Michigan PGA Professional Championship starts Monday at Prestwick Village
HIGHLAND – The 101st Michigan PGA Professional Championship is Monday through Wednesday at Prestwick Village Golf Club and will serve as a highlight for the Michigan Section PGA, which this year is celebrating 100 years as part of the PGA of America.
The championship for Michigan PGA Section golf professionals will determine who takes home the first-place check from an estimated $54,000 purse, has their name added to the Gilbert A. Currie Trophy and be awarded a sponsor’s exemption into the PGA Tour’s 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.
The 54-hole championship also serves as the starting point and qualifier on the road to major championship golf with the best players in the world at the PGA Championship of 2023, which will be played in May at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y.
The low nine golfers at the end of the Michigan PGA Professional Championship besides Scott Hebert of Traverse City Golf & Country Club and Jeff Roth of Boyne Golf Academy, who are already exempt, will play in the 2023 PGA Professional National Championship next April at Twin Warriors & Santa Ana Pueblo Golf Clubs in New Mexico. The low 20 finishers from that championship move on to play with the best players in the world at the 105th PGA Championship.
Benny Cook, formerly of Caledonia and the 2020 and 2021 Michigan PGA Professional Champion, is not returning to defend. He is a Florida resident and no longer a Michigan Section member, but this year’s field does include 11 other past champions.
Eight-time Michigan PGA Professional champion Hebert (2006, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’11, ’12, ’14, ’16) and five-time champion Roth (1998, ’99, 2001, ’03, ’19) top the list of former winners in the field.
The others are three-time winner Brian Cairns of Fox Hills Learning Center (1996, 2000, 2013), two-time winner Steve Brady of Oakland Hills Country Club (1993, ’95), two-time winner Barry Redmond of Chelsea (1990, ‘92), John Seltzer of Seltzer Golf School in Grand Rapids (2017), Dan Urban of Gull Lake Country Club (2015), Ron Beurmann of Country Club of Jackson (2010), Tom Harding of Carl’s Golfland (1997), PGA Life Member Jack Seltzer of Flint (1988) and PGA Life Member John Traub of Berkley (1984).
The field will play 54-holes over three days with a cut to the low 60 scorers and ties after Tuesday’s second round.
The championship also includes the second playing of the Michigan PGA Professional Women’s Championship. Caroline Harding, an assistant PGA professional at Meadowbrook Country Club in Northville, won the first Michigan PGA Professional Women’s title a year ago, and she returns to defend.
The Women’s Championship is again being presented over the first two rounds as the women are also eligible to compete in the overall championship. Women professionals have competed for the same honors as the men in the championship for several years from different tee positions.
Prestwick Village is hosting the Michigan PGA Professional Championship for the second time and second consecutive year. The private club, surrounded by a family-focused community hosted the 100th playing of the Michigan Open Championship in 2017 as well as the 97th, 98th and 99th Opens.
“Prestwick Village and its PGA professionals, course superintendent, maintenance staff and the club management and staff have a proven track record for hosting championships,” Justin Phillips, tournament director for the Michigan Section PGA, said. “Our member professionals are very familiar with the club’s great golf course and we know it will be a worthy site for the championship once again.”
Last year, Cook won the historic 100th Michigan PGA Professional Championship by four shots at Prestwick with a 10-under 206 total. Kyle Dobbs, now at Oak Pointe Country Club in Ann Arbor finished second.
The Michigan PGA Professional Championship dates to 1922 and past champions include golf legends Walter Hagen, Al Watrous and Chick Harbert.
The Michigan PGA Professional Championship is presented by Club Car and Cadillac with supporting sponsors Nike, TaylorMade, Titleist/Footjoy, the Golf Channel and the PGA Tour.
See michiganpga.com for more information, live scoring during the tournament and tee times. Gallery is welcome. Parking and admission are free. More information on Prestwick Village GC is available at pvgcc.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Michigan PGA Professional Championship starts Monday at Prestwick Village
