CLIO – Ada’s Joan Garety and Terry Delcamp, now living in Florida and home for a few weeks, teamed up to win the GAM Women’s Four-Ball Senior title for the unprecedented seventh time together.
And Megan Miron of Canada and Paula Badino of Argentina, a Grand Valley State University golf team duo living this summer in Allendale, won the GAM Women’s Four-Ball Open Division Tuesday at Clio Country Club with a sizzling final round of 8-under 64.
The two winning teams of the tournament’s 13th edition will have their names inscribed on the permanent tournament trophy, which is named The Garety/Hiestand Trophy in honor of Garety and fellow Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Mary Jane Hiestand, who now lives in Florida.
“Terry was fantastic yesterday (in the first round), she had four birdies on her own ball and I threw a birdie in there too,” Garety said. “I mean, we were cruising and Terry was rolling. Then today, we had to fight the game and it felt like we were hanging on.”
Delcamp and Garety shot 73 to go with a first-round 69 for 142. They won by a single shot over two teams, Lori Schlicher of Lewiston and Donna Tepper of Grosse Pointe Park, who shot 71 for 143, and Clio Country Club members Paula Ramer and Monica Veit, who followed up a first-round 69 with a 74 for 143. Defending Senior Champions, Barb Schmid of Grand Rapids and Shelly Weiss of Southfield, shot 72 for 144.
“I made a bunch of pars but it never really felt like I was hitting the ball well,” Delcamp said. “We got in trouble on 17 and we were lucky to make a bogey there. Like Joan said, we really were hanging on by our fingernails trying to stay in it, play a decent round and have a chance to win.”
Garety said winning and playing with Delcamp is always enjoyable.
“We play to win, that’s how we are, but we enjoy each other’s company, too,” she said. “It is amazing we have won seven times. We find ways to help each other out.”
In the Open Division, Miron and Badino each made an eagle-3 on two different par 5 holes to power their 64 for a 12-under 132 total. On their heels were Oakland University teammates Lily Bargamian of Grosse Ile and Olivia Hemmila of Troy, who put together a 66 for 133.
Two teams tied at 136, including high school golfers Macie Elzinga of Byron Center and Lauren Davis of Coopersville, who shot a closing 67, and Kendall Payne of Livonia and Rachel Sampson of East Lansing, who shot a final 70.
“Our goal was to play better than we did yesterday, and we did that and had fun,” Badino said. “It’s always fun playing with (Megan) and we both had a lot of good shots.”
Miron made her eagle on the fifth hole set up by a booming drive over the creek, and then dropping a 25-foot eagle putt. Badino made her eagle on the par 5 15th hole by knocking a second-shot hybrid to five feet and making the putt.
“Our games are so different,” Miron said. “We play completely different styles of golf, but what we do and think about between shots is very similar. We both like to be goofy and laugh and we’re both pretty laid back. It made the tournament really fun because we could just be ourselves and it was benefitting us.”
