Crystal Mountain will host the 31st Michigan PGA Women’s Open starting Monday – The Oakland Press

A photo from behind the tee at No. 18 on the Mountain Ridge course at Crystal Mountain during a previous Michigan PGA Women’s Open Championship. The course will be the site of the 2024 Michigan PGA Women’s Open Championship Monday through Wednesday, June 24-26, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Golf Association of Michigan)

THOMPSONVILLE – Crystal Mountain, a family-owned, four-season resort with two golf courses and a commitment to families and women’s golf, will host the 31st Michigan PGA Women’s Open Championship presented by Coca-Cola Monday through Wednesday, June 24-26.

This year will mark the 22nd consecutive year at Crystal Mountain for the championship, and this year will feature a new Senior Championship division and competition for players over 50. Also this year, the Michigan Section PGA will also hold its Michigan Women’s PGA Professional Championship for section professionals in conjunction with the Open.

The Great Lakes Sports Commission partners with Crystal Mountain to sponsor the senior division competition and will host a special reception for all tournament players Monday evening.

“You could say it’s three tournaments in one, but really it’s a response to what the players want from the championship and the willingness of Crystal Mountain and its partner to embrace women’s golf,” said Justin Phillips, tournament director of the Michigan Section PGA, which administers the championship.

As has been the case for several years, the Women’s Open field will include touring professionals from across the country, as well as some international players and top amateur golfers from the state and elsewhere. All competitions take place on the resort’s signature course, Mountain Ridge.

“This championship always has a unique field, maybe a little more unique this year, and it always makes for a great golf tournament,” Phillips said. “This is also our 22nd year in a row at Crystal Mountain. It is a special place and their commitment to women’s golf and hosting such a great event every year has certainly cemented their role as the home of one of the best women’s states in the country.”

The field of 79 golfers will play 54 holes of stroke play through Wednesday to determine a champion.

Crystal Mountain and the Michigan Section PGA welcome spectators free of charge.

Defending champion Valentina Haupt, an LPGA Epson Tour player, will not return to defend her title, but some past champions are in the field. Elaine Crosby of Jackson, a longtime LPGA Tour player and two-time Women’s Open champion (2001, 2002), and three-time champion Suzy Green-Roebuck of Ann Arbor (1994, 1995 and 2016) will compete in the new Senior Division.

Crosby and Green-Roebuck are members of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in the field, as are elite amateurs Joan Garety of Ada and Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll of Haslett, the women’s golf coach at Michigan State University.

Garety will compete in the Senior Division, while Slobodnik-Stoll will compete for the overall Open title. Slobodnik-Stoll encourages many others in the “Spartan Family” to join each year, including her daughter, Olivia Stoll, a standout golfer at Grand Valley State University.

Other notable players in this field include Michigan Section PGA President Stephanie Jennings of Walled Lake, last year’s Michigan Women’s PGA Professional champion, current MSU golfer Shannon Kennedy, who just a week ago won the Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship won at Plum Hollow Country Club, and the runner-up in that championship, Elise Fennell of Caledonia, who will attend Illinois State in the fall.

Recent GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and 2019 Michigan Women’s Amateur champion Elayna Bowser of Dearborn, and Anci Dy of Traverse City, the 2022 Michigan Women’s Amateur champion and member of the University of Indianapolis golf team that won the recent national championship NCAA Division II won , are also in the field.

A number of new professionals from around the country play in the championship open to non-Michigan residents. Most of them recently completed their college careers and are playing in state opens to test the professional waters and prepare for LPGA and Epson Tour qualifying this winter.

The Mountain Ridge course was designed by renowned Michigan architect Bill Newcomb. It features some dramatic elevation changes, natural sandy areas, and holes cut through towering tunnels of trees.