Rick Alessi Wins 2001 Michigan Open (Ypsilanti, MI

15 July 2001 - Ypsilanti, MI - The inaugural Michigan Open held in Ypsilanti, MI was an exciting one. Rick Alessi can from 5 shots down to win his first tournament in 2001. This tournament was GLT 6 round event held at the Ypsilanti course. Since the event was a 6 rounder after the first 3 rounds the pairing were redone in order to put the leaders in the last group. After 3 rounds Jim Cruse and Kevin Lacey were leading the tournament with a score of 82, 26-under par. Jim Cruse set the tone for the day by starting out the tournament with an opening round 26 go for a one shot lead over Kevin Lacey, Todd Viau and Mike O'Rourke. After the second round Jim still led the tournament, but had extended his lead to two shots over Mike Conklin who was in at 55, 17-under par. Once the third round was completed Jim was in a dead heat with Kevin Lacey and the two outstanding putters would be paired together for the last three rounds.

The second three rounds produced some interesting scores and saw the leader board change several times as the scores came in to be posted. With one round to go Rick was in with a score of 139 and that was good enough for a one shot lead over Jim Heikkinen and a two shot lead over Gene Reams.

The final round Rick was able to maintain his lead and won the tournament by 2 shots. There was a two-way tie for second with Gene Reams and Jim Heikkinen who finished with a final score of 167. Finishing in forth place was Paul Johns and in fifth place was Kevin Lacey.

The tournament was a six round event and was the first of its kind on the GLT. We had a field of 29 pros and 11 amateurs. The weather was great along with the putting.

In the amateur division, former national champion Jeff Brown fired rounds of 29, 34, 31, 25, 27 and 29 for a final score of 175. Jeff won by two strokes over Brandon Yee.

The Great Lakes Tour next tour stop will be July 28 and 29 in Columbus, OH at the Refugee Road course. We will be playing course 1 on Saturday and course 2 on Sunday.

		Round							Prize
	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Money	Points	Spot
1	Rick Alessi	28	29	30	26	26	26	165	$ 300.00	150	Medal
2	Gene Reams	29	27	28	29	28	26	167	$ 225.00	120.5	Medal
3	Jim Heikkinen	32	28	27	26	27	27	167	$ 225.00	120.5
4	Paul Johns	32	32	26	25	28	25	168	$ 175.00	105	Medal
5	Kevin Lacey	27	29	26	30	28	29	169	$ 155.00	98
6	Mike Conklin	29	26	33	26	28	28	170	$ 135.00	90	Medal
7	Jim Cruse	26	27	29	31	32	28	173	$ 115.00	79	Match
8	Todd Viau	27	32	27	28	31	28	173	$ 115.00	79
9	Paul Pastilong	32	28	28	27	28	32	175	$ 100.00	69
10	John Tuite	29	31	29	28	28	31	176	$ 90.00	63
11	Mike O'Rourke	27	32	27	26	32	33	177	$ 80.00	52.67
12	Tom Gross	30	32	27	29	26	33	177	$ 80.00	52.67
13	Dave Nutini	32	29	30	29	29	28	177	$ 80.00	52.67
14	Bill Baus	34	30	26	30	28	30	178		44
15	Bill Thompson	34	31	30	28	27	29	179		39
16	Ken Hastings	29	31	32	30	28	30	180		35
17	Mark Hasty	31	32	28	28	32	30	181		30
18	John Darst	30	29	29	31	31	32	182		27
19	John Bambling	30	29	32	27	33	33	184		21
20	Jim Engel	32	33	29	29	29	32	184		21
21	John Ventura	30	33	31	29	29	32	184		21
22	Craig Williams	32	29	30	31	33	30	185		15
23	Mike McCormack	30	34	30	30	31	31	186		13
24	Doug Young	31	36	32	30	30	27	186		13
25	Barb Mingo	32	29	28	30	34	34	187		10
26	Jim White	35	32	27	31	31	31	187		10
27	Scott Buddie	29	30	33	35	33	29	189		7
28	Tom O'Brien	29	33	30	35	29	33	189		7
29	Karl Moe	28	32	31	36	35	31	193		5

		Round							Prize
	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Money	Points	Spot
1	Jeff Brown	29	34	31	25	27	29	175	$ 45.00	60	Medal
2	Brandon Yee	26	30	32	32	30	27	177	$ 30.00	51	Match
3	Joe Gallagher	29	30	31	31	31	27	179	$ 30.00	42
4	Karen Hastings	29	31	30	29	30	30	179	$ 30.00	42
5	Andy McCoy	34	32	27	27	31	28	179	$ 30.00	42
6	Robin Ventura	28	31	31	34	28	30	182		36
7	Anthony Amick	31	32	32	29	29	30	183		33
8	George Matthews	31	29	31	29	34	31	185		30
9	Ronnie Pavlov	29	36	31	30	30	33	189		29
10	Bill Combs	32	31	31	33	32	35	194		26
11	Danny Holcomb	34	34	33	29	33	34	197		24

Rick Alessi Wins Inaugural Michigan Open