Three players, the Buick Open to be inducted into hall of fame

LAKE ORION – Players Ken Janke, Meriam Bailey Leeke and John Morgan will be inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame and the Buick Open will be honored for its 50th anniversary during a ceremony May 18 at Indianwood Golf & Country Club.

Morgan, a Detroit Golf Club member, was the Golf Association of Michigan’s Player of the Decade for the 1980s, a period in which he won the Michigan Amateur, three GAM Championships and two of his three Michigan Mid-Amateur Championships. He played in three U.S. Amateurs and four Mid-Amateurs.

Leeke, a former golfer at Northwestern University, had a stellar career, playing in some pro events before and her husband, Lyle, took over the family course, Old Channel Trail in Montague in 1966. She is director and treasurer of the National Golf Course Owners Association.

Janke helped establish the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 1982 and was the father of major charity golf events beginning in 1967, launching the Walter Hagen Invitational to benefit the American Cancer Society, the Babe Zaharias Invitational, the March of Dimes, Tournament, the St. Jude Invitational tournaments and the B’nai Brith Championship. He’s also written four books on golf.

The Buick Open has raised million dollars for southeast Michigan charities and brought countless PGA Tour stars to Michigan since 1958.