Bailey Wins NEO Am in a Shocker

Michael Balcar and Andrew Bailey separated themselves from the rest of the field in the 2014 Northeast Ohio Amateur.

Rocky River resident and Cleveland State player Andrew Bailey posted two strong scores in rounds 3 and 4 at The Country Club in Pepper Pike to win the 2014 Northeast Ohio Amateur Invitational by a tidy four shots with a four-round total of 7-under par.

But it’s the way it happened that shocked everyone watching.

Michael Balcar, another Cleveland State player who hails from Toledo, led most of the way for the 2014 NEO Am. Both he and Bailey separated themselves from the rest of the field with second round scores of 66 at Madison Country Club, turning the final 36 holes into a two player race.

In Round 3 in the morning at Country, Balcar posted a 71 to Bailey’s 74 to go up five shots . Balcar had a 9-under par total after 54 holes.

Michael Balcar tees off at The Country Club in the final round of the 2014 Northeast Ohio Am.

Bailey birdied the first two holes of the afternoon round to close the gap. Balcar bogeyed holes 3 and 5 before making birdie at 6 to right the ship. Both players bogeyed 7, and Balcar bogeyed 10 to lead by just one shot with 8 holes to play.

But then Balcar birdied the 11th and 12th holes to go 3 shots up, and looked to have the championship well in hand. Until it wasn’t.

On 17, Balcar drove it in the middle of the fairway, and from there hit into the greenside bunker. He left his first bunker shot in the bunker, then bladed the next one over the green into high grass. He hacked out of the high grass then chipped on the green and two-putted for a quad 8. Then he bogeyed 18 as well.

Meanwhile, Bailey birdied 16 and 17 and made par at the last to win the tournament in a stunning turn-around. His strong finish gave him a total score of 7-under par 280.

In the Senior Division, Jim Durr of Silver Lake (shown at right) won by a single shot with a score of 5-over par 220, outlasting Mike Cassell and Marc Fried.

Complete results from both divisions are listed below.

FINAL RESULTS: Northern Ohio Golf Association’s
2014 Northeast Ohio Amateur Invitational
Round 1 at Silver Lake Country Club on Monday, June 16
Round 2 at Madison Golf Club on Wednesday, June 18
Rounds 3 and 4 at The Country Club on Monday, June 23

CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION

Pos	Player	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To Par
1	Andrew Bailey	71	66	74	69	280	-7
2	Michael Balcar	69	66	71	78	284	-3
3	Dennis Holub Jr	73	79	73	71	296	9
T4	Charlly Pak	78	69	75	75	297	10
T4	Doug Barber	73	71	78	75	297	10
T4	Brian Smith	72	72	77	76	297	10
7	Tristan Lewis	70	74	73	81	298	11
T8	Dan Grincewicz	76	74	75	76	301	14
T8	Joe Tornabene	80	68	76	77	301	14
T10	Bud Radis	78	70	78	76	302	15
T10	Anthony Yacovazzi	75	73	78	76	302	15
12	Dan Winar	74	78	78	75	305	18
T13	Austin Schreiber	77	75	79	75	306	19
T13	Kory Oslie	79	77	74	76	306	19
T13	Mark Olbrych	76	81	70	79	306	19
T13	Steve Hiltebrant	75	71	80	80	306	19
17	Paul Minko	74	76	77	80	307	20
18	Saumil Jhaveri	73	75	80	80	308	21
T19	Mark Borlin	77	76	78	78	309	22
T19	Ian Hardesty	75	75	80	79	309	22
T19	Thomas Lydic	73	77	76	83	309	22
22	Blake Sword	81	75	82	73	311	24
T23	Robert Schustrich	74	83	79	76	312	25
T23	Mike Bishop	76	79	80	77	312	25
T23	Nicholas Paxos	77	78	78	79	312	25
26	Jimmy Wild	76	78	77	82	313	26
27	Scott McRill	80	77	80	80	317	30
T28	Greg Kencson	81	80	76	81	318	31
T28	Evan Lerner	77	79	81	81	318	31
T30	Bryn Irvine	76	80	86	80	322	35
T30	Mark Hach	78	83	81	80	322	35
32	Peter Joyce	79	77	82	86	324	37
33	Alex Talbott	85	72	89	82	328	41
34	Alex Loftin	79	86	81	83	329	42
35	Joe Ribelli	79	77	85	90	331	44
36	Seth Pech	80	81	87	84	332	45
37	Kyle Matus	87	80	81	87	335	48
38	Brennan Brooker	83	80	88	85	336	49
39	Jim Grosso	79	80	91	87	337	50
40	Joe Bojc	78	81	85	95	339	52
41	Mark Telerico	84	80	77			NC

SENIOR DIVISION

Pos	Player	R1	R2	R3	Total	To Par
1	Jim Durr	70	71	79	220	5
T2	Mike Cassell	74	73	74	221	6
T2	Marc Fried	72	76	73	221	6
4	Rick Areddy	74	79	73	226	11
T5	Monty Guest	74	79	74	227	12
T5	Jeffrey Knox	74	74	79	227	12
7	Norton Brick	73	78	78	229	14
8	Rick Merrow	74	82	74	230	15
T9	Bryan Warnica	73	76	83	232	17
T9	Jim Harless	72	83	77	232	17
T11	Tom Cawley	74	77	82	233	18
T11	Keith Pluto	77	74	82	233	18
T13	Joe Roller	75	78	81	234	19
T13	Larry Lahnan	77	79	78	234	19
15	Scott Heran	78	77	81	236	21
16	Tim Baker	80	79	78	237	22
T17	Steve Bedell	79	77	83	239	24
T17	David Devault	79	75	85	239	24
19	Jim Corcoran	79	79	85	243	28
T20	John Dmytriw	79	81	85	245	30
T20	George Papas	77	84	84	245	30
22	Ron Miller	81	81	86	248	33
23	Hugh Morgan	84	81	84	249	34
24	Dennis Cendrowski	83	82	89	254	39
25	Phil Howren	79	89	88	256	41
26	Pete Manuguerra	88	90	92	270	55