Lauren Timpf of Macomb Earns Top Seed as Medalist at Oakland University
By Greg Johnson
ROCHESTER – Lauren Timpf is thinking her golf game just might be peaking this week at Oakland University Golf & Learning Center.
“It’s exciting,” she said after a 1-under 71 second round on the Katke-Cousins Course gave her a two-day total of 5-under 139 and stroke play medalist honors Tuesday in the 110th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland.
The 19-year-old Purdue University golfer will be the No. 1 seed when the tournament switches to match play Wednesday with the Round of 32.
“I feel like a lot of my putting today was better, which is good,” she said. “I feel like that’s what has been keeping me from playing well, so it’s exciting to putt well and I’m happy about being the number one seed.”
First-round leader Bridget Boczar of Canton and Baylor University shot a 76 for 142 and second place.
Elise Fennell of Kentwood and Central Michigan University had the low round on a windy day with a 68. She was at 143 and in third place.
Grace Slocum of Traverse City and the University of Wisconsin, the recent GAM Women’s Champion, shot 78 for 1-over 145.
Two golfers were next at 146, including Elayna Bowser of Dearborn, the 2019 champion and 2026 GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, who shot 72, and Ashleigh Duflo of Ada and the University of Findlay (Ohio) who shot 75.
Bowser was one of four former champions who made the cut into the 32 golfers for match play. Also making it were defending champion Macie Elzinga of Byron Center and Bowling Green State University, who shot 79 for 155 and a tie for 18th, 2024 Champion Shannon Kennedy of Beverly Hills and Michigan State University, who shot 74 for 150 and a tie for 10th, and 2021 Champion Kim Dinh of Midland, who shot 80 for 155 and a tie for 18th.
Boczar, who shot 66 on Monday, said she hit the ball good in the second round but had a few bad bounces.
“I felt like I hit high-quality shots and just kind of got a little unlucky,” she said. “The wind definitely made it harder for sure, but overall, my game has been good and I’m looking forward to match play.”
Timpf, a two-time Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur Champion, said she loves match play.
“I can be more aggressive, and it doesn’t carry over to the next hole,” she said. “I can make aggressive swings and if they don’t work it doesn’t matter as much as it does in stroke play. I just go to the next hole.”
She said her second-round highlight was a 12-foot sliding putt on No. 13 to save par. She also made a two-putt birdie on No. 18, her ninth hole of the day, and followed that with a birdie on No.1 with a 23-foot birdie putt.
“I got momentum from those birdies,” she said. “I was watching the leaderboard a little bit and started thinking I had a chance to be medalist then. Being the top seed for match play is great.”
Timpf will play in the first match at 8 a.m. against the No. 32 seed, Olivia Griswold of Portage, the GAM Girls’ Champion this spring. She survived a four-golfer playoff for the final three spots at 159.
Winners on Wednesday will advance to the Sweet 16. Round of 16 and quarterfinal matches are on Thursday with the semifinals and final match scheduled for Friday.
