Shea Harmeson causes a surprise in match play and makes it to the “Sweet 16” at Michigan AM – The Voice
Shea Harmeson defeated stroke play medalist and No. 1 seed Scott Strickland of Bloomfield Hills 2-0 in the afternoon round of 32 to reach the Sweet 16 of the 113th Michigan Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland on the Heather course at The Highlands at Harbor Springs on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of the Golf Association of Michigan.)
HARBOR SPRINGS – Shea Harmeson of Traverse City, a golfer at Saginaw Valley State University, edged out the No. 1 seed to earn the prestigious Sweet 16 at the 113th Michigan Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland on Wednesday at the Heather Course at Highlands at Harbor Springs.
Harmeson, who was selected to the All-GLIAC second team for the SVSU golf team, defeated stroke play medalist and No. 1 seed Scott Strickland of Bloomfield Hills 2-0 in the afternoon round of 32. He defeated Jeffrey Andrus of Clawson 3-1 in the morning round of 64.
He made it to the “Sweet 16” in his second appearance at the Michigan Amateurs. In his first appearance a year ago, he missed out on a place in match play.
“I mean, after last year’s success, I just wanted to make the cut this year,” he said. “And once you do that, you just try to go as far as you can.”
Strickland, a 41-year-old senior vice president at Morgan Stanley, said there was a back-and-forth between him and Harmeson that took a turn at No. 17.
“I hit a bad shot and he hit an unbelievable shot out of the fairway bunker on 17,” he said. “I mean, he’s a very good player. He’s got a great golf game and we had a lot of fun. I think we both played well and would have beaten a lot of other guys out there this afternoon. I hope he keeps it up.”
Harmeson, who won the Ferris State University Invitational during his college season, was excited when he realized he would face Strickland that afternoon.
“I knew it was definitely not going to be easy and it was a fun back-and-forth,” he said. “It’s exciting to get through. It’s always good to beat someone who’s ranked higher than you.”
Harmeson will face another Traverse City-area golfer in the Sweet 16 on Thursday morning: Brian Hasse, a 40-year-old caddy from Interlochen who spends the winter in Jupiter, Florida.
As usual, the Sweet 16 included a cross-section of amateur golfers of various ages, including eight college golfers, two high school players, a business owner, a salesman, a realtor and others.
The oldest golfer in the Sweet 16 is 52-year-old Jeff Champine of Rochester Hills, owner of Unicas Air, and the youngest is 15-year-old JP Levan, a golfer at East Grand Rapids High School.
Levan is making his first appearance in the Michigan Amateur after being named as an alternate for his qualifying tournament. He sank an 18-foot par putt on the 18th hole to advance to the round of 32 over East Lansing’s David Szymanski, who took a 1-0 lead. He beat Chelsea’s Andrew Tindall 3 and 1 in the morning round of 64.
“I’m pretty proud and just happy to be here,” Levan said. “I made some good putts and hit a lot of good shots. It’s fun out there.”
Champine is in the Sweet 16 for the fourth time after defeating Michael Fenech of Macomb by 1-up in the round of 32 and Scott Oudsema of Ann Arbor by 1-up in the round of 64.
“How about 52 years of that?” he said. “It was fun out there. The furthest I’ve ever gotten is the quarterfinals. I’m going to try and see how far I can go again.”
“Sweet 16” bracket
Chuck Kocsis mount (top)
Shea Harmeson, 19, Traverse City, golfer at Saginaw Valley State University
Bryan Haase, 40, Interlochen, caddie
Jimmy Dales, 23, Northville, golfer at the University of Wyoming
Drew Coble, 23, Lake Orion, golfer at Grand Valley State University
Adam Burghardt, 21, Clinton Township, golfer at Wayne State University
Nicholas Hodge, 46, Kalkaska, freight account manager
Drew Miller, 18, East Lansing, freshman at Michigan State University
Jack Zubkus, 20, Ada, golfer at Penn State University
Glenn Johnson (below)
McCoy Biagioli, 18, White Lake, golfer at Ferris State University
Caleb Bond, 20, Williamston, golfer at Michigan State University
Evan Johnson, 22, Grosse Ile, golfer at Northwood University
Thomas Sullivan, 22, Grosse Pointe, recent MSU graduate in finance
Jeff Champine, 52, Rochester Hills, owner of Unicus Air
Chet VandenBerg, 35, Portage, agricultural sales
Matt Zerbel, 29, Saint Joseph, fruit and vegetable seller
JP Levan, 15, Grand Rapids, golfer at East Grand Rapids High School
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