Harbor Springs, – Two beautiful days of Northern Michigan weather and great course conditions gave way to some low scores at the Adidas State Pro Am at The Highlands on Monday and Tuesday.
The team of professional Jim Deiters from Midland Country Club and his amateur partner Matt Zerbel followed up a first round of 65 on The Heather with a -10 under par round of 62 Tuesday on The Hills Course to pick up their first Adidas State Pro Am victory.
Jim and Matt were 2 shots back of the leaders heading into the final round but got things started quickly with a birdie on hole #2 and an eagle at the par five #3, which turned out to be the only eagle of the day on this hole. They followed that up with birdies on holes #4, #7 and #8 to shoot 30 on the front. It was close on the back nine but they birdied #17 and #18 to secure the win.
This win marks the end of a streak for professional Chad Kurmel and the Michigan State Spartan Golf Team. Chad, the current Assistant Coach at MSU was seeking an unprecedented 4th straight victory at this event. Chad won in 2020 and 2021 with Dan Ellis, who was the Assistant Coach of MSU at the time and then last year with August Meekhof, a member of the MSU team.
Chad and August were tied for the lead heading into the final day after shooting 63 on The Heather Monday. They fell just short however after shooting 66 on the Hills Tuesday to finish in second place and two shots back of Jim and Matt.
Finishing in third place, just three shots back was the team of Jack Seltzer from the Seltzer Golf School and his amateur partner Dave Wilson. Jack won this event three times in a row as well in 1976, 1977 and 1978 with amateur Pete Eddy.
The team of professional Tim Pearce from Birmingham Country Club and his amateur partner Matt McDermott made a great charge shooting an unbelievable 28 on the front nine making eight birdies in a row. They cooled off on the back however and finished alone in 4th place, 4 shots back.
We would like to thank The Highlands for hosting and putting on such a great event as they always do. The golf courses were in great shape despite the unseasonable warm and dry conditions leading up to the event.
We would also like to thank our title sponsor Adidas. Adidas has been the sponsor of this event since 2018. They had the Adidas Mobile Pro Shop set up for all the players to pick out their tee gifts and the new Michigan sales rep Austin McNeil was onsite to meet everyone as he gets started in his new position with Adidas.
For compete scores click below:
https://mipga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/mipga23/event/mipga2317/contest/4/leaderboard.htm