.
Bond and another MSU player, Drew Miller of East Lansing, faced off in a match of local Lansing area standouts in the Round of 32. Bond won 3 and 2.
“It was a good match,” Bond said. “I knew what to expect. I knew it was going to be a long match, maybe a little quieter, you know, playing somebody I know well. I knew it was going to be competitive. Drew is a good player.”
Lansing area golf fans will have a lot to watch in the next four rounds of matches. Three area golfers, Bond, Nick Gunthorpe and David Szymanski are part of the Sweet 16, as are the trio of Spartans, Bond, Pinili and Biagioli. Eagle Eye Director of Operations Luke Thode got involved in the competition on Wednesday. He caddied for Szymanski, who lives adjacent to hole No. 4 on the Eagle Eye course.
