Bond is GAM player of the year

GAM PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Williamston’s Caleb Bond tops the 2025 men’s points list

FARMINGTON HILLS – Caleb Bond of Williamston said he learned in his freshman year at Michigan State University in 2024 that when he played his best golf, he could compete with the best amateur golfers in the country.

Then he proved it in the summer of 2025, winning the Michigan Amateur Championship at historic Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix by defeating University of Oklahoma Cheboygan standout PJ Maybank by 1 in the final match.

That earned him an exemption to the U.S. Amateur from the Olympic Club in San Francisco, where he emerged from a playoff to get into match play and advanced to the round of 16. He lost to eventual runner-up Jackson Herrington of Tennessee, but not before taking him to 20 holes.

These two performances vaulted Bond to the top of the Golf Association of Michigan points list and he has been named the 2025 GAM Men’s Player of the Year, Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services, announced today.

Player of the Year point totals can be found in a drop-down menu on the PLAY tab on GAM.org. Carl’s Golfland is the presenting sponsor of the points lists.

Earlier this week, the GAM announced Elayna Bowser of Dearborn as the Women’s Player of the Year, and in the coming weeks the GAM will announce more Players of the Year across gender and age categories.

Bond, 21 and a senior at Michigan State, called it a great honor to be Player of the Year.

“To be included among all the great players who have shared this honor is a great achievement,” he said. “I’ve always played in GAM tournaments to get great competition and get better at my game, so this is pretty awesome. It was a great summer, winning the Amateur, making a run in the US Amateur and having my family there and my sister (Cara) caddying for me. I learned a lot that I can use in the future.”

He said the week that unfolded for him at Belvedere when he won the Amateur will be something he will never forget.

“To have my name on the (Staghorn) trophy is golf history, and you get so much confidence from having a week like that,” he said. “I played very consistently through match play, and beating a great player like PJ in the final only helped me progress.”

He said his best golf was the second round of stroke play at the US Amateur, which put him in a playoff with 20 golfers for the final 17 spots in match play.

“I shot (68) on the tougher course (Lake Course) and thought I made the field and ended up in that playoff the next morning and had to fight through that,” he said. “I then won two matches and really learned a lot about my game and myself along the way. It was great to compete with the best players in amateur golf.

He said professional golf is the next step, but the details still need to be worked out.

“Becoming a professional has been the goal for a long time,” he says.

Hartmann said he was impressed with Bond in the 2024 Michigan Amateur at The Highlands in Harbor Springs.

“He impressed me with his play then, so I wasn’t surprised he put it all together this year,” he said. “I like the way he approaches the game. He doesn’t get bothered by things, he just keeps shooting. His preparation and his performance in the US Amateur also impressed me.”

Bond collected 1,035 points and topped the GAM Player of the Year points list, well ahead of Justin Sui of Lake Orion, who had 570 points and was the leading winner of the GAM Championship with his record round of 60 at Radrick Farms Golf Club in Ann Arbor.

Lorenzo Pinili of Rochester, and Bond’s MSU teammate, finished third with 410 points. His highlight was a historic course and tournament record of 63 in stroke play at Belvedere in the Michigan Amateur.

Evan Johnson of Grosse Ile with 400 points and Bryce Wheeler of Augusta and Grand Valley State University with 387.5 points rounded out the top five.

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