Ohio Golf Journal August 2020

Ohio Women’s Amateur & Mid-Amateur The97thOhioWomen’s Amateur and Mid- Amateur were held at Belmont Country Club in Toledo. Kalya Davis and Alison Schultz fired rounds of one-under-par 72 to earn medalist honors and qualify for the match play portion of the tournament. In the final Kristin Jamieson had to go 20 holes to defeat Katlyn Shutt for the championship. In the Ohio Women’s Mid-Amateur, Cari Helter was Stroke Play Medalist and earned the number one seed for the Match Play segment. Janie Klare defeated Oliva Hochschwender in the final match by a commanding 5&3 margin. The Ohio Senior Women’s Championship will be held September 21-22 at Piqua Country Club. Registration details can be found at: https://www.wosga.org/ Ohio Open Alan Freeman post- ed on his website, NEOHGo l f . com that Pickerington’s Alex Weiss erased the memory of a runner-up finish one year ago and played steady golf in the final round to win the 99th Pyr - amid Treating/Minute Men Ohio Open Championship at Weymouth Country Club. Weiss, 24, outlasted three-time champion Bob Sowards and Kent State assistant coach Ryan Yip to win by one shot after a final-round 69 gave him a 54-hole score of 13-under 203. The Ohio Open is one of the most prestigious events in the state and has been conducted since 1924. Past winners include familiar names such as: Denny Shute, Byron Nelson, Billy Burke, Herman Keiser, Jack Nicklaus, Frank Stranahan and Tom Weiskopf. Sowards was seeking to become the first man to win both the Ohio Open and the Ohio Senior Open in the same season and had a two-shot lead with just a few holes to go. Uncharacteristically, he faltered down the stretch with three bogeys over his final four holes. Ohio Senior Open Freeman also reported that Sowards did prevail in the Ohio Senior Open that was contested at Firestone Country Club. He became the first repeat winner in 13 years, by carding a final-round two-under par 68. Howard Clendenin finished four shots back to capture runner-up, while six players, including 2013 champion, Tom Waitrovich, of Westlake, Toledo’s Steve Stone, Mike Kaido, from Zanesville, Canton’s Tony Adcock, and amateurs, Mike Kelley, Westerville, as well as, Tony Hejna, Cleveland, finished tied for third. Sowards was locked in a one-on-one duel with Clendenin through 12 holes, with both men tied at one-under par on a testy, swirling windy day, before the tournament swung in Sowards’ direction. Sowards, arguably the hottest player in Ohio and undoubtedly the best senior player in Ohio, dropped in a 25-foot putt for eagle. Clendenin, a resident of Seville and a Firestone member, had made birdie playing one group in front. The lead became three when Clendenin recorded a bogey on the 15th. When Sowards added a birdie on the 506-yard 17th he cruised to the four-shot victory.