Evan Bowser captures Horton Smith Championship
Evan Bowser was victorious by three at the 2016 Horton Smith Championship
(Detroit Golf Club Photo)
DETROIT, MI (May 7, 2016) - Recent Oakland University graduate Evan Bowser went wire-to-wire and won the Horton Smith Championship by three-strokes at Detroit Golf Club. The Horton Smith Championship was played over the course of three days with 36-holes being played on Thursday and then 18 more on both Friday and Saturday.
Bowser of Dearborn, MI opened up a 36-hole lead on Thursday with rounds of 73-67 to post 140 and lead by one. By leading at the midway point Bowser also captured the Peter Green Award, given each year to the 36-hole tournament leader.
On the weekend Bowser, a three-time first team All-Horizon League player, continued his strong play shooting scores of 74-65 to finish with a 72-hole total of 279. Bowser led by one-stroke heading into Saturday's final round but he was able to pull away during the final round and win by three.
Nick Park finished in second place, Josh Heinze was four off the lead in third while Jimmy Chestnut was fourth and a quartet of players were tied for fifth.
ABOUT THE
Michigan Medal Play
Formerly known as the Horton Smith Invitational, this 72-hole stroke play event, founded in 1964 by Bill Michaels, began as an 18-hole invitational to honor the long-time Detroit Golf Club Head Professional who had a rich playing career (he was the first Masters champion and the last person to defeat Bobby Jones in competition before Jones' retirement in 1930). However, in 2020, Smith's name was removed from the state's most prestigious event due to his staunch support of whites-only membership while serving as PGA president in the 1950s. This coincided with the PGA of America's removal of his name from their annual award given to a PGA member for outstanding contributions to professional education. In 2020, the PGA renamed it as the PGA Professional Development Award. The organization had a whites-only clause from 1934 through 1961.
The invitational is held each spring and has taken place at Detroit Golf Club every year since 1964, the year after Smith died.
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