ANN ARBOR – Travis Pointe Country Club, host of the LPGA Volvik Championship the last three years, will welcome a field of the top senior men and women golfers in the state for the 8th GAM Senior Tournament of Champions presented by Chemical Bank on Thursday.
It marks the final senior GAM tournament of the year, and features a field of 67 golfers, 49 men and 18 women, who have won their GAM member-club championship or a GAM Senior Championship this year. They will compete to decide a male and female champion over 18 holes of stroke play. The senior men are over age 55 and the senior women over age 50 for the championship.
Built in 1977 by Michigan golf architect, Bill Newcomb, Travis Pointe features six sets of tees to fit golfers of all skill levels. The course can be played from 5,264 yards to a difficult 7,326 yards.
An international field of the world’s top women golfers have thrilled the crowds for the last three years at Travis Pointe. The 2016 LPGA Volvik Championship was won by Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, the 2017 champion was Shanshan Feng of China and the 2018 winner in May was Minjee Lee of Australia.
Travis Pointe had hosted several Golf Association of Michigan championships in recent years, including the Michigan Amateur Championship, as well as several Michigan PGA tournaments and USGA qualifiers.
Previously known as Omega Farms, the private club was constructed in 1976 and opened in 1977. Guy Guarino is the general manager, Mike Areddy the head golf professional and John Seefeldt the golf course superintendent. See travispointe.com for more information.
This is the eighth time a Tournament of Champions has been presented by the GAM for the senior golfers.
As for Thursday’s field, the defending women’s champion, Julie Massa of Holt, is in the field. Curt Brown of Howell is not defending his title in the men’s competition.
Other past champions in the field include Ian Harris of Bloomfield Hills, the 2015 men’s winner, and former women’s winners Donna Benford of Linden (2015) and Barb Schmid of Grand Rapids (2014).
-Greg Johnson, [email protected]
