CHARLEVOIX — The five-day-long 114th Michigan Amateur Championship golf tournament will be held starting Tuesday at the Belvedere Golf Club in Charlevoix.

The iconic northern Lower Peninsula course, located just a few blocks from downtown Charlevoix is hosting for a record 41st time as the course is celebrating its 100th year.

The Michigan Amateur has been there for almost the entire century, first being held there in 1930 when the legendary Chuck Kocsis defeated James Standish Jr. 9-and-7.

Belvedere has been called a character in the tournament’s history, its rolling fairways and subtly treacherous greens shaping careers and crushing dreams. The Michigan Amateur called Belvedere — and nowhere else — home from 1963-88, creating a kind of summer pilgrimage for players, spectators and golf lovers statewide.

Randy Erskine of Battle Creek claimed his Amateur title at Belvedere in 1972 in a 21-hole thriller, while Mount Plesant’s Dan Pohl won there twice in his amateur days in the 1970s before turning pro.

Pohl’s 1975 win was a 20-hole battle vs. three-time champion Melvin “Bud” Stevens.

And in 1978, future PGA Tour winner John Morse outlasted Dr. Mark Engleman in — it’s not hard to guess — extra holes.

Even after the Golf Association of Michigan moved back to a rotation for hosting this event, Belvedere was a regular stop, coming in 2003 with Colby Beckstrom’s win and 2014 when Henry Do defeated Steve Anderson in a 19-hole final.

This year, two days of stroke play will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, whittling the field to 64 for match play. Those who are successful will play two matches a day for three days before a champion is crowned on Sunday, June 21.

Elements of the course’s original design have been restored in renovations over the past decade, with those who haven’t played there since the last Michigan Amateur in 2014 probably noticing different green complexes, englarged but with added slopes and runoffs.

Original bunkers were rediscovered, trees removed and fescue lines created.

For more information on the course and tournament, visit www.belvederegolfclub.com.

Story contents based on email received from Kevin Frisch of KevinFrischPR.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.