By Greg Johnson
Bridget Boczar of Canton and Elayna Bowser of Dearborn have been named 2026 Co-GAM Women’s Players of the Year. Boczar, 23 and a senior at Baylor University in Texas, and Bowser, 29, a real-estate agent and former pro, finished the golf season tied atop the GAM Player of the Year points list.
Bowser won the women’s title in the season-ending GAM Tournament of Champions to force the tie and is a Player of the Year for a third consecutive golf season, and Boczar highlighted her season by winning the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship and is a Player of the Year for the first time.
Boczar and Bowser each earned 550 points, just 40 ahead of Grace Slocum of Traverse City and the University of Wisconsin at 510. Kate Brody of Grand Blanc, a teammate of Slocum at Wisconsin, was next with 340 and Lauren Timpf of Macomb and Purdue University with 330 rounded out the top five.
“It’s a great honor to be named the best player in Michigan and it’s an honor to be named along with a great player like Elayna,” Boczar said. “This is a first for me and I’m very happy about it.”
Boczar played for the Baylor golf team this fall and had several top finishes. A transfer player from Oakland University, she is awaiting an answer from the NCAA regarding an extra term of eligibility in the spring. She will graduate with degrees in math and psychology.
Bowser, the 2019 Michigan Women’s Amateur Champion, won her first tournament of the summer, the GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, and the last, the GAM Tournament of Champions. In between, she qualified for U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship for a third consecutive year.
“It’s always interesting to see how I stack up with the college girls,” she said. “Now that I’m 29 and it feels like I’ve been out of college a long time, it’s nice to think I can be out there and compete with them.”
