The year 2010 marks the 20th season for the Greater Cleveland Skins Game! The game originated in 1990 at Faiway Pines Golf Course and continues today over a number of fine golf courses in Northeast Ohio.
We have a great schedule that will be announced soon. Amateur players will be able to take advantage of the special green fee rates that many of these courses are providing to our players.
And we have something new for 2010, too.
Steve Blackburn Jr. of Willowick made it two years in a row, as he won The Greater Cleveland Skins Game Championship on a cold rainy night Thursday at Powderhorn Golf Course in Madison.
Paired together for the final round, Blackburn Jr. was in a tight race with Mike Angie, who was on top of the leaderboard for most of the year. But with a birdie skin at the short par four 13th hole ($153.33) and the pin shot on the 14th ($70), Blackburn pulled away for the season-long win, as Angie was shut out on the final night.
Blackburn Jr. set a new Greater Cleveland Skins Game money record with $1,622.32 for the 26 week season, while Angie finished a fine year with a hefty $1,331.58. Third place was nearly $600 behind that.
With just one week to go, The Greater Cleveland Skins Game has a new — but familiar — name atop the leaderboard.
Steve Blackburn Jr. captured two skins and a pin shot on Thursday at Stonewater Golf Club to grab the season-long lead away from Mike Angie in their back-and-forth race.
With three events left in the chase for the Thompson Cup, Steve Blackburn Jr. and Mike Angie have been running neck to neck for weeks. Now with just two more nights to go, it’s even tighter!
Angie captured the first skin of the night this Thursday at Fowler’s Mill with a birdie at the difficult first hole. But Blackburn Jr. answered with a pin shot and birdie skin on the par-3 seventh hole. The pin shot win means Blackburn Jr. has closed the gap on Angie to a mere $13.09 for the season!
It was a beautiful night for golf at Madison Country Club Thursday, and Steve Blackburn Jr. wasted no time trying to make a run at Mike Angie and first place: Blackburn birdied the par-4 first hole and captured a skin worth $84.33.
Gary Zehe had the big night of the week with a double-dip on the par-3 fourth hole, knocking it to six feet for a pin shot and a birdie skin. Pin shots were worth $38.50.
Rounding out the night’s earners, Dave Sotka grabbed a skin with a birdie on the par-4 fifth hole, and Dave DeLong cashed on his first night of competition with a pin shot on the long par-3 ninth hole.
Blackburn Jr.’s skin closes the the gap on leader Mike Angie to just $44.59 with just three weeks left to go in the race for the Thompson Cup.
Steve Blackburn Jr. and Mike Angie continue their back-and-forth battle for the Greater Cleveland Skins Game’s Thompson Cup, and they are pulling away from the pack.
Blackburn Jr. captured two skins at Wicked Woods on Thursday with birdies on the par-4 10th hole and a long-putt deuce on the par-3 14th hole.
But Angie responded with a chip-in birdie on the 11th hole and a pin shot on the 15th hole. So Blackburn Jr. closed the gap, but Angie is still the leader — but by a mere $129 with just four weeks to go in the season.
