Konner Kubica of Northville wins medal in stroke play and is top seed at Michigan Junior State Am – The Voice

July 9, 2024

Northville native Konner Kubica with the Forrest B. Wright Memorial Medalist Trophy after winning the stroke play medal at the 46th Michigan Junior State Amateur Championship on Monday. (Photo courtesy of Golf Association of Michigan)

BIG RAPIDS – Konner Kubica of Northville, a 16-year-old home-schooled player, made two eagle 3s on par-5 holes to finish at 5-under 67 in the second round and earn the stroke play medal at the 46th Michigan Junior State Amateur Championship on Monday.

Kubica, who is a member of Meadowbrook Country Club with his family, shot 72 in the morning round and then 67 in the afternoon round of the 36-hole one-day stroke play competition. In addition to winning the Forrest B. Wright Trophy as stroke play medalist, he will also be the top seed in the 32-golfer match play tournament starting Tuesday morning.

Kubica, who said he had never played a match play match before, won the medal by two strokes ahead of Cooper Reitsma of Ada, who shot 70 and 71 for 141 strokes.

Michael Houtteman of Glen Arbor was next with 142 after rounds of 70 and 72.

Troy Nguyen of Macomb, last year’s 15 and under division champion, moved into contention for the overall title, shooting 70 and 74 for 144. He was tied with 2022 overall champion Max VanderMolen of Richland, who also shot 70 and 74, and Connor Fox of Lake Orion, who shot 73 and 71. Fox was second in the overall championship last year.

Last year’s overall winner, Will Preston of Grand Rapids, opened with rounds of 73 and 72 for 145, tying Vibhav Alokam of Ypsilanti, who shot 72 and 73.

A weather-related delay of 90 minutes and a four-hole playoff between five golfers for four places ended at nightfall.

Kubica will play Carson Everett of Midland at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Tee times for the round of 32 will continue until 10 a.m. The round of 16 and quarterfinal matches are scheduled for Wednesday and the semifinals and final matches for Thursday.

The under-15s begin with 18 holes of stroke play on Tuesday to determine a pool of eight golfers for match play. They will play matches through Thursday to also determine a champion.

Kubica said the wind sometimes forced him to climb around in the trees.

“But I somehow managed to keep the momentum going and made some nice putts and a couple of birdies when it mattered,” he said. “I’m happy with my game. I hit two par 5s (holes 7 and 9 in two shots) within 10 feet, so it was really nice to see those eagles fall.”

Kubica, whose family lives in Florida half the year, said he has played many games with friends and is looking forward to seeing the format in competition for the first time. He said his game plan will be similar to his plan for stroke play.

“I want to get the tee shots into the fairway, and that would give me the opportunity to make birdies like I did today,” he said. “I’ve always been a pretty good drive and this course is pretty tight. I didn’t hit it particularly well today, but I think it would be my biggest advantage if I could hit more fairways.”

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