CHARLEVOIX – McCoy Biagioli will play Centennial-celebrating Belvedere Golf Club for the first time in a practice round just ahead of the 114th Michigan Amateur Championship presented by Carl’s Golfland, which is being played at the historic venue for the 41st time, June 17-21.

“I’ve read about it and heard a lot of about it and I’m excited to play it,” said the 19-year-old defending champion from White Lake. “It would be cool to make some history at a place with so much history.”

Biagioli, who just finished his sophomore year at Ferris State University and is transferring to Michigan State University in the fall, is seeking to be the first repeat winner of the state amateur championship in 69 years.

Only five golfers have won consecutive Michigan Amateur titles in the previous 113 championships, and the last was legend Glenn Johnson of Grosse Ile, who won his first three of five titles in 1954, ’55 and ’56.

Only 14 golfers have won the championship multiple times as well. The last to garner a second title was Michigan Golf Hall of Famer Randy Lewis of Alma, who won first in 1992 and added another win in 1999.

Chuck Kocsis of Royal Oak, regarded as Michigan’s greatest amateur golfer, won a record six Amateur titles. Johnson won five and Pete Green of Franklin won four in four separate decades. James D. Standish Jr. of Detroit, who later served as a Golf Association of Michigan and United States Golf Association president, was the first to win more than twice with wins in 1909, 1912, 1915 and 1924.

Only Johnson, Kocsis, who won in 1930, ’33, ’34, ’37, ’48 and ’51, John Malloy of Ann Arbor, the 1927, ’28 and ’29 champion, Howard Lee of Detroit, the 1910, 1911 and 1920 champion, who was the first to garner multiple wins, and Carlton Wells of Ann Arbor, the 1922 and ’23 champion, are in the historic consecutive wins club.

As an 18-year-old winner last year, Biagioli started making history by becoming just the fifth player that age to win the championship, and the first since Joey Garber of Petoskey in 2010. Kocsis remains the youngest ever to win at age 17. Biagioli also became just the 11th winner under age 20 a year ago. The last 19-year-old winner was Henry Do of Canton in 2014; the last time Belvedere hosted the Michigan Amateur.

“Obviously the goal is to win again,” he said. “I’m only 19 now and it’s such an honor to be a Michigan Amateur champion. To do it again would be incredible and I’m going to give it my best effort.”

Biagioli, who late last summer became just the 11th golfer in 103 years to win both the Michigan Amateur and the GAM Championship in the same year, said his game is coming around after a slow start this fall at school.

“I was a little rusty but I’m playing well now and excited to play in the Michigan Open and then get to Belvedere and defend in the Amateur,” he said. “My short game is better than it was a year ago. I’m a better player when I get my game going.”

He wasn’t on anybody’s radar a year ago when he arrived at the 113th Amateur at The Highlands in Harbor Springs. It’s a different story this year.

“I had never even made match play before, so that was my goal to start the week,” he said. “Then once I won a match, I just got on a roll, gained confidence, and realized I could win it. This time I will have a target on my back, and it will be more pressure, but I love it, honestly. Sometimes it’s good to be a guy in the shadows and sneak up like I did last year. But having a target on your back adds pressure, but also motivation because everybody is coming after you and they want to beat you.”

Most of the final “Sweet 16” from last year’s tournament are returning either with exempt status or via local qualifying presented across the state in recent weeks. Last year’s runner-up, Jimmy Dales of Northville, has turned professional but the other semifinalists, Matt Zerbel of St. Joseph and Drew Miller of East Lansing, will be in the field.

The starting field of 156 golfers will play two rounds of stroke play Tuesday and Wednesday, June 17 and 18, to determine the match-play field of 64. Two rounds of matches on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will determine the champion.

For the second consecutive year the Michigan Amateur winner will receive an exemption into the U.S. Amateur Championship later in the summer.

Meanwhile, Belvedere is celebrating its centennial in part by hosting another Michigan Amateur Championship in 2025. Dennis “Marty” Joy, the head golf professional with a passion for the club’s history, made the effort to have the GAM schedule the return visits during the 2014 championship.

“It just seemed right that Belvedere celebrates its history with the tournament that is such a big part of the history of the club and Michigan golf,” Joy said.

Joy said the classic golf course designed by Scotsman William Watson 100 years ago is sure to provide another great championship, and Ken Hartmann, the senior tournament director for the GAM, who directed the 2003 and ’14 Amateurs at Belvedere, agreed.

“The older players will love it, and the younger guys will get what makes Belvedere special once they have played it,” he said.

The GAM will be showing support to the Charlevoix golf community in the wake of recent automobile accident involving the local high school golf team. Maroon ribbons matching the colors of the Charlevoix Rayders will be made available to participating players in the championship.