BATH – Scott Hebert won the Michigan PGA Match Play Championship presented by the PGA Tour for the fourth time and proved at age 57 he can still compete with and beat the best PGA golf professionals in the state.
And he did it with dramatic flair on Wednesday at Eagle Eye Golf Club.
The Traverse City Golf & Country Club pro who is already in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame made a hole-in-one on the island hole No. 17 to close out a 2 and 1 morning semifinal win over fellow Hall of Famer Brian Cairns of Fox Hills Golf & Learning Center.
Then he turned back Ryan Lenahan of Walnut Creek Country Club in the final match, 4 and 2, by taking an early 2-up lead after an eagle-2 on the short par 4 No. 3 hole. He hit his tee shot with a driver to the green to about 12 feet behind the hole and made the resulting putt. He led by at least that 2-up score through the rest of the match.
“It’s nice to be able to compete, and you know, I keep working at it because I don’t want to come out here and just play and not be able to reach par fours and things like that,” Hebert said after accepting the $3,000 winner’s check.
“It’s nice to win, and Ryan’s a fantastic player. He’s on a great run in his PGA career right now, playing in the PGA (last two PGA Championships) and things like that. It was nice to beat him. It’s always nice to beat my buddy Cairnsy, and to get Joe Hatch yesterday because he had one coming. He beat me before at my place (TCG&CC). And (defending Match Play Champion Cameron Ruge) is a fantastic player. So, you know, for the last two days we had the best PGA pros in the state here, and it was nice to come out on top.”
Hebert pushed his all-time best major championships total to 19, which now include six Michigan Open titles, eight Michigan PGA Professional titles, four match play titles and a Tournament of Champions title.
“It’s pretty cool, 19,” he said. “Now we’re on an odd number again, so we will have to see if we can change that.”
Lenahan, 42, was recently selected with nine other PGA of America Professionals from across the country to the 2026 U.S. PGA Cup Team that will take on the European golf professionals at The K Club in County Kildare, Ireland, Oct. 2-4.
He beat Jonesville teaching pro Matt Thompson, 1-up, with a birdie on hole 18 in the morning semifinal, and said the tough match took a lot out of him.
“Scott played great, no doubt, but this afternoon, I think I was just out of gas,” he said. “My focus just maybe wasn’t as sharp. I had to give it my all against Matt. I was, I think, 6-under through seven holes, but I was only 2-up against Matt. He’s tough and I was tired at the end of that one. I was still comfortable this afternoon. The nerves were not a factor, I just wasn’t able to pull off the shots I needed, and Scott hit a lot of great shots.”
Hebert said the key part of the afternoon match with Lenahan came after making a bogey on the par 4 No. 13 hole.
“I don’t like losing holes to pars,” he said. “If a guy makes birdie, tip your hat. But I came back and played the par 5 (No. 14) and rolled in a good birdie there. That was the key part of that match, keeping the lead.”
His dramatic morning hole-in-one was made possible by a 142-yard shot using a 9-iron. It bounced just short of the flagstick and then landed in the hole.
Hole 17 is a replica of Pete Dye’s iconic No. 17 Island hole at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla. Eagle Eye designer Chris Lutzke, a protégé of Dye, designed the hole in his mentor’s honor.
“Everybody asks me how many (hole-in-ones), but I only count the ones that go in during tournaments,” Hebert said. “That’s eight in tournaments.”
Hebert called Eagle Eye, where he has also won some of his Michigan PGA Professional titles, a great championship course.
“So glad to hear the Michigan Open Championship is here next year,” he said. “I really enjoy a course that makes you use every club in your bag, not just driver, wedge all day. That’s a true championship course. I really like playing here and I had a good day, a good two days.”