PLAYER OF THE YEAR CONTENDERS ENTERED IN THE SENIOR PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
The top contenders for the season-ending Senior Player of the Year Award have entered the Northern Ohio Professional Golfers Association’s Senior Professional Championship to be held this week at Lakewood Country Club.
Also at stake for the top four finishers is entrance into the Senior Professional Championship national tournament, to be held in late October in Port St. Lucie, FL, at the PGA Golf Club.
The 36-hole local event will be played on Wednesday and Thursday and for the first time in years Gary Robison will not play. Robison, the former Brookside Country Club Director of Golf and Head Professional at Firestone Country Club, retired and moved out of state shortly after winning this event for the sixth time last year.
While Robison will not be at Lakewood, at least four former champions will be, including 2019 winner Steve Stone (McDivots Driving Range), 2015 and 2017 winner Tony Milam (North Coast Junior Tour), 2014 winner Mitch Camp (Club Walden) and four-time winner Gary Trivisonno (2008-2011), a PGA of America Lifetime Member.
The event is open to NOPGA members aged 50-and-over.
Gary Rusnak, an instructor at 1899 Golf Cleveland East, currently leads the Senior Points Race for eventual player of the year honors with 284.67 points.
Rounding out the top six in the points race are Camp (245.00), Pepper Pike Club’s Rob Moss (226.00), Portage Country Club’s Steve Parker (184.17), Youngstown Country Club’s Jon Jones (134.00) and Trivisonno (133.50).
The Senior Professional Championship, also known as the NOPGA Senior Section Championship, could play a key part in the POTY race. First place is worth 100 points with the runner-up earning 70. Third and fourth finishers will earn 45 points, with fifth through eighth earning 30 points and ninth through 16th picking up 15.
