Written By: Greg Johnson
FARMINGTON HILLS – Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll of Haslett said the highlight of her summer, and one of the highlights of her golf career, happened this summer at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship, which was played at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor.
She qualified to compete with the top senior women in the world and then made the 36-hole cut. She also became one of just three golfers who have played in the three women’s major championships that Barton Hills has hosted, including the 1998 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.
And she was interviewed at the championship’s media day, along with her fellow Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Suzy Green-Roebuck, by NBC broadcaster Mike Tirico (Barton Hills member).
“I felt pretty awesome about that entire week,” said Slobodnik-Stoll who is the head women’s golf coach at Michigan State University. “Playing in the Open at Barton Hills and all that came with it was a tremendous experience. I want to qualify again, make the cut and play better on the weekend.”
Her Open experience, as well as making match play in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship and winning the GAM Women’s Senior Championship for the fourth time, powered the 55-year-old Slobodnik-Stoll to the top of the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) Senior Women’s Points List, and she has been named the 2026 GAM Senior Women’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.
Last week, McCoy Biagioli of White Lake was named Men’s Player of the Year, and Bridget Boczar of Canton and Elayna Bowser of Dearborn were named Co-Women’s Players of the Year. Earlier this week, Greg Davies of West Bloomfield was named the Senior Men’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.
Slobodnik-Stoll, who was also the 2023 Senior Women’s Player of the Year, earned 845 points to top the points list.
Julie Massa of Pentwater, a seven-time Senior Women’s Player of the Year, was second with 495 points, and Lori Schlicher of Lewiston, the Senior Women’s Player of the Year in 2024 and ’25, was third with 365 points. Shelly Weiss of Southfield, who had 262 points, and Donna Tepper of Grosse Pointe Park, who had 250 points, rounded out the top five.
Slobodnik-Stoll’s fourth GAM Women’s Senior title was the 24th GAM individual title she has won in her career. It’s the most by any individual golfer in GAM history, and she plans to keep competing for more while balancing coaching the Spartans.
“At this point, I’ve balanced the two for so long, it’s kind of all I know,” she said. “I’m very happy doing what I do, coaching and building one of the top women’s programs in the nation athletically and academically and still finding some time to play some decent golf. I love my team, and I’m still very passionate about coaching. There are times when I wonder what I could do if I had more time to practice my game, but that day isn’t here yet. Right now, it is busy, but it’s also awesome to be a Player of the Year.”
