Saginaw Country Club Hosting GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship
Published on 5/25/2023
SAGINAW – The familiar manicured holes of classic Saginaw Country Club will host the 25th GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship presented by Stifel Investment Services Tuesday and Wednesday.
A field of 72 golfers will compete over 36 holes of stroke play, including most of the state’s top players, and the overall champion will have her name added to the Jeanne L. Myers Trophy.
In addition to the traditional Mid-Amateur Division of golfers over age 25 where the overall champion will be determined, there is a Senior Division for golfers over 50, and golfers ages 19 to 24 have been added to the field for a fifth consecutive year to play for a division title and afford them another GAM playing opportunity.
Saginaw CC is familiar to the field because it has hosted multiple GAM tournaments over the years, including two Michigan Women’s Amateur Championships in recent years (2017, 2021).
The classic lines of the 6,143-yard course date to the first nine holes (front nine) being developed in 1898 by Charles H. Davis, a devotee of the game who purchased a farm and built a course. By 1902 the club had 100 members.
The second nine, which was called the “new course,” formally opened in 1912 and was designed by Tom Bendelow. Bendelow is famous for his design of the Medinah Country Club courses in suburban Chicago, as well as Birmingham Country Club and The Jewel on Mackinac Island.
Saginaw CC’s course was remodeled in the 1960s, and Michigan golf course architect Jerry Matthews remodeled parts of the course again in 1983. The current clubhouse dates to 1969. A landmark bridge over Gratiot Ave. connects the two nines.
Chad Boyce is the head golf professional and Kevin Risch is the superintendent. Learn more at saginawcountryclub.com
Last year at Gull Lake View Golf Club and Resort’s Stoatin Brae course Chelsea Collura of Riverview claimed the championship. She shot a closing 71 to outlast runner-up Laura Bavaird of Trenton. Julie Massa of Holt, the 2013 overall champion, was the Senior Division winner for the second consecutive year. Kyleigh Dull, an Eastern Michigan University golfer from Fremont, Ohio, won the 19-24 title.
Collura and Massa are returning to defend their titles and 11-time champion Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll of Haslett is in the field.