Mike Simpson of Green has finally earned his Chippewa Championship victory.
Long known as one of the top amateur players in Northeast Ohio, Simpson has won many tournaments over the years and has been close to victory at the Chippewa Championship before.
But he’s never won Chippewa’s big event, even though the layout of the course and the strengths of his game are a near perfect match.
This year, Simpson played two solid rounds, finished at even par for the 36-hole event, and earned his title.
“I’ve wanted to win this thing for so long, and I’m excited that I’ve finally done it,” Simpson said while being photographed holding the trophy along side Chippewa’s Kevin Larizza after Sunday’s play. “I play in the Scratch League. I play here all the time. I love Chippewa. This is great.”

Simpson shot a solid 2-under par 69 on Saturday, but began Sunday’s final round one shot behind Brian Smith of Amherst, who sizzled in Round 1 with a 68.
But with the traditionally tricky setup (the hole locations weren’t crazy, but they certainly kept players off-balance) and a breeze that seemed to come out of nowhere sporadically, Smith struggled on Sunday to a 77.
That same tricky setup allowed him to hold down solo second place, however, as no one could mount a charge big enough to overcome Smith’s great score from Saturday.

Canton’s Vaughn Snyder came the closest to making that big comeback, shooting a Sunday 72 to tie for the low round of the finale. Combined with his Saturday 74, the former Ohio Open and Ohio Amateur champ finished one shot behind Smith at 146.
A pair of former Chippewa champions rounded out the top-5, as North Canton’s Aaron Crewse took fourth place and Stow’s Dave Trier grabbed the fifth position.
Four players won skins on Sunday to go along with the three skin winners from Saturday’s play. Those seven players split a sizable total skins pot of $3,900, good for $557 each. See who they are at the bottom of the results.
Kudos to host Kevin Larizza for the well-orchestrated event, to superintendent Brad Stewart for the fine golf course conditions, and the rest of the Chippewa staff for the great food and well run tournament functions. It’s why the top amateur players in the region come back year after year…
PHOTO GALLERY: 2019 CHIPPEWA CHAMPIONSHIP RD2 >
FINAL RESULTS:
2019 Chippewa Championship
Chippewa Golf Club, Doylestown, Ohio
Sat/Sun, August 24-25, 2019
1 Mike Simpson 69 – 73 = 142 $500
2 Smith, Brian 68 – 77 = 145 $300
3 Snyder, Vaughn 74 – 72 = 146 $200
4 Crewse, Aaron 73 – 74 = 147 $125
5 Trier, Dave 75 – 74 = 149 $75
T6 Li, Tommy 71 – 79 = 150
Okeson, Chris 77 – 73 = 150
T8 Schustrich, Rob 72 – 79 = 151
Krivanek, Jim 77 – 74 = 151
T10 Clendenin, Howard 73 – 79 = 152
Stefanski, Ryan 73 – 79 = 152
Freeman, Al 74 – 78 = 152
Gasser, Matt 80 – 72 = 152
T14 Prok, Josh 75 – 79 = 154
Wild, Jimmy 78 – 76 = 154
T16 Miller, Fred 75 – 80 = 155
Marr, Dan 76 – 79 = 155
Miano, Tommy 78 – 77 = 155
Bojc, Phil 79 – 76 = 155
T20 Drukenbrod, Zach 75 – 81 = 156
Kovach, Ty 77 – 79 = 156
Kloetzer, Shaun 79 – 77 = 156
T23 Lowder, Hunter 76 – 82 = 158
Spino, Bobby 77 – 81 = 158
Koprivec, Kenny 78 – 80 = 158
Vincellette, Brian 81 – 77 = 158
T27 Cutlip, Dean 74 – 85 = 159
Beebe, Brian 78 – 81 = 159
T29 Schneider, Mark 75 – 85 = 160
Gamble, Brian 80 – 80 = 160
31 Barnett, Chris 81 – 80 = 161
T32 Toth, John 80 – 82 = 162
Watkins, Tyler 81 – 81 = 162
T34 White, Ryan 81 – 82 = 163
Stewart, Brad 83 – 80 = 163
36 Kabasky, John 85 – 79 = 164
T37 Loomis, Rob 79 – 86 = 165
Fleming, Doug 82 – 83 = 165
Frey, Matt 84 – 81 = 165
T40 Rybka, Russ 74 – 92 = 166
Wenger, Jeff 80 – 86 = 166
Berkheimer, Bob 81 – 85 = 166
Terry, Dan 81 – 85 = 166
Berkheimer, Dennis 82 – 84 = 166
Loftin, Alex 83 – 83 = 166
Zgrabik, Andrew 83 – 83 = 166
T47 Sutter, Joe 86 – 81 = 167
Karic, Zoran 82 – 85 = 167
Troutman, Ken 84 – 83 = 167
50 Wilson Sr., Steve 79 – 89 = 168
51 Grabowski, JJ 82 – 87 = 169
T52 Cunningham, Ron 80 – 90 = 170
Harbert, Brant 84 – 86 = 170
T54 Helaney, Chris 81 – 90 = 171
Harmon, Bobby 81 – 90 = 171
Rice, Cody 84 – 87 = 171
T57 Horner, Larry 83 – 89 = 172
Pattakos, John 84 – 88 = 172
Shoup, Matt 85 – 87 = 172
Linsalata, Ryan 87 – 85 = 172
T61 Czetli, Aaron 82 – 91 = 173
Vellios, John 82 – 91 = 173
Dealmeida, Demitrius 87 – 86 = 173
64 Ream, Tom 85 – 89 = 174
T65 Kachurchak, Brandon 88 – 88 = 176
Vellios, Yianni 88 – 88 = 176
67 Gorham, Josh 94 – 84 = 178
68 Larizza, Kevin 89 – 91 = 180
69 Coleman, Don 93 – 88 = 181
T70 Derhammer, Ben 89 – 94 = 183
Noguez, Emilio 89 – 94 = 183
72 Baksa, Bill 93 – 95 = 188
73 Mirelli, Jeff 91 – 100 = 191
74 Swinerton, Ben 96 – 100 = 196
NC Dettweiler, Aaron 80 – NC
NC Grate, Blaine 87 – NC
NC Feist, Steve 88 – NC
NC Niskenan, Jim 89 – NC
NC Bishop, Shayne NC – NC
NS Biaci, Fred 87 – NS
NS Busa, John NS
NS Lee, Chris NS
NS Markham, Tom NS
NS Snyder, Matt NS
NS Thomas, Mark NS
36-HOLE SKINS:
The $50 per player skins pot is divided by the total number of skin winners from two rounds of the Championship.
SATURDAY SKINS:
Hole 10 Mark Schneider (Eagle-3) $557
Hole 11 Al Freeman (Eagle -3) $557
Hole 12 Kenny Koprivek (Birdie-2) $557
SUNDAY SKINS:
Hole 2 Dave Trier (Birdie-2) $557
Hole 3 Chris Okeson (Eagle-3) $557
Hole 16 Ty Kovach (Birdie-3) $557
Hole 18 Shayne Bishop (Birdie-3) $557
Congrats to you Mike, way to go!!!!! Kudos to Kevin, Brad and their staff for a great weekend of golf at a great golf club. Ty