Benton Harbor ― Take a stroll through the clubhouse at historic Point O’ Woods Country Club, specifically down the hallway that connects a conference room to the main dining room, and you’ll be floored to see the historic photographs of the some of the best to ever play here.
Tiger Woods. Phil Mickelson. Ben Crenshaw. Justin Leonard. Chris DiMarco. Curtis Strange. Andy North. Hal Sutton.
Those are just some of the champions of the Western Amateur during its long run at Point O’ Woods, which hosted the tournament annually and continuously from 1971 through 2008, before the Western Golf Association decided it was best to put one of the world’s most prestigious amateur golf showcases on a rotation.
“We were looking to write the next chapter of history of amateur golf at Point O’ Woods,” said Matt Flaherty, the club’s general manager. “It’s part of our fabric. It’s part of our DNA. It’s kind of like a child, and you want to nurture it and you want to watch it grow and you want to make sure it has a nice, strong, healthy life. And I think that’s kind of our relationship with elite amateur golf.
“And we’ve had a little bit of a void for a little while.”
That void is coming to an end this fall.
The inaugural Jim DeLapa Collegiate, a 15-team men’s tournament to be hosted by Central Michigan University, is coming to the club Sept. 28-29. The tournament is contracted to be for four years, giving Point O’ Woods its first marquee annual amateur tournament since the Western Amateur.
The field is still being rounded out, but will include Central Michigan and Michigan, and it marks a homecoming for Chippewas golf coach Kevin Jennings, a Benton Harbor native who caddied at Point O’ Woods, and in the Western Amateur, during the 1980s.
“This used to be known as the home of the Western Am. They also used to call it the ‘Masters’ of the amateur events, because this was the only (big) amateur event that had a home (course),” said Jennings, who was hired in 2021 to be the head coach at Central Michigan, which relaunched men’s golf in 2022, after not having a team since 1985.
“You had the world’s top amateurs. Not the nation’s, but the world’s.”
Asked how excited he is to carry on that tradition at Point O’ Woods, he said, “Humbly, we hope we will.”
The Jim DeLapa Collegiate is named after a longtime and influential Point O’ Woods member and mentor to the Jennings brothers; Kevin’s older brother, JJ, also caddied for the likes of Michael Jordan and Brad Faxon at the club.
It gives southwest Michigan a second marquee fall college showcase, along with the Folds of Honor Collegiate, which also is held in September at American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven and hosted by Michigan State. That tournament is entering its fifth year, and now includes a men’s and women’s tournament.
The Jim DeLapa Collegiate will be a fundraiser for Point O’ Woods’ scholarship fund, which in the last three years has awarded 19 scholarships with a total value of around $80,000. The club wants that to grow, with the help of the new college tournament.
Point O’ Woods used to be the golf mecca in Benton Harbor, until Jack Nicklaus came in and designed swanky Harbor Shores, whose profile has grown, hosting numerous Senior PGA Championships, while Point O’ Woods last hosted the Western Amateur in 2019. But there’s not a competition between the two, Point O’ Woods officials say.
“I think actually they complement each other. When the Senior PGA was in town, a lot of those players played the Western Amateur and so a number of them often came over and would play a round here,” said Maggie Daly, president of Point O’ Woods’ board of directors.
“Quite honestly, it was a great meshing of the two. I never felt it being a competition. The more you bring golf into this year and people see what this beautiful area is like, I think that just helps all of us.”
Point O’ Woods is private, while Harbor Shores is public.
Point O’ Woods, designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1958, is a beautiful, old-school course with tree-lined fairways, tricky greens and immaculately carved bunkers, which have been redone over the last year. Its profile grew thanks to the Western Amateur, which is considered the third-most prestigious men’s amateur tournament in the world, behind the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur. Mickelson won in 1991 and Woods won in 1994.
The Western Amateur, run by the Western Golf Association (which awards the acclaimed Evans Scholarship for caddies), has rotated every year since 2009, returning to Point O’ Woods once.
It’s worth noting, the Women’s Western Amateur is coming to Red Run Golf Club in Royal Oak this year, from July 14-19.
Point O’ Woods is very open and eager to host the men’s Western Amateur again someday, though the focus has shifted ― but not away from amateur golf.
“It’s our responsibility to really create another chapter,” said Flaherty, who had a deal to bring a Notre Dame women’s golf tournament to the club, but that got scrapped amid COVID.
“And the Jim DeLapa Collegiate is going to be our opportunity to do that.”
The tournament will include a practice round on Saturday, Sept. 27, followed by a fundraising round featuring college players and members and guests of the club, with an opening ceremony and skills challenge set for that night. The tournament starts Sunday, Sept. 28, with 36 holes; there will be a tailgate party that day, with TVs showing NFL games and the Ryder Cup. And the tournament concludes Monday, Sept. 29, with a final 18 holes, followed by an awards ceremony. They will award individual and team championships.
Other teams currently set to compete in 2025: Chicago State, Cincinnati, Florida Gulf Coast, Grand Canyon, New Mexico State, Northern Illinois, UNC-Wilmington, Princeton, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco and San Jose State.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
Detroit-area schedule
▶ June 17-21: Michigan Amateur, Belvedere, Charlevoix
▶ June 20-22: Epson Tour, Sweetgrass, Harris
▶ June 21-22: John Shippen Men’s Invitational, Detroit Golf Club
▶ June 23: Rocket Classic Monday qualifier, Fieldstone, Auburn Hills
▶ June 23-25: Michigan Women’s Open, Crystal Mountain, Thompsonville
▶ June 26-29: Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit Golf Club, Detroit
▶ July 7-11: Michigan Women’s Amateur, Eagle Eye, Bath Township
▶ July 14-19: Women’s Western Amateur, Red Run Golf Club, Royal Oak
▶ Aug. 22-24: LIV Golf, The Cardinal, Plymouth
▶ Aug. 22-24. Ally Challenge, Warwick Hills Country Club, Grand Blanc
▶ Sept. 8: Detroit News/Golf Association of Michigan Hole-In-One Contest, Whispering Willows Golf Course, Livonia
▶ Sept. 8-10: Folds of Honor Collegiate, American Dunes, Grand Haven
▶ Sept. 28-29: Jim DeLapa Collegiate, Point O’ Woods, Benton Harbor
