The final day of the 83rd Portage County Amateur included great scores, tough competition, sunny skies, a sudden-death play-off, and a hole-in-one.
With more than 100 competitors filling the fairways of Windmill Lakes Golf Club in Ravenna and Oak Knolls Golf Club in Kent, champions were crowned in seven divisions as the two-day, 36-hole event concluded.
COUNTY DIVISION
Bud Radis, Nevada Lemon and Cody Nickson were in the championship pairing going into the final day of competition.
At the beginning of the day, Radis led by four strokes but Radis of Aurora, a former Matt Mishler Junior Portage County Amateur Champion, held onto his lead despite the outstanding shooting of Lemon and Nickson.
It was a match to remember for spectators as Radis carded a final one-under-par 71 and Lemon of Rootstown and Nickson of Kent tied on the second day with identical scores of three-under-pars 69s.
“It was the most fun I’ve had in a stressful round,” said Nickson, the 2012 Amateur County Division Champion.
Radis, a member of the Miami of Ohio varsity men’s golf team, was consistent throughout the tournament. His one-under-par round included only one bogey and two birdies.
The birdies came on the back nine as Radis fired a 33.
The County, as well as the Open Division, were playing at 6,883 yards at Oak Knolls.
Despite the length, Lemon challenged the leader, carding a five-under-par 30 on the back nine with five birdies and four pars.
Nixon had an under-par round himself firing a 33 on the back nine.
But the 69s weren’t good enough to catch-up to Radis.
Fourth place in the County Division was earned by Ed Marsinek who was having a great round of his own at Oak Knolls, firing a 73 to add to the 77 his first day for a 150, two strokes better than Rob Schustrich of Windham.
For Marsinek, the Amateur is a tradition. This was his 33rd amateur competition. Although he could be competing in the Senior Division, he chooses to play in the County, wanting to win the competition he loves.
OPEN DIVISION: HOLE-IN-ONE
The Open Division was won by four strokes by Brian Smith of Amherst.
While everyone was talking about Smith’s round of 69 the first day at Windmill, the second day’s fireworks belonged to Tom Jalbert of Akron.
Competing in the Amateur each year, Jalbert is always near the top of the pack.
This year he made his mark with one-stroke.
Jalbert used a pitching wedge on the 137 yard 11th Hole at Oak Knolls to ace the second hole on the back nine.
“The ball landed 10 feet behind the hole and the cup just sucked it right back,” laughed Jalbert.
Tom finished with a 79 for the day and landed in sixth place.
Smith won the event by four strokes over Eric Bowman of Alliance.
Brian is the reigning Northern Ohio Golf Association champion and a three-time club champ at Oberlin Country Club.
He wasn’t thrilled with his round of 77 at Oak Knolls but it was enough to earn the win over Bowman and defending champion Michael Pope of Akron.
SENIOR DIVISION: PLAY-OFF
After 36 holes, the Senior division required a play-off.
Jerry Bobbs won the Amateur in 2008 when he played in the then Super-Division.
Since then, Bobbs has competed but this year, when the last ball had dropped into the hole, Bobbs and Ravenna’s Robert K. Hall were tied with identical 160s.
Bobbs had fired a 78-82 while Hall, the leader after the first day, scored an 83 on his final day.
Bobbs and Hall went into a sudden-death play-off with Bobbs the eventual winner on the first hole.
The play-off hole wasn’t pretty but it was all Bobbs needed as he bogeyed the hole to Hall’s double-bogey.
Third place was Roger Mazon, returning to the Senior Amateur this season after helping with scoring and running the Amateur last season due to health problems.
He finished with an 80-85 for a 165 ahead of Terry Bonar of Aurora.
SENIOR GOLD
John Sloe managed to hold onto his lead from the initial day to earn the victory by one stroke.
Senior golfers were impressed by Sloe at Oak Knolls when he fired a 69 on his first day of competition.
Without his son on the bag, Sloe still fired an 81 in the 60 to 69 age division to best Gerald Musiel of Cuyahoga Falls by one stroke.
Taking home the third place trophy was Jim Cofojohn of Mantua who fired a 76 the first day and scored a final 157.
SENIOR
It wasn’t that long ago that Dave Cutlip won the amateur.
Cutlip is well known in the northeast Ohio golf family, playing in Akron District Golf Association events, running his own family outing at Suffield Springs and winning the Portage County Amateur County Division in 2007.
This year, Cutlip’s first year in the Senior division, he put together two solid rounds of 78 and 76 for a 154 to best John Franks of Farmington by one stroke.
A three-way tie for third place included Troy Luckenbaugh of Uniontown, Randy Steele of Hudson and Mike LaCivita of Ravenna, each carding 157s.
WOMEN
There was never a doubt about the winner of the women’s division.
Nicole Trivisonno of Wickliffe will be a senior on the Ashland College women’s golf team this fall.
Her summer tournament play has paid off for Nicole. She earned the top spot among the women with a final day total of 73, just one-over-par at Oak Knolls Golf Club and a two-day total of 150, 26 strokes ahead of Meghan Finley of Kent who will be a sophomore at Mercyhurst College.
NEXT YEAR
The 84th edition of the Portage County Amateur and Senior Amateur will again be held on the final full weekend in July in 2014.
Seven divisions will compete July 26 and 27 at Oak Knolls Golf Club and Windmill Lakes Golf Club.
The 84th Record-Courier Amateur and Senior Amateur will culminate a Portage County Amateur week that will include the 7th Matt Mishler Junior Portage County Amateur.
Be sure and read this Sunday’s Record-Courier for additional highlights and photos of this year’s Amateur.
FINAL RESULTS:
2013 PORTAGE COUNTY AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Windmill Lakes Golf Course, Ravenna, Ohio – Par 70
Oak Knolls Golf Course, Kent, Ohio – Par 72
July 27 – 28, 2013
COUNTY DIVISION ““ Windmill Lakes / Oak Knolls
Bud Radis, Aurora 70 71 141
Nevada Lemon, Rootstown 74 69 143
Cody Nickson, Kent. 74 69 143
Ed Marsinek, Kent. 77 73 150
Rob Schustrich, Windham 77 75 152
Jeff Stormer, Suffield 75 78 153
Andrew Hinton, Aurora 77 77 154
Kevin Schroeder, Aurora 79 76 155
Allen Thigpen, Ravenna 78 78 156
Scott Schroeder, Aurora 75 86 161
Cody Tuttle, Ravenna 81 80 161
Brandon Fouts, Streetsboro 83 80 163
Alex Avalon, Aurora. 75 88 163
Matthew Hartman, Aurora. 81 83 164
A.J. Stronz, Ravenna 77 88 165
Chris Plute, Streetsboro 84 81 165
Chad Brazill, Streetsboro 82 83 165
John Weingart, Kent 81 85 166
Daniel Salopek, Kent. 83 83 166
Dave Fall, Windham 86 80 166
Jeff Eckenwiler, Ravenna 84 83 167
Cole Smith, Kent 83 85 168
Nicholas Polichena, Ravenna 87 86 170
John Franks, Mantua 85 86 171
Shawn Ohl, Ravenna 83 88 171
Joseph Knight, Kent 80 92 172
Billy Avalon, Aurora 83 93 176
Paul Harris, Ravenna 93 85 178
Toren Roubic, Windham 86 92 178
Patrick Camillo, Mogadore 93 87 180
Nate Wachtel, Streetsboro 92 90 182
Mikey Schustrich, Windham 92 93 185
Ryan Hostetler, Mogadore 92 98 190
OPEN DIVISION ““ Windmill Lakes / Oak Knolls
Brian Smith, Amherst 69 77 146
Eric Bowman, Alliance 73 77 150
Michael Pope, Akron 75 75 150
Brett Beatty, Stow 76 79 155
Jeff Cockerham, Akron 78 79 157
Tom Jalbert, Akron 80 79 159
Bruce Bailey, Akron 80 80 160
Corey Hines, Leavittsburg 80 81 161
Larry Mosca, Balboa, California 82 86 168
Michal Agarenzo, Cuyahoga Falls 84 89 173
Mike Shortridge, Stow 89 84 173
Abhijit Shetti, Solon. 80 94 174
Chris Lestons, Stow 88 86 174
Jake Holland, Akron 90 87 177
Gary Hanson, Canal Fulton. 95 89 184
Hank Morris, Youngstown 100 96 196
SENIOR ““ Oak Knolls / Windmill Lakes
Dave Cutlip, Suffield 78 76 154
John Franks, Farmington 78 77 155
Troy Luckenbaugh, Uniontown 79 78 157
Randy Steele, Hudson 81 76 157
Mike LaCivita, Ravenna 81 76 157
Ray Durban, Cleveland 78 80-158
Dave Peck, Macedonia 81 78 159
Jeff Yaw, Rootstown 84 76 160
Geoffrey Burge, Aurora 84 77 161
Butch Morette, Kent 81 82 163
Randy Wilburn, Deerfield 82 83 165
Frank Livak, Brimfield 87 79 166
Lou Boarman, Mogadore 84 82 166
Ray Rousseau, Kent 87 80 167
James Franks, Shalersville 88 84 172
Michael Doherty, Tallmadge. 91 82 173
Chuck Hall, Atwater 84 91 175
Mark Hensel, Kent 87 92 179
William Coffee, Rootstown 87 94 181
Bruce Saxe, Ravenna 89 92 181
George Randall, Hiram 85 100 185
SENIOR GOLD ““ Oak Knolls / Windmill Lakes
John Sloe, Aurora. 69 81 150
Gerald Musiel, Chagrin Falls 74 77 151
Jim Cofojohn, Mantua 76 81 157
Ted Reminder, Streetsboro 79 83 162
Neil Callen, Kent 81 87 168
Don LaBaj, Berea. 82 87 169
Bob Beal, Kent 83 86 169
Matt Habbyshaw, Aurora 82 89 171
Greg Szweda, Kent 86 85 171
David Pifer, Mantua. 86 85 171
C. Dean Thompson, Stow 85 92 177
Jim Zeller, Kent 90 94 184
SENIOR PLATINUM ““ Oak Knolls / Windmill Lakes
Jerry Bobbs, Ravenna 78 82 160* (won sudden-death play-off in one hole)
Robert K. Hall, Ravenna 77 83 160
Roger Mazon, Streetsboro 80 85 165
Terry Bonar, Aurora. 84 88 172
Bob Mishler, Garrettsville. 93 93 186
Jerry Ford, Brimfield 100 96 196
Eli Maravich, Mogadore. 102 95 197
WOMEN ““ Windmill Lakes / Oak Knolls
Nicole Trivisonno, Wickliffe 77 73 150
Meghan Finley, Kent 87 88 176
Lauren Harris, Aurora 106 106 212
SENIOR WOMEN ““ Windmill Lakes / Oak Knolls
Clare Labaj, Berea 96 83 179
Nicole Mullins, Lake Milton 95 86 181
Wendy Brugmann, Mantua 102 100 202
Tracy Moore, Ravenna 102 102 204
