MSU star, future Spartan set for semifinal showdown at Michigan Amateur
Harbor Springs — Friday will be "College Day" at the Michigan Amateur.
All that'll be missing are the one-dollar draft beers.
Michigan State's James Piot, of Canton, will meet incoming Michigan State freshmen August Meekhof of suburban Grand Rapids in one of Friday's semifinals, with Ann Arbor's Tyler Copp (Mercer University) battling Grand Blanc's Logan Price (Florida Gulf Coast) in the other semifinal.
The championship match is set for Friday afternoon on the Heather course at Boyne.
“I came through some tough matches today — that (Lorenzo) is the next big thing in junior golf, he’s a stud,” said Piot, who beat 15-year-old Lorenzo Pinili, 4 and 3, in the Sweet 16 on Thursday, before eliminating Grosse Pointe Woods' Coalter Smith (Wisconsins), 1-up, in the quarterfinals. "I feel like the game is ready.
"I want to go out and hit all the greens, and if I do something like that, I will be tough to beat.”
Piot is in the Michigan Amateur Final Four for the first time. He won the 2018 Golf Association of Michigan Championship.
Meekhof, the 2019 GAM boys player of the year, who beat Wayne State's Grant Haefner, 2 and 1, and St. Clair Shores' John Quigley, 3 and 2, on Thursday.
Price beat Otsego's Tyler Rayman, 5 and 4, in the Sweet 16, then made a 25-putt for birdie on the first playoff hole to win his quarterfinal math against Grand Rapids' Zachary Robbins (Cleveland State).
And Copp advanced to the semifinals with a 2-and-1 win over Bloomfield Hills' Eric Spencer, then a 4-and-2 victory over Ann Arbor's Charlie Green. Copp holed his wedge on the par-4 third hole for an early eagle against Green.