It all comes down to the season’s final event: the Great Lakes Auto NOGA Tour Championship will determine the NOGA Player of the Year.
A field of up to 48 players – 24 from the Championship Division, 24 from the Senior Division – will take to the West and South Courses at Firestone Country Club in Akron starting this Sunday to determine not only the winner of the Tour Championship, but also finalize the Player of the Year title.
Well, in one division, anyway.
There is a wide swing in the Player of the Year points that will be awarded from the Tour Championship, meaning the two days of play at Firestone will go a long way in determining the season-long points finish.
First place at Firestone is worth 262.5 points, with last place earning 7.5 points. So if the current POY points leader, Jeff Blechschmidt of the Mayfield Sand Ridge Club, finishes T15 or worse at the Tour Championship, any of the current top-3 players could still take the title: Tim Skufca of Avon Oaks, Josh Clay from Shady Hollow, or Brian Polick from Weymouth/Fox Meadow.
The finish for the Senior Player of the Year honor is not up for challenge, however. Defending POY Monty Guest, playing out of Signature of Solon, cannot be overtaken as he has a 292 point lead. So the senior field is simply playing to win the Championship itself and determine the final order of finish in the POY race.
New for this season, NOGA has created two perpetual crystal trophies to honor the NOGA Player of the Year winners, one for each division. These trophies will be on display at NOGA’s Wharton Golf Center, with all past and future POY winner’s names etched into plates on the mahogany base.
Play for the 2021 edition of the NOGA Tour Championship begins on the West Course on Sunday at noon, then finishes up on Monday morning starting at 8 a.m. on the iconic South Course. Watch noga.org for live scoring.
