188 golfers battle rain in Joe Foster Open; event draws Red Wings star

June 16, 2015

Detroit Red Wings star Justin Abdelkader, a Muskegon native, is a regular participant of the Joe Foster Open.

Story Contributed By Fred Inglis.

Inglis is a 22-year sports reporter/anchor for KTVU – TV in Oakland, Calif. and a two-time Emmy winner.

SHELBY — The 42nd Annual Joe Foster Open took on the look of The British Open last weekend at Oceana Golf Club.

Club Professional Marc Inglis with former Club Professional Joe Foster, who was not able to attend OGC’s signature event this year. Foster was the original PGA Golf Professional at OGC, and Inglis assumed the position when Joe retired in 1991.

The rain and fog loomed over the two-day Best Ball tournament, but all 94 teams braved the weather and produced some new champions.

The Oosting brothers, Robert and Ryan, took the Championship flight with a two-day total of 131. The Muskegon area natives shot a 64 Saturday and followed with a 67 Sunday to win the title by five strokes.

Weather did affect the overall scores. Not one of the 10 teams in the Champions flight scored better Sunday than they did in Saturday’s first round, and the entire field recorded only nine eagles over the two days.

But overall, Club Professional Marc Inglis thought this year’s five flights were more tightly contested. “Every putt, every swing counted,” he said. “With the wet conditions the ball didn’t roll on the fairways very much, but the greens were receptive and stayed true. There were no real runaways.”

Former Club Professional Joe Foster was not able to attend. Foster was the original PGA Golf Professional at OGC and Inglis assumed the position when Joe retired in 1991. This is the signature event at OGC.

Muskegon was well represented again this year. “It’s a tradition,” said Champions flight second place finisher Ken Taylor. “It’s our favorite tournament of the year.”

The Lismans live in Spring Lake, but six members of the family make the annual pilgrimage to Shelby. “My dad started coming with his three brothers,” says Rick Lisman, “and now us kids are joining in. It’s pretty cool.”

“One reason we have so many players from out of town is because we treat it and run it like a professional event,” says Inglis. “Not like a club or member event. The better players get that.”

Other top winners were Phil Nehra and Jim McCamant (1st Flight 140), Chris Ritchie and Lance Gosselin (2nd Flight 143), Norm Talmadge and Donnie Anderson (3rd Flight 146), Joe Firestone and Ron Smith (4th Flight 158).

Muskegon native and current Detroit Red Wings star Justin Abdelkader has been a regular participant of Joe Foster Open. “It’s fun because I get to be with my high school (Mona Shores) buddies and have a few laughs,” says the NHL star. “The atmosphere here makes it easy to relax and just play golf.”

Justin and teammate Jacob Polanyi finished second in the First Flight with a two day total of 143.

I told Justin that after 30 years of covering major league sports I concluded that MLB pitchers and NHL players make the best golfers. “I think we (hockey players) are used to the power swing,” says Abdelkader. “I know it’s a slower game but hand/eye coordination is just as important.”

Golf can also be as dangerous as hockey. Sunday Justin nearly got beaned by a rocket shot from one of his friends just yards away. “I saw him hit and thought ‘no way he’s going to hit our cart’,” said the Red Wings forward. “Then it nailed us and scared the hell out of us.”

But after hosting this tournament 42 times, OCC has most of the kinks worked out even in less than ideal weather conditions.

“It could have been a disaster,” said Inglis. “but the course started out in excellent shape, thanks to the efforts of Corey Parmalee and his grounds crew staff.”

“I had a lot of people coming up to me and thanking me for the organization and accommodations that we provided,“ said Inglis. “But without my staff and all the volunteers that worked so long and hard, we couldn’t pull off this kind of event.”

It’d be easy to dismiss the Joe Foster Open as a nice little tournament that helps pay the bills at OGC. But with so many outsiders making the trek to Shelby to play golf on back-to-back days, the entire area and business community gets to share the wealth.