JIM TROY STORMS FROM BEHIND TO WIN BY ONE AT BEECHMONT
It took 54 holes, the aggravation of several weather stops and restarts, and eventually a couple of playoffs, but the Northern Ohio Nine were finally determined on Wednesday during the Northern Ohio PGA Professional Championship at Beechmont Country Club.
The top five finishers qualified for the 55th PGA Professional National Championship, to be played at the OMNI Barton Creek Courses in Austin, Texas, in April. Four alternates also were determined to make up the Northern Ohio (PGA) Nine.
At the end of the long and wet day, Jim Troy wiped out three years of frustration when he rallied from a three-shot deficit with a 2-under 69 in the final round to win by one shot with a 54-hole total of 1-under 212 with earlier rounds of 75-68.
Troy, Territory Sales Manager for Honma Golf USA, had finished second in this event conducted by the Northern Ohio Section of the Professional Golfers Association of America in each of the last three years.
“When I got here today my goal was to finish under par for the week because I felt if you were under par you would have a good chance of qualifying for the national,” said Troy, who was one-over after two rounds. “In reality, the goal here is to move on.”
Troy, 40, turned in one of just three rounds in the 60s on Wednesday to overtake the four players in front of him on the leaderboard.
“I started out with that lousy 75 and I had second thoughts about coming back,” he said, “But, I went home and thought it over and came back with that 68. So, when I got here today I was feeling really good.”
Canton Brookside Country Club Director of Golf Cory Kumpf shot the best round of the three-day tournament – highlighted by binge of five birdies in an eight-hole stretch — with a 4-under 67 to finish second at 74-72-67 – an even 213 and earn his first trip to the national championship.
“I’ve been working on some things for the last couple of weeks with a new swing coach,” said Kumpf, who began the day six shots out of the lead. “Today it all seemed to come together.”
Kumpf lost his coach when his former boss, NOPGA Hall-of-Famer Gary Robison retired and left the area.
“I had to find somebody and I was looking at the internet and saw a guy by the name of Shauheen Nakhjavani out of Montreal, who works with Steven Ames and Darren Clarke and some others,” Kumpf explained. “I liked what he was talking about so I decided to work with him.”
Obviously, it helped.
Inverness Club Assistant Golf Professional Nathan Desens had the only other round below 70 with a one-under 69 to finish as one of four players tied at 214.
A playoff was necessary to determine the other three qualifiers and the four alternates.
Others at one-over 214 were first-round leader Gary Rusnak, 1899 Golf Cleveland East PGA Teaching Professional, with rounds of (68-73-73); Mark Evans, PGA Head Professional at The Mayfield Sand Ridge Club (70-73-71) and Stone Oak Country Club PGA Head Professional Milton Carswell (71-71-72).
Carswell, Desens and Rusnak earned the three qualifying spots in the playoff. Evans, second-round leader and Pepper Pike Club PGA Head Professional Rob Moss, Barrington Golf Club PGA Head Professional Mark Sierak and Belmont Country Club PGA Assistant Golf Professional and 2019 winner Mike Stone clinching alternate spots.
Troy, a two-time NOPGA Player-of-the-Year and the current points leader, made two birdies over his first six holes. The second birdie came following a 333-yard drive that left him just 185 yards shy of the hole on the 518-yard sixth.
“That was my best drive of the week,” said Troy, who followed with a 7-iron to about 17 feet. He missed the eagle attempt by the width of the ball but had gotten to level-par.
Sometimes it takes a break or two to win and Troy found his on the 540-yard 10th when his drive went over a service road that runs close to the fairway along the right side.
“I really think it went over the road but then bounced back in bounds,” he said. “It was 50-50. It was an incredible break.”
When given a break — real or imagined – one had better take advantage and Troy did. He nearly chipped after a 4-iron left him 70 feet below the green and his ball burned the edge of the cup. A kick-in birdie.
“I could have made seven and almost made three,” he said.
In retrospect that was big, but an even bigger turn came on after a bogey on 14 and a par on the par-3 15th.
After the first weather interruption, he nearly drove the reachable 332-yard 16th and chipped to within 4 feet and made what he called a “little nervy” putt. A nice up-and-down from the right rough and a 7-footer saved par on 17 and he played the closing hole safely, hitting 3-wood off the tee.
The 16th hole was good to Troy all three days. He holed out from the fairway for eagle on Monday and chipped in for par on Tuesday.
Kumpf’s birdie binge began on the 553-yard fifth with a nifty wedge to three feet from about 80 yards. Two holes later a 5-iron to four feet and a left-to-right, downhiller. He followed with a 10-foot putt on 10, an 11-footer on 11 and a monster 25-footer after a 157-yard pitching wedge from the right rough.
He avoided disaster when his tee shot on the 13th landed near the 14th tee box. He was able to get over some trees and back to the fairway but missed an 18-footer for par.
“It could have been a lot worse, so that was kind of a victory,” said the 32-year old.
He saved pars by making a 15-footer after a poor shot from the front bunker on the penultimate hole and chipped to 12 inches after punching out from the right rough on the closing hole.
For most of the day it appeared five-time champion Moss and fellow senior Rusnak would battle to the end. But Rusnak, the winner of last week’s Northern Ohio PGA Senior Professional Championship at Lakewood, took a rare double-bogey when his second shot from the left rough found the pond that sits just off the 13th green. He finished with two bogeys over his final five holes.
Moss, a five-time NOPGA Player-of-the-Year and the runner-up to Rusnak last week, had the lead until he was unable to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker on the par-3 15th. Then uncharacteristically, he bogeyed three of his last four holes.
If it’s any consolation, both Rusnak and Moss qualified for the Senior PGA Professional National Championship at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in October by virtue of their finishes last week.
FINAL RESULTS: Northern Ohio PGA
2021 NOPGA Professional Championship
Beechmont Country Club, Cleveland | Par 71
Monday, August 23 – Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Qualifiers, 55th PGA Professional National Championship:
1 Jim Troy Honma Golf USA 75-68-69–212 -1 $3,000.00
2 Cory Kumpf Brookside 74-72-67–213 E $2,000.00
T3 Nathan Desens Inverness Club 75-70-69–214 +1 $1,275.00
T3 Milton Carswell Stone Oak CC 71-71-72–214 +1 $1,275.00
T3 Gary Rusnak 1899 Golf, CLE East 68-73-73–214 +1 $1,275.00
Alternates, 55th PGA Professional National Championship:
T3 Mark Evans Mayfield SRC – Mayfield 70-73-71–214 +1 $1,275.00
7 Rob Moss Pepper Pike Club 69-71-75–215 +2 $900.00
T8 Mike Stone Belmont CC 72-72-72–216 +3 $733.33
T8 Mark Sierak Barrington 71-72-73–216 +3 $733.33
T8 Joe Meglen GolfTEC-Stonebrook 76-69-71–216 +3 $733.33
T11 Scott Pollack 1899 Golf, CLE East 70-78-70–218 +5 $550.00
T11 Tom Atchison Salem GC 74-73-71–218 +5 $550.00
T11 Drew Pierson Shaker Heights 72-75-71–218 +5 $550.00
T11 Steve Bordner The Country Club 71-74-73–218 +5 $550.00
T11 Randy Dietz Windmill Golf Center 70-71-77–218 +5 $550.00
T16 Adam Lewicki Portage 71-77-71–219 +6 $462.50
T16 Gary Trivisonno PGA Life Member 74-72-73–219 +6 $462.50
T18 William McKinley Canterbury 76-73-72–221 +8 $400.00
T18 Jaysen Hansen Beechmont 75-72-74–221 +8 $400.00
T18 Steve Mulcahy Shawnee CC 73-74-74–221 +8 $400.00
T21 David Morgan Eagle Creek GC 75-74-73–222 +9 $337.50
T21 Tony Adcock Seven Hills CC 75-73-74–222 +9 $337.50
23 Nick Paez GolfTEC-Cleveland West 75-73-75–223 +10 $300.00
T24 Jon Jones Youngstown 74-75-75–224 +11 $262.50
T24 Michael Quinteros Inverness Club 71-78-75–224 +11 $262.50
26 Tony Milam North Coast Jr Tour 78-70-79–227 +14 $225.00
27 Mark Bixler Kirtland 75-70-86–231 +18 $200.00
