Golf notes: Michigan Golf Show, always a sign season is approaching, cancels 2021 event

The Michigan Golf Show, which draws tens of thousands of golf enthusiasts a year and serves notice that the season is fast approaching, has been canceled for 2021.

Organizers made the announcement Wednesday, saying they did so "with great sorrow."

"We have been working on many state-of-the-art and proactive approaches to deal with the COVID-19 virus over the past months but it has become apparent that we will not be permitted to produce the Michigan Golf Show to a level of that we and you expect," Todd Smith, president of the event, wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday. "We do not think it would be to our standards of providing you the very best Golf Show of its kind, nor would it provide you the kickoff spring experience."

This year's Michigan Golf Show was scheduled for March 5-7 at Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. It was expected to draw nearly 40,000 golf fans over the three days.

More than 300 vendors, from golf-club manufacturers to courses and resorts throughout the state and Midwest, occupy more than 300,000 square feet of exhibit space. There also are interactive opportunities.

Smith announced that next year's Michigan Golf Show has been scheduled for March 4-6, 2022.

"We hope that you will have a great golfing season and remain healthy, safe and prosperous," he wrote.

Chips & divots

►Grandville's Josh Gibson, a former golf standout at Hope College, finished second at the Big Money Golf Classic in Longwood, Florida, earlier this month. Gibson finished 8 under, a shot back, but still took home $49,162, a significant check for a player trying to make it on the mini-tours. That could set him up for a relatively stress-free 2021. Gibson is living in Kissimmee, Florida, in a house he shares with four other Michigan players trying to make it in pro golf.

►Donnie Trosper, a Canton native and former Michigan State standout, is among those setting up shop in Florida these days. He won a mini-tour event in Daytona Beach last month, earning $3,000, as he tries to rise the ranks. Trosper last summer qualified for back-to-back PGA Tour tournaments, including Detroit's Rocket Mortgage Classic.

►A week before Trosper's win, Flint's Willie Mack III won a mini-tour event, also in Florida, erasing a four-shot deficit in the final round to cash a $5,000 first-place check.

►Brian Stuard (Jackson/Oakland) makes his 2021 PGA Tour debut this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

►Congrats to former Tigers reliever John Hiller, 77, who made his first hole-in-one in November.

►The inaugural Metro Detroit Golfer's "Tour Card," which provides significant discounts at many courses and resorts as well as access to some private clubs in Michigan, is on sale now for $199. Only 1,000 will be sold, as organizers try to keep it exclusive and not resembling the so-called coupon books.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984