It all came down to the last six holes, and the two teams with the ‘eldest’ veteran players in the field got the job done.
Cea and Skirpstas are both over age 65, which allowed them to play the two-boxes-up white tees under the series’ variable-tees-by-age rules. It’s more a field-leveler than an advantage, as the tees are set to be fair to all — and players still need to get the ball in the hole.
On the back nine, ‘get it in the hole’ is exactly what the two winning teams did.
For the most part, every team in the hunt for the victory was tied after the outward side. Half of the field — 9 of 18 teams — shot either 34 or 35 on Ironwood’s challenging front nine. The constantly swirling winds and the wet conditions from two days of rain made scoring difficult, too.
After their front-side 34, Cea and Shustrich went to work on the back. They produced a clean scorecard with birdies at 12, 13, 17 and 18 for a back-nine 31 and a 6-under par 65 total.
Skirpstas and Trzebuckowski had a more difficult task, as they shot 35 on the front side.
After pars on the first three holes on the back, Skirpstas birdied three holes in a row at 13-14-15, followed by a team bogey at the 16th. Then a bounce-back birdie by Skirpstas at 17 and a chip-in eagle from the back of the green on the par-5 18th by Trzebuckowski (“I thought I missed it”) gave the pair a sizzling back nine 30 and a 65 total as well.
But it was the way Skirpstas and Trzebuckowski shot their 65 that made them the event’s big winners: they earned three of the five skins won on the day, hauling a total of $972 for their efforts.
Brian Smith and Ryan Stefanski finished solo third one shot behind at 66, and three teams tied for fourth place at 68. Complete results below.
The next event on the 2018 Northeast Ohio Golf Tournament Series schedule is the individual Chardon Lakes Stroke Play Tournament on Sunday, July 8th with tee times beginning at 1p.
FINAL RESULTS:
Northeast Ohio Golf Tournament Series
2018 Ironwood 2-Player Better Ball
Ironwood Golf Course, Hinckley OH
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Justin Trzebuckowski / Ron Skirpstas 35 – 30 = 65 $540.00
Jim Cea / Rob Schustrich 34 – 31 = 65 $540.00
Brian Smith / Ryan Stefanski 34 – 32 = 66 $220.00
Mitchell Moore / Noah Marks 35 – 33 = 68 $46.00
Jimmy Wild / Zach Koinis 34 – 34 = 68 $46.00
Ty Kovach / Allen Freeman 34 – 34 = 68 $46.00
Fred Miller / Larry Lahnan 35 – 34 = 69
Matt Frey / Tyler Watkins 35 – 35 = 70
Dave Trier / Mike Armour 37 – 33 = 70
Drew Thompson / Wil Bethune 38 – 33 = 71
Jon Lieser / Tim Heavner 36 – 35 = 71
Jeff Stormer / Dean Cutlip 37 – 35 = 72
Gabriel Reynolds / Marc Matteson 35 – 37 = 72
Dan Sabo / Dan Finlin 40 – 33 = 73
Dave Sotka / Nick Anagnost 37 – 36 = 73
Kevin Breen / Dennis Berkheimer 40 – 38 = 78
Bobby Harmon / Brian Lenadter 41 – 37 = 78
Ryan Hostetler / Austin Pierce 42 – 40 = 82
SKINS: $144 ea
Ty Kovach / Allen Freeman Hole #5 Birdie 3
Justin Trzebuckowski / Ron Skirpstas Hole #6 Birdie 2
Fred Miller / Larry Lahnan Hole #8 Birdie 3
Justin Trzebuckowski / Ron Skirpstas Hole #15 Birdie 3
Justin Trzebuckowski / Ron Skirpstas Hole #18 Eagle 3
