Koerner, Choma Win Gam Four Ball Championship

Zach Koerner van Laingsburg, Dominic Choma van East Lansing Win Gam Four-Ball Championship

Battle Creek-Zach Koerner van Laingsburg shot a course record 60 on his own ball and his partner Dominic Choma van East Lansing did smart, while the duo did a 12-under 59 in the 12th Gam Four-Ball Championship presented by Boyne Golf at Battle Creek Country Club on Wednesday.

“I just got out of the way,” said Choma. “He played great, so I just tried to keep his mind on the Golf, but not too focused so that he could enjoy.”

Koerner and Choma were at the top of a field of 70 Twee-Golder teams split into a morning wave and afternoon wave. They won the morning wave with two shots and had the lowest score of the day to win the general championship.

Dave Kurtz van Clarkston and Michael Hohf from Oxford Schoten 8-under 63 to win the afternoon wave with two shots.

Koerner, a semi -finalist in the Michigan amateur earlier this summer and graduated
Ferris State University last spring has been in a tear. He said he had shot a 61 at the Creek Club course in Georgia during a recent visit, and last week 65 shot Eagle Eye Golf Club with a Bogey-Bogey finish.

“I played great and the putter has been hot,” he said. “It was my first time I played here ever. I liked it. It was a nice course. It was set up on many holes where you could hit a cut, which I would like to do. And those where I felt that I couldn’t, I could hit iron and it was good.”

De Gam played the course as a par 71 and turned No. 9 into a par 4 instead of a par 5, but Koerner’s 60 is the lowest total that has ever been recorded on the classic Willie Park design from 1922 that the PGA championship had won by wave legend Walter Hagen in 1931.

According to Head Golf Professional Doug Kries, Matt Thompson, a resident of Battle Creek and a former open champion of Michigan, shot 61 in 2023, a 62 shot by Epson Tour player Fernanda Lira in 2021. And prior to that Score, former BCCC PRO RON -RON -LAPARL 63s.

Koerner, who is looking for work after closing an internship this summer, said that Choma is one of the golfers with whom he plays, often at Eagle Eye Golf Club. Choma, 33 and a professional poker player, said he saw Koerner on Birdie Runs earlier, so he was not surprised.

“I know he is a great player and that he is able to do what he did,” he said. “I mean, of course, 60, that was quite crazy. And hey, finally had a birdie that brought us to 12 under.”

Grand Rapids Christian High School players Cooper Reitsma and Sawyer O’grady finished second in the morning wave with a 61, and the team of Michael Murphy van Plymouth and Justin Mortensen by Van Buren Township, finished third with a 66.

In the afternoon wave, Kurtz and Hohf saw that 59 was the score to defeat and they started to think it was possible after they were combined for Birdies on seven of their first eight holes in the round.

“We saw that it was there when we started,” said Kurtz. “But on the back we delayed a bit.”

Hohf said it is difficult to maintain a series of birdies.

“It’s a great golf course and we had to come up with some good pargies a few times,” he said. “If you touch it in the right places, you can make birdies, but if you don’t, it can be tough there. We really enjoyed playing it.”

They are both members at Indianwood Golf & Country Club in Lake Orion and play a lot of golf together. Hohf is 40 and a financial adviser, and Kurtz is 37 and an analysis manager.

The team of Eric Ruthkoski and Tyler Hering van Muskegon shot 65 to finish second in the afternoon wave. Two teams shot 66, including the duo of Andrew Stevens from Wixom and Leo Stassinopoulos by Bloomfield Hills, and the team of Andrew Dobbins by Albion and Tyler Shore by Battle Creek.

Results: gam.org or on golf genia

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