The Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year races had yet to be decided as the leaders were teed off on the final day of the 2024 NOGA Great Lakes Auto Scratch Series Tour Championship at Firestone Country Club.
In the Championship Division, the Player of the Year race would come down to three players, two of which would need a victory to claim the title.
The Senior Player of the Year race would be a head-to-head matchup between the two-time defending Senior POY Mark Borlin and past Northeast Ohio Amateur champion Robert Schustrich. Just 53 points would separate the two at the start of the Tour Championship.
Championship Division Race
The three players running for the Player of the Year were defending Northeast Ohio Amateur Champion Vaughn Snyder, Four-Ball Season Long Match Play co-champ Chris Okeson, and 9-time NOGA Player of the Year Brian Smith.
Entering the Tour Championship, Smith held a 109-point lead in the Player of the Year Standings. This would mean that Okeson, who entered in second place, and Snyder, who entered in third place, would need a victory in the Tour Championship to secure the Player of the Year honors.
After the first day on the Fazio course, Okeson held a two-stroke lead after posting a 67, and Snyder was not far behind with a 69. Smith would finish the first day seven strokes back of the lead, needing either a big comeback on Monday or someone else to step up and win the Tour Championship for him to lift the trophy.
Okeson and Snyder would be paired in the final grouping with Howard Clendenin on the South Course on Monday, as he also posted a 69 on the Fazio Course on Sunday. The three would battle throughout the front nine, with Snyder holding a one-stroke lead heading into the back nine. But Clendenin posted a 4-under par 31 on the back nine to win the Tour Championship! This would be precisely what Brian Smith needed to fend off Snyder and Okeson in the Player of the Year race.
With Snyder finishing in 2nd and Okeson in 3rd, Smith would claim his 10th overall NOGA Player of the Year by 30 points. In conversation after the round, Smith thanked Clendenin for helping him win his tenth Player of the Year award.
Final 2024 NOGA Player of the Year Standings
1 Brian Smith 727.25
2 Vaughn Snyder 697
3 Chris Okeson 671.35
4 Howard Clendenin 606.5
5 Ian Hardesty 531.5
6 Thomas Bell 484.34
7 Kyle Buzaki 484
8 Ryan Wirtz 408.5
9 Ben Hogan 382.64
10 Rick Deichert 373.5
11 Jeff Sawitke 365.2
12 Andrew Malkus 363.35
13 Timothy Moore 321.75
14 Matthew Fuller 272.5
15 Andrew Grayson 271.85
16 Doug Barber 246
17 Brian Beebe 229.95
Senior POY Race
In the Senior Division, Robert Schustrich would finish the first day at Firestone with a 75, which would be good enough for T4 entering the final day on the South Course. Mark Borlin would sit four strokes back after posting a 79 on the Fazio on the first day of the Tour Championship.
Borlin would need a massive turnaround on the South Course to have a shot at winning the Senior Player of the Year for the third year in a row. Schustrich would enter the final day of the Tour Championship knowing that he would have to keep pace with Borlin to claim his first Senior Player of the Year.
Schustrich would do just that, posting a 79 on Monday on the South Course to hoist the trophy by 105 points.
Robert’s consistency throughout the year paid off, as he did not finish outside of the Top 10 in any of his seven starts in the Great Lakes Auto Scratch Series this season. Schustrich would lift the trophy and immediately express his gratitude, noting all the hard work that went into the season, and for the honor of being the Senior Player of the Year.
Final 2024 NOGA Senior Player of the Year Standings
1 Robert Schustrich 1067.88
2 Mark Borlin 962.5
3 Doug Hauenstein 912.5
4 Mike Belacic 845.17
5 Allen Freeman 752
6 Tom Baugh 666.75
7 Tom Laubacher 652.5
8 Rick Bryson 637.25
9 Scott Winckowski 568.17
10 Dean Cutlip 510.38
11 Jim Durr 485.5
12 Kurt Peterson 427.5
13 John Toth 419.3
14 Tom Skidmore 399.25
15 David Trier 395.25
16 Chris Minear 362
