Michigan Open Winner, Traverse City Teaching Pro Cameron Ruge, Takes Title by Huge Margin

By Tom Lang and Greg Johnson

    BELLAIRE – Cameron Ruge, an assistant professional at Bay Meadows Family Golf Center in Traverse City and a native of Coldwater who has been self-taught most of his young golf career, hit all 18 greens in regulation, shot 7-under 64 in the fourth and final round on June 11, and won the 109th edition of the state championship by seven shots on the Cedar River Course at Shanty Creek Resort.

    His 64, just one stroke off the course record, gave Ruge a 16-under 268 total for the championship. That record now belongs to former University of Michigan golfer and now mini-tour professional Will Anderson, who in the same final round tied the course-record 63 to finish the Michigan Open in 11th place.

    Ruge’s prior history in the Michigan Open was two missed cuts, but this time he took home the $15,000 first-place check, a Crystal Trophy and he will have his name inscribed on the historic James D. Standish Trophy.

    Others grabbing attention and headlines in this 109th playing of the state’s top golf event included a first-timer, Bentley Coon of Homer, a 16-year-old from Horton, south of Jackson. His prior claim to fame was winning the Drive Chip and Putt at Augusta National at age 11.

    Coon was tied for the lead with Ruge after three rounds, so the teen was in the final group watching Ruge go low.

    “I was pretty nervous to start the day, so once we got through 9, I wasn’t playing great, so just decided to go at pins,” Coon told me. “It turned out pretty good for the back nine, shot 1-under.”

    Coon said his goals coming into his first Michigan Open included winning, but that anything in the top 10 would be great. He did that and more, exceeding his goals with a finish of T6 at 8-under 276.

    “I had 11 wins out of 13 tournaments we played (in the high school season), so, I thought coming into this I thought I could win it, and obviously I didn’t play great the last day, but that’s okay,” Coon said.

    The man who got Coon into golf is his grandfather, Rusty, who also caddied for Bentley all four days at Shanty Creek.

    “It went great,” Bentley said. “The first three days we clicked, and today we had different thoughts but I thought we did a pretty good job together. It’s going to be a great memory; it’s pretty cool.”

   Ruge said while he didn’t look at the leaderboard, he did hear the chatter pass from group to group about multiple eagles being made and golfers carding low scores.

   “I just played like I was tied for the lead the whole day,” he said. “I just said I’m going to keep the ball below the hole, not be too aggressive to some of those flags and keep trying to make birdies.”

   He birdied holes 3, 5 and 9 on the front and had the lead even though he didn’t know it. He added birdies on 10, 13, 16 and rolled a final 10-foot birdie putt in on 18 for the gallery perched on the hill overlooking 18.

   He said a 5-iron approach shot he hit at hole 5 from 216 yards was his best shot of the day.

   “I meant to go to the middle of the green there, but I hit a draw in there and it kept moving over and ended up a foot-and-a-half away from that back left pin,” he said. “I didn’t take that pin on. It worked over and I was like ‘wow.’ It was a big momentum booster.”

   Four golfers tied for second at 9-under, including defending champion Otto Black of Brighton, who closed with a 67, and Joe Juszczyk of Dearborn Heights, the 2023 champion and leader for the first two rounds, who shot 70 in the final round.

   Will Preston, the Penn State University golfer from Grand Rapids, was another at 9-under after shooting a closing 71. He ended up as the low amateur for the tournament.

   And Matt Thompson, the 2017 Michigan Open champion, made the most noise among those who tied for second by climbing 12 spots the final day. He shot a closing 64 to match Ruge, a round including three eagles, one of which was a hole-in-one on hole 17 (7-iron from 185).