The last event of the season designed explicitly for senior professionals takes place Thursday, August 3 and Friday, August 4 when the Northern Ohio Section of the Professional Golfers Association conducts its NOPGA Senior Professional Championship at Shawnee Country Club in Lima.
It is the first time Shawnee Country Club has played host to the event, whose finish has multiple implications. Not only is it a significant event in the race for the Senior Player of the Year Award, but the top four finishers qualify for the 2023 Senior PGA Professional Championship, to be held in October at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The next four finishers will serve as alternates.
Reigning champion Rob Moss, PGA Head Professional at the Pepper Pike Club, will not be able to play due to a schedule conflict. Moss, the current leader in the POTY race, won in a playoff last year at Westbrook Country Club in Mansfield following rounds of 4-under 70-70-140. Belmont Country Club PGA Assistant Professional Mike Stone also finished at 140 but Moss prevailed after one hole.
Former champions Gary Trivisonno (2008-2011), Steve Stone (2019), Gary Rusnak (2021), Tony Milam (2017, 2015) and Mitch Camp (2014) have entered, as well as Steve Parker and Jon Jones, contenders for player-of-the-year honors.
Parker, former PGA Director of Golf at Portage Country Club and now a PGA Coaching & Teaching Professional at the club, trails Moss by 100 points in the POTY standings. Rusnak, a PGA Coaching & Teaching Professional at 1899 Golf-Cleveland East, is third. Camp, PGA Director of Golf at Club Walden, is fourth, and Jones, a PGA Assistant Golf Professional at Youngstown Country Club, is fifth.
Shawnee Country Club, founded in 1904, plays to par-72 and approximately 6,036 yards.
