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The Michigan Amateur Players Tour opened its 2027 season on Saturday, October 10th at The Medalist in Marshall, Michigan for a premier amateur golf tournament. A field of 21 players competed across five divisions, with a Mid-Am Net game running alongside the gross flights, in one of the first Michigan amateur golf tournaments on the chapter’s new calendar. Players are flighted into divisions based on their APT Tournament Index, and the entry list stretched from Southeast Michigan and the Metro Detroit suburbs to West Michigan, with players from Ohio and Indiana making the trip as well.
The Medalist, a par 72 in Marshall, has hosted the Epson Tour’s Firekeepers Casino Championship, and it carried plenty of that pedigree into the opener. The par-5 9th was the hole that said the most about the day: it played two full shots over par and did not surrender a single birdie to anyone in the field, which meant the turn was a place to survive rather than a place to make up ground.
In Division 1, Ryan Schoch of Lambertville, Michigan put the best number on the board anywhere on the property. His 14-over 86 was the low round of the day across all five divisions, and it delivered a seven-shot win in the chapter’s deepest flight. Brad Watson of Battle Creek took runner-up honors, with a pair of players bunched together at 94 behind him. Schoch’s margin was the widest-looking of the three seven-stroke wins recorded on the day, if only because he was the one player in the field to break into the 80s by more than a shot or two, and he set the bar that every other division winner was measured against.
Division 2 belonged to Steven Bach of Plymouth, Michigan, who posted an 18-over 90 and won going away by 13 strokes. It was the kind of round that never needed a rescue — Bach built his number early and simply kept adding pars to it while the division’s scoring drifted the other way. Justin Shivak, who made the drive up from Toledo, Ohio, finished in 2nd.
Division 3 produced the second-lowest round of the entire day. Daniel Wiig of Oak Park, Michigan signed for a 16-over 88, a score bettered only by Schoch’s 86, and it gave him a seven-stroke win in a five-player flight. Mike Kendall of Brooklyn, Michigan finished in 2nd, with a pair of players tied at 97 and another at 103 filling in behind them. Wiig’s round was the one that held up best against the golf course over the full 18, and as the Mid-Am Net result would later confirm, he was not finished for the day.
Division 4 went to Brandon Bley of Avilla, Indiana, and the shape of his round told the story. Bley went out in 12-over 48 and came home in 5-over 41, flipping the switch on the inward half for a 17-over 89 and a seven-shot win. The centerpiece of that back nine was a birdie at the par-4 11th — the hardest hole on the course all day, a hole that played more than two shots over par and gave up exactly one birdie to the entire 21-player field. That birdie was his. Bley added a second at the par-4 16th and played his closing three holes in 2 over to close it out. Brayden Powell of Clarkston, Michigan finished in 2nd, and the division spread out behind them from 100 all the way back.
Division 5 was the tightest race on the property. Jack Huminsky of South Haven, Michigan turned in 11-over 47 and matched it with 10-over 46 on the way home, a remarkably even 21-over 93 that was good for a two-shot win — the only margin inside seven strokes in any gross division on the day. Lee Fuller of Olivet, Michigan gave chase but fell short, posting 10-over 46 on the front and 13-over 49 coming in for a 23-over 95. Fuller’s card carried six pars against four bogeys, and the difference between the two rounds came down to the closing six, where Huminsky played the stretch in 5 over to Fuller’s 7. Huminsky’s four pars and his refusal to let either nine get away from him were enough to keep the nameplate in South Haven.
The Mid-Am Net game went to Daniel Wiig, who backed up his Division 3 title with a net 5-over 77 and a seven-stroke win. That was the lowest number recorded in any contest on the day, gross or net, and it made Wiig the only player in the field to take home two titles on Saturday. Caden Bowling of Vicksburg, Michigan finished in 2nd, with the third net card another shot back at 85. For Wiig, it was a complete afternoon’s work — the best round in his gross division by seven and the best net score on the property, both off the same scorecard.
That the chapter’s season opener produced three separate seven-stroke victories and one two-shot finish says something about how The Medalist handled a 21-player field in October. The par-5 9th took its toll on everyone, the par-4 11th yielded one birdie all day, and the players who found a way to put together a clean stretch of pars — Schoch over 18 holes, Bley over his inward nine, Huminsky over both of them — were the ones holding trophies when the cards were signed.
The 2027 season for the Michigan chapter of the Amateur Players Tour is now underway, and the points earned at The Medalist are the first on the board in the Player of the Year race. Divisions are set by APT Tournament Index, so every player in the chapter competes against a field of their own standard, whether they are coming from Grand Rapids, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Oakland County or across the state line. Schoch, Bach, Wiig, Bley and Huminsky all opened their seasons with a win, and the rest of the chapter now has the full season to answer.
