Macie Elzinga set to defend Michigan Women’s Am title at Oakland’s Katke-Cousins  – The Oakland Press

ROCHESTER – Macie Elzinga will be back to defend last year’s state title in the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship.

Only the word back describes her playing status for the state championship as well as the location of a bulging discs issue that has kept her sidelined for the last five weeks.

“I’ve rested the back and I’m three weeks into physical therapy and I am going to play,” she said. “I have not made a full swing since June 10, but I’m going to start practicing on Saturday and I’m definitely anxious to compete again. I don’t see a world where I could live with myself if I didn’t try to defend.”

The Byron Center resident and Bowling Green State University golfer will attempt to repeat as champion Monday through Friday, July 20-24, in the 110th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland on the Katke-Cousins course at Oakland University’s Golf & Learning Center.

She earned her nameplate on the Patti Shook Boice Trophy last summer with a 2 and 1 win over Elayna Bowser of Dearborn in the championship match at Eagle Eye Golf & Banquet Center and made good on the champion’s USGA exemption into the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship by later playing at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.

This year’s winner receives the same exemption, only for the 126th U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, TN, Aug. 4-9.

Elzinga, 20, said her back problems started in March during college practice and competition. By June it had increased and on June 10 while preparing to play in a U.S. Women’s Amateur local qualifier it reached a point that forced her to withdraw.

She had what she described as a successful year in college golf, which included the team having success and her winning an individual collegiate tournament title for the first time. She has also stayed active in the last five weeks, and just this week served as a caddie for a Bowling Green teammate in the Ohio Women’s Amateur.

“Pushing a cart right now,” she said. “I’ve always carried my clubs, but I don’t want to stop the progress I’ve made with the back. My dad (Cris) is going to caddie for me next week. He’ll push a cart. We are going to be careful.”

Elzinga will lead a field of the top players in the state into two days of stroke play Monday and Tuesday to determine a match play bracket of 32 golfers. The round of 32 is Wednesday, the round of 16 and quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday and semifinals and the final match will be on Friday.

Elzinga said she has played well on the Katke-Cousins Course previously and thinks it is a great venue for the championship.

“The golf course is pretty tight and demanding off the tee, so anybody who can put it in the fairway in good positions will have a good chance, but the scoring is done on the greens. If you can do both of those things, hit fairways and manage the challenging greens, then you will be in a pretty good spot.”

Elzinga is one of five past champions in the field. Also playing are 2024 Champion Shannon Kennedy of Beverly Hills, 2022 Champion Anci Dy of Traverse City, 2021 Champion Kimberly Dinh of Midland and Bowser, who addition to being the runner-up a year ago was the 2019 Champion.

Other accomplished players in the field include Bridget Boczar of Canton and Baylor University who was the 2023 and 2024 GAM Women’s Champion, Sophie Stevens of Highland and the University of Florida who was the 2022 GAM Women’s Champion, Chelsea Collura of Wyandotte who was the 2022 GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, Alena Li of Okemos, a two-time Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur Champion, and Lauren Timpf of Macomb and Purdue University, who also is a two-time Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur Champion.

Among the many standout collegiate players in the field are Grace Slocum of Traverse City and the University of Wisconsin, the winner earlier this summer of the 2026 GAM Women’s Championship, Elise Fennell of Kentwood, who was the 2024 runner-up to Kennedy and is playing now at Central Michigan University, Olivia Hemmila, the runner-up in 2023 (to Katie Chipman) who is now at Purdue University and previously played at Oakland University, and Kate Brody of Grand Blanc, the runner-up to her Wisconsin teammate Slocum in the recent GAM Women’s Championship.

Lily Bargamian of Grosse Ile and Logan Bentley of Addison, current Oakland University golfers and their coach on Oakland University women’s team, Heather Fortushniak, are competing in the championship, too.

Katke-Cousins is a traditional tree-lined parkland course with strategic bunkering and a championship pedigree. In addition to hosting last year’s GAM Women’s Championship, the course has hosted several tournaments and qualifiers over the years. It was most recently the site of the Hall Financial Michigan Open Championship for two years and has also hosted the Michigan PGA Professional Championship.

Michigan-based designer Bill Newcomb and Indiana-based architect Robert Beard collaborated on the Katke-Cousins course, which opened in 1977. It plays up to 7,211 yards with multiple tee position options and requires some precise shot-making and short-game skills according to Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services for the GAM.

“It’s a course where you have to control your golf ball and do your best to hit it in the fairway,” he said. “No. 1 is straightforward, but starting right at No. 2 it gets interesting with the tee shot that is required. Accuracy is paramount and the greens and fairways are always firm and fast. There are a lot of tee positions we can use, some great hole positions and some very challenging holes. It will make for a great champion in the end.”