The Northern Ohio Golf Association will bring its annual Interclub Team Championship to the historic Inverness Club in Toledo in 2022, on Monday, May 23rd.
The Interclub Championships have been played almost as long as NOGA has existed. For decades, each of the clubs who make up the Northern Ohio Golf Association have been invited to field a team of members to compete against the other clubs in the Association.
For many years, NOGA’s Interclub was played under a six player, grind-it-out format with stroke play qualifying followed by a season-long series team-vs-team matches.
But in 2019, based on player suggestions, NOGA changed the format of the Interclub to teams of four players. That year, NOGA held a series of three one-day scratch Interclub events, played in three different competitive formats at three different courses. Oberlin Golf Club won the series that year in a close contest over Massillon’s Shady Hollow. Brian Smith, Ben Farina, Ben Hogan and Conor Mead made up the Oberlin squad.
In 2020, the Interclub Team Championship became a single day event, and the format went to the three lowest scratch scores of four players in aggregate. The 2020 edition was won by the Sand Ridge Club, shooting a 2-under par team total at the Canterbury Golf Club in Cleveland. Chris Okeson led the way for Sand Ridge with a 68, while Brandon Mihalo and Samuel Zimmer each shot 73.
Massillon’s Shady Hollow Country Club won the 2021 Interclub at Barrington Golf Club in Aurora, also shooting a 2-under par team total to win the event by a stout four shots. Jeff Thrams shot 70 (and earned co-medalist honors), while Josh Clay and Kurt Peterson shot even par 72 to make up the three score total of the four player team.
For the first time, the 2022 Interclub Team Championship will include club teams from all across Northern Ohio, including teams from the clubs of the Toledo area. The former Toledo District Golf Association is fully integrated into NOGA, making those clubs eligible to compete.
The Inverness Club has a rich history of hosting major championship golf, including four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, two U.S. Senior Opens, a U.S. Amateur, a U.S. Junior Am, two NCAA Championships, and recently the 2021 Solheim Cup. The club is slated to host the U.S. Women’s Open in 2027 and the U.S. Amateur Championship in 2029.
Each player on a club’s Interclub Team must have an active GHIN Handicap Index® at the time of registration and competition, even though the day’s play will be conducted at scratch. A club representative or the club’s team captain will register their entire Interclub team online for the event when registrations open in late April. Preference will be given to teams that have competed in the most recent Interclub Championships, should the number of team registrations exceed player capacity.
Watch noga.org or this website for complete entry details when they are made available.
