2026 NOPGA Tournament Season Begins at Firestone Country Club April 13-14
The year was 1946.
Lloyd Mangrum won the U.S. Open at Canterbury Golf club just outside Cleveland. Ben Hogan won the PGA Championship at the Portland Golf Club in Oregon. Herman Keiser, the head professional at Firestone Country Club, beat Hogan by one stroke to win the Masters. Sam Snead won the Open Championship at St. Andrews.
On September 9 of that year the Northern Section of the Ohio Professional Golfers Association was founded.
Like the game of golf, the NOPGA has never stopped growing.
With a membership now totaling 526, the NOPGA begins the 2026 season on Monday at Firestone Country Club with the playing of the Pro-Pro Premier, a 36-hole, two-day, two-person team event and the first of more than 100 tournaments and/or events the Section will conduct over the next seven months.
Highlighting the schedule are the Section’s 13 “major” events, including the 41st Ohio Senior Open, the 105th Ohio Open, the 30th Ohio Cup Matches and many other tournaments that are available to junior players, amateurs, seniors and women under the direction of Executive Director David Griffith and his talented and dedicated staff.
Events are staged practically every Monday at some of the top clubs in the region and features many of the Section’s top players such as five-time Rolex Player of the Year Jim Troy (The Golf Dome); three-time Rolex Senior Player of the Year Mike Stone (Belmont Country Club); five-time Rolex Associate Player of the Year Michael Balcar (Brandywine Country Club) and two-time Rolex Women’s Player of the Year Mary Suitca (Tannenhauf Golf Club).
The season also means NOPGA Hall-of-Famers such as Rob Moss (Pepper Pike Club), Steve Parker (Firestone Country Club), Tom Waitrovich (PGA Lifetime Member), Gary Trivisonno (PGA Life Member), Tony Milam (North Coast Junior Golf Tour) and many others will show they can compete with the younger players, as well as in Senior events.
Firestone Country Club, one of the most widely recognized clubs in the country, graciously will host six events this season highlighted by the playing of the 105th Ohio Open, June 29-July 1. This is the 70th anniversary of 16-year-old Jack Nicklaus winning the 1956 Ohio Open at Marietta Country Club.
Sand Ridge Golf Club will accommodate three events, highlighted by the 30th Ohio Cup Matches, Oct. 5-7, in which a team of NOPGA members will face a team from the SOPGA in a Ryder Cup-like event.
2026 NOPGA Majors Schedule
In chronological order, here are the 13 NOPGA “majors.”
˙ 41st Ohio Senior Open, May 27-28, Fazio Course, Firestone, Akron. Defending champion: Bob Sowards (Dublin).
˙ 49th Junior Section Championship, June 22-23, Glenmoor, Canton: 2025 Defending champions: Silas Kirkpatrick (Clinton); Gracyn Vidovic (Aurora).
˙ 105th Pyramid Treating Ohio Open Championship, June 29-July 1, Firestone North & Fazio. Defending champion: Will Grimmer (Dayton).
˙ 43rd Kenny Novak/Junior Tour Championship, Oberlin. Defending champions: Ryan Dinan (Boys 16-19); Julia Gulla (Girls 16-19); Trent Reidel (Boys 14-15); Anna Phillips (Girls 11-15); Coleson Paez (Boys 11-3).
˙ 76th NOPGA Professional Championship, Aug. 10-12, Tippecanoe. Defending champion: Jaysen Hansen (Toledo CC). AKA the Section Championship.
˙ 6th NOPGA Women’s Section Championship, Aug. 24-25, Union Country Club, Dover. Defending champion: Mary Suitca (Tannenhauf).
˙ 42nd NOPGA Senior Professional Championship, Aug; 24-25, Union Country Club, Dover. Defending champion: Gary Rusnak (1899 Indoor Golf). AKA the Senior Section Championship.
˙ 57th NOPGA Assistants Championship, Shaker Heights, Sept. 8: Defending champion: Michael Balcar (Toledo, Brandywine).
˙ 96th Habitec Toledo Open, Belmont, Sept. 14-15: Defending champion: John Claire, Camillus, NY.
˙ 20th Mitchell-Haskell Tour Championship, Country, Sept. 28-29: Defending champions: Sean McGuire (Pepper Pike CC) Regular Division; Jon Jones (Youngstown CC), Senior Division.
˙ 30th Ohio Cup Matches, Sand Ridge Golf Club, Oct. 5-7.
Defending champion: Southern Ohio PGA.
˙ 52nd Denny Shute Match Play Championship, Portage, Oct. 12-14. Defending champions: Jim Troy (Strongsville, 1899 Indoor Golf), Regular Division; Gary Rusnak (Painesville, 1899 Indoor Golf); Kyle Buzaki (Stow/Glenmoor) Associate Division.
˙ 4th Junior Ohio Cup Matches, Kinsale Golf Club, Oct. 17-18. Defending champion: NOPGA.
