GAM Four Ball and Atlas Trophy Matches
Zach Koerner, Dominic Choma Win GAM Four-Ball Championship
By Greg Johnson
Zach Koerner of Laingsburg shot a course-record 60 on his own ball and his partner Dominic Choma of East Lansing did the smart thing as the duo carded a 12-under 59 in the 12th GAM Four-Ball Championship at Battle Creek Country Club. Koerner was a semifinalist in the Michigan Amateur earlier this summer
“I just stayed out of his way,” Choma said. “He was playing great, so I just tried to keep his mind on the golf, but not too focused so he could have fun.”
Koerner and Choma topped a field of 70 two-golfer teams split into a Morning Wave and Afternoon Wave. They won the Morning Wave by two shots and had the lowest score of the day to win the overall championship. Grand Rapids Christian High School players Cooper Reitsma and Sawyer O’Grady finished second in the Morning Wave with a 61. Dave Kurtz of Clarkston and Michael Hohf of Oxford shot 8-under 63 to win the Afternoon Wave by two shots.
GAM Holds Off Publinx Rally to Win 73rd Atlas Trophy Matches
GAM team member Paul Walcott of Macomb rallied to tie his match and earn a half point that gave the GAM just enough points to fend off a rally by the Michigan Publinx Golf Association at Flint Golf Club.
That half point gave the GAM, which started the day leading 8-4, the critical 12 points it needed to guarantee a tie and the retaining of the Atlas Trophy.
Rick Crandall of Fenton, who recently won the GAM Senior Championship, then won the final match in singles against Scott Jaschuk of the Publinx team, 3 and 1, to add the last point in the GAM’s 13-11 win.
The GAM has won or retained the Atlas Trophy nine consecutive times in the biennial competition and now leads 50-20-3.
The series of matches originated in 1938 as a competition between private club golfers represented by the GAM and public course golfers represented by the MPGA with the trophy honoring Edward Atlas, who then was a GAM Governor and USGA ambassador.
