The 2021 tournament season of the Northern Ohio Golf Association kicked-off on Thursday with the Great Lakes Auto Scratch Series Four-Ball Championship and Match Play Qualifier at Elyria Country Club.
Aaron Crewse of NOHIO.GOLF Club and Bob Henighan of Westfield Country Club finished at the top of the leaderboard in the Championship Division, posting a 6-under par score of 66 with no bogeys on the card.
“We were watching the live scoring and we knew where we were at,” Crewse said. “We knew there were a couple groups behind us that were close to us and they had some birdie holes left. We were never out of any holes so it was never about making bogey, but just making as many birdies as we could.”
“You can make bogeys here,” Henighan added. “But we were never really in danger of making them.”
Crewse and Hennighan blitzed the back nine in 32 to seal the victory over the team with whom they played their round.
Kurt Peterson and Joshua Clay, both from Shady Hollow Country Club, finished one shot behind in solo second place. Peterson and Clay made an early bogey at the third, but immediately bounced back with three straight birdies after that, and were tied with Crewse and Hennighan at the turn. While Clay made three birdies in a row at holes 14 through 16, by then they were chasing the four-birdie back nine of the eventual winners.
Senior Division
Silver Lake’s Jim Durr and Mark Guadagni won the Senior Division of the Four-Ball event with an tidy 5-under par 67. After a solid start with birdies at the par-5 second and the long par-4 fifth, their lone bogey of the day came at the sixth. But two holes later, Guadagni made eagle-3 at the par-5 eighth to right the ship. From there, they cruised the back nine in 34 to win by one shot.
Fred Miller and Larry Lahnan, both playing out of Club Walden, finished in second place at 4-under par. Miller nearly holed his pitch from the back edge of the green at the last to tie the victors, but agonizingly it spun out of the low side.
Last year’s Senior Player of the Year Monty Guest from Signature of Solon and partner Brian Sparrow of Canterbury Golf Club also had a chance to tie the winners, with Guest having a 15-footer for birdie on the 18th. But an aggressive run led to a bogey finish, putting them into third place at 3-under par total.
2021 NOGA Four-Ball Match Play Brackets Set
The finishes by the teams from each division set the brackets for the season-long NOGA Four-Ball Match Play Championship. Watch for more details in the days ahead on the seedings and match round completion dates.
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FINAL RESULTS: Northern Ohio Golf Association
2021 Great Lakes Auto Scratch Series Four-Ball
+ Season-Long Match Play Qualifier
Elyria Country Club, Elyria, Ohio
Thursday, May 13, 2021
CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION
1 Crewse, Aaron / Henighan, Bob 66 $550.00
2 Clay, Joshua / Peterson, Kurt 67 $420.00
T3 Putinski, Steve / Okeson, Chris 68 $277.50
T3 Gallagher, Patrick / Polick, Brian 68 $277.50
T3 Irvine, Bryn / Skufca, Tim 68 $277.50
T3 OBrien, Jeff / Rhodes, Damian 68 $277.50
7 Barber, Doug / Smith, Brian 69 $140.00
T8 Areddy, Rick / Miano, Thomas 70 $50.00
T8 Bosak, Stephen / Horne, Chri 70 $50.00
T10 Monas, Kent / Nicholson, Danielle 71
T10 Bratsch, Logan / Clark, Jimmy 71
T10 Bernatovicz, John / Meagrow, Jeff 71
T10 Burns, Colin / Deichert, Rick 71
T14 Russo, Nicholas / Thomas, Greg 72
T14 Caponi, Anthony / Metzger, Patrick 72
T14 Farina, Ben / Kencson, Greg 72
T14 Jhaveri, Saumil / Schmid, Chris 72
T18 Cisterino, Tony / Grincewicz, Daniel 73
T18 Griffith, David / Wise, Mark 73
T18 Baumgartner, Emily / McCauley, Evan 73
T18 Cohn, Barry / Stover, David 73
T18 Todd, Griffin / Zarlenga, Joshua 73
T18 Rollins, Patrick / Cawley, Mike 73
T24 Jacob, Kyle / Zgrabik, Andrew 74
T24 Matthews, Nathanael / Schustrich, Robert 74
T26 Geuther, Dan / Butler, Jeff 75
T26 Beebe, Brian / Trier, David 75
T26 Smiltins, George / Youngs, Joe 75
29 Briggs, Anthony / Donahoe, Matt 76
30 Farling, Harold / Schons, Stephen 77
T31 Rice, Jr, Barry / Rowe, Kevin 78
T31 Carr, Andy / Lord, John 78
33 Burns, Bradley / Stradwick, Shawn 82
CHAMPIONSHIP SKINS: $280 ea
Monas, Kent / Nicholson, Danielle – Eagle on 8
Gallagher, Patrick / Polick, Brian – Birdie on 9
Caponi, Anthony / Metzger, Patrick – Birdie on 11
Russo, Nicholas / Thomas, Greg – Birdie on 17
Senior Division
1 Durr, Jim / Guadagni, Mark 67 $440.00
2 Miller, Fred / Lahnan, Larry 68 $320.00
3 Guest, Monty / Sparrow, Brian 69 $200.00
T4 Borlin, Mark / Freeman, Allen 70 $25.00
T4 Flood, Denny / Warnica, Bryan 70 $25.00
T4 Lagrotteria, Paul / Saari, Scott 70 $25.00
T4 Cassell, Mike / Laubacher, Tom 70 $25.00
8 Baugh, Tom / Skidmore, Tom 72
T9 Rehanek, Thomas / Zebris, James 74
T9 Lambos, Nick / Spino, Bob 74
11 Bukovecky, Nick / Weaver, Bob 75
12 Denk, Joe / Miller, Ron 78
13 Skirpstas, Ron / Woznicki, Paul 79
14 Luken, Jeff / McNiece, Ray 80
15 Bryson, Rick / Merrow, Rick 85
SENIOR SKINS: $80 ea
Flood, Denny / Warnica, Bryan – Birdie on 4,
Luken, Jeff / McNiece, Ray – Birdie on 6
Durr, Jim / Guadagni, Mark – Eagle on 8
Cassell, Mike / Laubacher, Tom – Birdie on 10
Lagrotteria, Paul / Saari, Scott – Birdie on 11
Lahnan, Larry / Miller, Fred – Birdie on 17
Flood, Denny / Warnica, Bryan – Birdie on 18
