Tom Werkmeister dominated amateur golf locally and in Michigan until 2017, when he turned professional to play on the PGA Tour Champions at age 50.
He has won more Grand Rapids area amateur championships than any golfer in history, won 10 state championships including two Michigan Amateur Championship titles and in 2013 was the first amateur to win the Michigan Open Championship in 38 years.
A Detroit native, he grew up in Warren and honed his game near the family cottage in Gladwin. He was a two-time all-state golfer at Warren Mott High School (1985, ’86) and a junior college All-American at Macomb Community College (’87).
After moving to Grand Rapids Tom was named the Golf Association of Michigan Player of the Year multiple times and qualified for multiple national amateur championships while also representing Michigan in United States Golf Association team competitions. He was the national co-medalist in the 2016 USGA Team Championship leading Michigan to the title, and he is the only golfer to ever win the West Michigan golf version of the “Grand Slam” – the West Michigan Amateur, the City Match Play, the City Championship and the Kent County Amateur – in one season (2012).
As a professional he won the 2019 Michigan Senior Open and made the cut in the 2018 and 2019 U.S. Senior Opens. Tom was inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 2017, and in 2020 was named the Male Golfer of the Decade by the Golf Association of Michigan.