Li Is GAM Junior Girls Player of the Year

Alena Li of Okemos Tops 2025 Junior Girls’ Points List

  FARMINGTON HILLS – Alena Li of Okemos topped the 2025 GAM Junior Girls’ Points list and for the third consecutive year has been named the GAM Junior Girls’ Player of the Year.

  “It’s such an honor to be player of the year again,” said the 17-year-old freshman at the University of Michigan. “There are so many great players in Michigan, and being player of the year is always a goal. This year I just tried to have fun on the golf course doing something I love to do. It was a fun year.”

   Player of the Year point totals can be found on a pull down from the PLAY tab at GAM.org. Carl’s Golfland is the presenting sponsor of the points lists.

  In recent weeks, the GAM announced Elayna Bowser of Dearborn as the Women’s Player of the Year, Caleb Bond of Williamston as the Men’s Player of the Year, Lori Schlicher of Lewiston as the Senior Women’s Player of the Year and Mike Anderson of Novi as the Senior Men’s Player of the Year. The Junior Boys’ Player of the Year will be announced next Monday, and in the following week the 15-and-under Girls’ and Boys’ Player of the Year will be announced.

   Li won the GAM Girls’ Championship early in the season, then later won the Michigan Girls’ Junior Amateur, which made her exempt for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur, which was played at the Atlanta Athletic Club’s Riverside Course in Georgia.

  “That was such an amazing experience to go there and compete with some of the best golfers from all over the world,” she said. “My sister (Anna) caddied for me, walking with me all of the rounds, and she enjoyed it a lot, too.”

  Li isn’t playing college golf. She chose the University of Michigan for academic reasons, but she did join the club golf team and played in one tournament this fall. She will move on from junior golf this winter but plans to play in GAM women’s tournaments next summer.

  “I’ll play in as many as I can because I love competition and getting to know the other players,” she said. “It’s a little bit sad to no longer be a junior golfer. It’s been a big part of my life, but I look forward to still playing as much as I can. I know playing golf is something I will keep doing.”

  Li, a Youth on Course Michigan member, had a lot of competition for the player of the year honors this year. She topped the list with 892.5 points.

  Chaille Payne of Spring Lake and Spring Lake Country Club, who in 10 summer tournaments finished among the top four eight times, was second with 842.5 points, just 50 points behind Li.

  Lillian O’Grady of Grand Rapids and Watermark Country Club, the GAM Junior Invitational winner, was third with 817.5 points, and Grace Slocum of Traverse City and the Kingsley Club, who had 715 points, and Saisha Patil of Okemos and Youth on Course Michigan, who had 640 points, rounded out the top five.

    “Alena has been a staple at the top of GAM Junior tournaments for the last handful of years,” said Alex Clark, director of tournament operations for the GAM in announcing Li as a player of the year.

  “She plots her way around a golf course exceptionally well. It is very rare to see her in trouble. She is also an excellent ball striker. The combination of great course management and elite ball striking is tough to beat. She has been a great junior player and champion. I’m not sure of her golfing aspirations in the future, but I hope to see her compete in the Michigan Women’s Amateur or GAM Women’s Championship as she has the game to be a force in those tournaments.”

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