Golfers Will Tee Off At OU For Berth In PGA's National Championship
ROCHESTER (WWJ) - The 93rd Michigan PGA Pro Championship tees off Monday at Oakland University. For the next three-days, 141 players will be vying for a berth in next year's national championship in Wisconsin.
Spokesperson Greg Johnson says Michigan's golf industry is on the rebound--
"Recovering, it's doing better since the recession, but it hasn't recovered fully, but you know the resorts are still humming," said Johnson. "There are still a lot of people playing golf. We still have per capita more golfers than most other states - we have a golf passion in Michigan for some reason - I've never really been able to figure it out with a short season, but, boy we like to fit our golf into four or five months."
Johnson says just because these players aren't teeing off with Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods doesn't mean they aren't good--many of them were top golfers in college.
"And they either decided they were good enough to try professional golf and they did and some of them have actually played out there," he said, "and then there were some who got better as they went through college and they decided they probably weren't good enough to be on the tour and they wanted to get a professional golf management degree so they went to, like, Ferris State and some of them are just outstanding teachers too."
The field is made up of club pros and golf teachers from across Michigan. The field includes eight former champions.
Oakland University is hosting the tournament for the third consecutive year.