Monday August 23rd

Monday Night Scratch League player and Chippy veteran Ty Kovach had a spectacular clutch final round 71 to hold off perennial Champion Dave Oates (149) and win the Chippy Cup Trophy with a two day total of 146, good for a 3 stroke victory. Randy Skorman, another past Champion, roared back from a first round 78 to fire a 73 in round two and finish with a 151 total, good for 3rd place. In the end, it was a combination of tough but fair pins, with some ironman tough pins on the triangle, with only one way in to stop the ball. All in all, it was quite a show, with some of, if not the best, players in the area managing their way around the very difficult Chippy track on a warm and blustery day. I myself had to endure the conditions of the torrential rain on a late Saturday afternoon, well after most of the field had already finished their round. Play was mercifully suspended late Saturday with only my group and one other on the golf course, and we had to go early Sunday to finish the 17th and 18th holes, before beginning play for the 2nd round. It was a long weekend, starting with the party in the tent on Friday night, and culminating late last night with the awards ceremony, the crowning of the Champion, and the traditional pork and corn dinner. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to spend the weekend with us, it truly is overwhelming the support we get for this torture fest, the staff behind the desk, Dan Dauk, Eric McKinney, Don Olney and their assistants, the Grille Room staff led by 22 year veteran Mama Hayes, Brad Stewart and his crew that just did an amazing job as usual, and I got to witness it first hand on Sunday morning at 6 am, getting everything mowed, greens double cut and double rolled, hand buckets to clear the water out of the sand, it was a monumental effort by everyone involved to put on a great Club Championship tournament, and I am so proud of each and every person on the staff that worked their butts off to make it a truly memorable event. We will be posting all the details shortly but for now, please visit www.neohgolf.com and you can get a preview of what it was like this past weekend. Al Freeman, thank you very much for the promotion, you indeed are the real voice for the golfers in Northeast Ohio, and I thank you immensely for your tireless efforts on your fine website. More coming soon........