Defending champion Hebert happy Michigan PGA is back at Oakland University

 

 

By Gregg Johnson

  ROCHESTER – Defending champion Scott Hebert likes where the 93^rd Michigan PGA Professional Championship presented by Club Car, Mercedes-Benz and OMEGA is being played, and where it falls on the calendar.

Scott Hebert wants to win back to back

  “It’s that time of year where you need a break from work, and I really like the golf courses,” he said.

  Hebert, the head PGA golf professional at Grand Traverse Resort in Acme, heads the field of 140 member club and teaching professionals playing Monday through Wednesday on Oakland University’s golf courses.

   The $42,000 championship will be decided over 54-holes of competition on the celebrated R&S Sharf and Katke-Cousins golf courses for the second consecutive year. The field will split and play a round on each of the two courses Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday’s closing round on the Katke-Cousins course.

   Hebert, a six-time champion, shot a closing 3-under-par 69 to come from behind and win last year’s championship by four shots over Ian Ziska, the head professional at Katke Golf Course at Ferris State University. Hebert also won the 2008 Michigan Pro-Pro Championship at Oakland University with Mick DeKorver of Watermark Country Club in Grand Rapids, and thinks the golf courses fit his game.

  “On both of them, but especially Katke, there are some tough tee shots and normally I fare well on that kind of course,” he said. “The place fits in my wheelhouse, and if the putts fall I should be right there. I’ve had a little time to prepare for this one, and if I do my thing, I like my chances.”

   Hebert is one of nine former champions in the field. He has won six of the last seven PGA titles, interrupted in that stretch only by 2010 champion Ron Beurmann, the head professional at Country Club of Jackson. Beurmann is likely to contend again. Already this summer he has won the Michigan Senior PGA Professional Championship and the Club Car Michigan Senior Open.

   Other former champions in the field are Joe Pollack (2004) of the Greg Norman Collection and Grand Rapids, Brian Cairns (1996, 2000) of Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center in Plymouth, Tom Harding (1997) of the Kendall Golf Academy in Ypsilanti, Barry Redmond (1990, ’92) of the Boyne Golf Academy in Harbor Springs, Jack Seltzer (1988) of Kendall Golf Academy, John Traub (1984) of Detroit and Randy Erskine (1978) of Great Oaks Country Club in Rochester. Cairns is the reigning Michigan PGA Player of the Year.

    An added element to the championship is the race for the nine qualifying spots for the 2014 PGA Professional National Championship. Hebert and Traub, as past winners of the national championship are exempt, but the low nine finishers besides them earn a spot.

  “That national championship is such a wonderful event to be part of, and you can feel it and see the nerves come out in the last round of this one,” Hebert said. “You want to win the Michigan PGA, but there’s pressure to get that chance to go to the national championship, too. It’s really the major championship for PGA professionals like us.”