It doesn’t get much better than making an ace in a really big skins game.
Eric Wonkovich of Lakewood holed out a one-shotter from 185 yards on the difficult par-3 13th hole at Turkeyfoot Lake Golf Links in Akron on Saturday. With it, he earned a share of the $1,920 skins pot up that was for grabs in the season-opening NOHIO.GOLF Turkeyfoot Stableford + Skins Game.
The weather at Turkeyfoot was brutal on Saturday, as 15-25 mph winds gusted under cloudy skies for all but the first hour of play for the early groups. Rain showers began just as the final group of the day teed off, and continued off-and-on for the remainder of the day’s play. The final Stableford scores reflected the difficulty of the weather conditions, because the Turkeyfoot golf course was in fantastic condition for mid-March, especially the greens.
For a period of time after the event, it was thought that Wonkovich was the Stableford points event champion, too. But the hole-by-hole score-to-points conversion within the Golf Genius Live Scoring system was set up incorrectly for an ace, awarding Wonkovich too many points for his hole-in-one. The rules sheet stated that an eagle was worth five points, but Golf Genius awarded eight points for his ace — the amount earned only for an albatross. When another player in the field pointed out the discrepancy, the extra points awarded for the ace was corrected, and the edit put Allen Freeman of Brecksville at the top of the Stableford list.
Freeman also benefitted from a hole-out eagle of his own, a pitch in from about 35 yards on the par-4 14th hole that earned a skin. Combining his three birdies on the front side with the eagle and a handful of pars, his total reached 20 points which was good enough for a two point win over Wonkovich.
Eric Coven of Elyria took third place with a total of 17 points, making three birdies on the day.
There were seven skins won in total for the event, making each one worth a tidy $275.
Fairlawn’s Howard Clendenin dunked a 30-footer for eagle at the drivable par-4 first hole to get the skin winners going. Tough into-the-wind birdies on the long par-3 eighth by Akron’s Ed Diebold and on the par-4 ninth by Medina’s Tyler Watkins were hard earned. The only surprise skin of the day came at the short downwind par-4 12 hole, where Jack Garswood of Cleveland turned his birdie there into a ‘how about that’ skin.
The next event on the NOHIO.GOLF Series schedule is The Quarry 2-Player Scramble in Canton on Saturday, April 2nd. That field is about half-way full with two weeks of signup time left to go. So don’t delay if you want to ensure your team has a spot in the field…
PHOTO GALLERY: 2020 NOHIO.GOLF Turkeyfoot Stableford + Skins >
FINAL RESULTS: NOHIO.GOLF Series
2022 Turkeyfoot Stableford + Skins
Turkeyfoot Lake Golf Links, Akron
Saturday, March 19, 2022
SKINS RESULTS: $275 ea
Howard Clendenin, Fairlawn – Eagle on 1
Ryan Stefanski, Sagamore Hills – Birdie on 3
Ed Diebold, Akron – Birdie on 8
Tyler Watkins, Medina – Birdie on 9
Jack Garswood, Fairview Park – Birdie on 12
Eric Wonkovich, Lakewood – HOLE IN ONE on 13
Allen Freeman, Brecksville – Eagle on 14
STABLEFORD RESULTS
1 Allen Freeman, Brecksville 20 $295.00
2 Eric Wonkovich, Lakewood 18 $200.00
3 Eric Coven, Elyria 17 $140.00
T4 Mark Borlin, Stow 16 $70.00
T4 Jay Dean, Akron 16 $70.00
T4 Jimmy Wild, Sagamore Hills 16 $70.00
T7 Tim Cebula, Cleveland 15 $35.00
T7 Zach Drukenbrod, Canton 15 $35.00
T9 Jack Garswood, Fairview Park 14 $9.00
T9 Matthew Frey, Broadview Heights 14 $9.00
T9 Ryan Stefanski, Sagamore Hills 14 $9.00
T9 Jon Lieser, Canton 14 $9.00
T9 Ty Kovach, Medina 14 $9.00
T14 Kyle Jones, Canton 12
T14 Brian Polick, Wadsworth 12
T14 John Toth, Akron 12
T14 Dave Canter, Manchester 12
T18 Kory Hull, Coventry 11
T18 Tom Stack, Akron 11
T18 Shayne Bishop, New Franklin 11
T18 Mark Williams, Norton 11
T18 Howard Clendenin, Fairlawn 11
T23 Tyler Watkins, Medina 10
T23 Adam Arman, Massillon 10
T25 Wyatt Suntala, Lakewood 9
T25 Anthony Marozzi, Ravenna 9
T25 Justin Trzebuckowski, Broadview Heights 9
T28 Max Decheco, Stow 8
T28 Brent Myers, Kidron 8
T28 Mike Shisler, Doylestown 8
T31 Lou Boarman, Mogadore 7
T31 Logan Hull, Green 7
T31 Scott Loudon, North Canton 7
T31 Bart Williams, Copley 7
T31 Ed Diebold, Akron 7
T36 Dan Terry, Brunswick 6
T36 Joe Denk, Fairview Park 6
T38 Mike Stefko, Broadview Heights 5
T38 Joe Sutter, Green 5
T38 Chris Okeson, Lyndhurst 5 WD
T41 Vaughn Snyder, Massillon 4 WD
T41 Mike Simpson, Uniontown 4 WD
T43 Chance Phifer, Akron 3 WD
T43 Brian Beebe, Uniontown 3 WD
T45 Nate MatthewsCleveland 2 WD
T45 Phil Bojc, Powell 2 WD
T47 Aaron Czetli, Cuyahoga Falls WD
T47 Michael Dota, Avon WD
