GROSSE ILE – Ever-ready Grosse Ile Golf & Country Club and its historic course will be hosting the 105th GAM Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 17-18, marking the fifth time the historic club has hosted the member state championship.
“It’s always in great shape, tournament ready, Superintendent Todd Probert does a tremendous job,” said Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services for the GAM. “They host a lot of tournaments and qualifiers for us, if not every year, then every other year. The membership there gives back to the game, and they are great friends of the GAM.”
McCoy Biagioli of White Lake and Michigan State University, who earlier this summer won his second Michigan Amateur title and was the 2024 GAM Champion, will lead the field of top association golfers, and attempt to add his name once again to the historic K.T. Keller Trophy.
A field of 84 golfers, largely determined through sectional qualifiers presented in recent weeks across the state, will play 54 holes of stroke play over two days, including two rounds on Monday and a final round Tuesday after a 36-hole cut to the low 30 scorers and ties Monday night.
The club hosted its first GAM Championship in 1930 with William Courtney winning. Michigan Golf Hall of Famer Bud Stevens won at Grosse Ile the next time in hosted in 1962, and in 1975 Mark Henrickson won. The most recent GAM Championship at Grosse Ile was in 1991 and Kevin Collier was the champion.
The club also hosted the 2004 Michigan Amateur Championship, which was won by Jeff Cuzzort, who was a caddie then and is now a professional golfer and the club services manager at the club.
Defending champion Justin Sui of Lake Orion is not eligible for the championship. He turned professional late last year after his record-setting performance in which he shot a GAM Championship and course record 60 in the first round at Radrick Farms Golf Club, added a 64 in the second round and closed with a 70 to win by 12 shots.
Vibhav Alokam of Ypsilanti, a Villanova University golfer who was runner-up in the championship a year ago, is in this year’s field, as are other top finishers and top state players Zach Koerner of Laingsburg, Jack Zubkus of Grand Rapids and Oakland University, Evan Johnson of Grosse Ile, Peter Stassinopoulos of Novi, Michigan Publinx Medal Play Champion Jack Julian of South Lyon and Wayne State University, and Biagioli’s Michigan State teammates Lorenzo Pinili of Rochester, Drew Miller of East Lansing and Julian Menser of South Lyon. Biagioli, Pinili and Koerner played earlier this week in the U.S. Amateur Championship in Pennsylvania, and Biagioli made it to the Round of 64 in match play.
Hartmann said the 6,828-yard Donald Ross-designed course will be adjusted to a par 70 with No. 8 being played as a par 4 instead of a 5.
“The greens are fast and undulating and definitely the biggest challenge at Grosse Ile,” Hartmann said. “You have to control your shots to the right parts of the green and then control the speed of the greens with your putter.”
Grosse Ile G&CC, established in 1919, is located on Grosse Ile Island 25 minutes from downtown Detroit, and rolls over 300 acres featuring undulating greens.
Legends like Arnold Palmer and Michigan’s own Chuck Kocsis have played Grosse Ile in tournament competition. Hall of Famer Glenn Johnson was a longtime member.
Ross designed the club during his heyday, and it took two years of construction in large part because a soil base had to be developed to grow the grass needed for the course. Grosse Ile G&CC was just the third golf course in the United States to have irrigation watered fairways.
Matt McArdle is the head golf professional, and he said the club is looking forward to displaying the property and course to those who don’t get to come out and visit often.
“We take great pride in the condition of the course,” he said. “The greens are a challenge. They are fast, and the rough is long. We are excited to host talented players, and we want them to enjoy the course. Our signature hole is number thirteen, with the flower bed featuring the Grosse Ile CC logo.”
The GAM Championship also has a rich history. It dates to 1919, with two years in which it wasn’t played during World War II. Past winners include Michigan golf legends like James Standish, Chuck Kocsis, Bud Stevens, Glenn Johnson, and Pete Green, and more recently 2021 U.S. Amateur Champion and now professional James Piot, who won the championship twice.
