Written By: Greg Johnson
FARMINGTON HILLS – McCoy Biagioli felt he had a poor golf season in 2025.
“Being able to bounce back this year has been pretty special,” said the White Lake resident and Michigan State University golfer who won his second Michigan Amateur Championship in 2026 to go with the first from 2024.
“I think just putting in the hard work, working on the things that I needed to work on and then getting on a roll in match play at the Amateur made it happen,” he said. “I also played pretty well at the U.S. Amateur. Getting into match play, being one of 64 out of 312 there, the top amateurs in the world, was an accomplishment I’m building on.”
Those two performances powered Biagioli to the top of the Golf Association of Michigan Points List, and he has been named the 2026 GAM Men’s Player of the Year, Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services, announced today.
Player of the Year point totals can be found on a pull down from the PLAY tab at GAM.org. Carl’s Golfland is the presenting sponsor of the points lists.
Later this week, the GAM will announce the Women’s Player of the Year, and in the next few weeks the GAM will announce more Players of the Year in gender and age categories.
Biagioli, who was also the 2024 GAM Men’s Player of the Year, earned 770 points to top the Player of the Year list. Caleb Bond of Williamston, a former Michigan State teammate and the 2025 GAM Men’s Player of the Year, finished second with 505 points.
P.J. Maybank III of Cheboygan, a University of Oklahoma golfer, was third with 485 and Will Preston of Grand Rapids and Penn State University, who had 420 points, and Jack Julian of South Lyon and Wayne State University, who had 405 points, rounded out the top five.
Biagioli, who transferred to MSU from Ferris State University, carried his stellar summer play over into his fall collegiate season. He had two top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish, in the fall tournaments for the Spartans.
“Continuing to play well this fall was pretty cool,” he said. “It’s been great travelling with the guys. I was able to play more over the winter, and we have good competition right on our team that helped me get better.
Biagioli, who has a year of college eligibility remaining, said he always concentrates a great amount of practice on his short game, but he felt his ball-striking improvement was a key to his good summer.
“I was starting to hook the ball quite a bit, and I’ve been able to work on it and get my ball flight a little flatter and straighter,” he said. “Being Player of the Year again is cool. It shows me I’ve been working on the right things.”
