Keeping Up With 1984 Mid-Amateur Champion Michael Podolak


March 7, 2005

When Michael Podolak won the 1984 U.S. Mid-Amateur at the Atlanta Athletic Club, he was only the second USGA champion to hail from North Dakota (Beverly Hanson of Fargo, the 1950 U.S. Women's Amateur champion, was the first; Shane McMenamy of Grand Forks, the 1996 U.S. Junior champion, has since joined them).

"I take a lot of pride in that," says Podolak, now 50, and a resident of Oxbow, a small town 10 miles outside Fargo.

Podolak had quite a run at that championship, defeating two-time USA Walker Cupper Martin West in the third round, 3 and 1, and former British Amateur champion Dick Siderowf in the quarterfinals in 20 holes. To reach the championship match, he ousted David Jacobsen, the brother of 2004 U.S. Senior Open champion Peter Jacobsen, in 19 holes before beating another USA Walker Cupper Bob Lewis Jr. (Podolak and Lewis were teammates on the 1985 squad), 5 and 4. Lewis will once again captain the USA Walker Cup squad this August.

Today Podolak's priorities are his wife and two daughters and his insurance business, Podolak and Associates, although being his own boss also has allowed him to keep his golf game sharp.

"It's an easier fit than being a doctor or a regular '9-to-5-er,' " he says. "You don't have anyone to answer to."

Among his future goals are to qualify for the U.S. Senior Open and win the USGA Senior Amateur. "When you win something like [the Mid-Amateur], it elevates your game," says Podolak, who also played on the 1985 USA Walker Cup team, "and you realize, you're a better player than you thought you were."

Story written by Alan Bastable of Golf Magazine Properties.