Northern Ohio PGA Takes 6-2 Lead after Day 1 Matches
A team of youngsters representing the Northern Ohio Professional Golfers Association built a 6-2 lead over their counterparts from the Southern Ohio PGA in the first round of the third Junior Ohio Cup on Saturday at demanding Brookside Country Club in Canton.
The final 16 Singles matches are scheduled for Sunday morning starting at 10 a.m.
The event is patterned after the Ryder Cup with Fourball (also known as Bestball) matches and Singles matches with one point awarded for each match-play win. Eight boys and eight girls are on each team.
The NOPGA, seeking its third straight victory, was led by its girls side, which swept all four of its matches on a perfect day for golf with mild temperatures and little wind.
The team of Kayla Knaze (Westlake) and Annelise Stencel (Akron) led the way with a 5-and-4 victory over Emma Gebhart and Taylor Stringfield in the only lopsided match of the day. Elena Varga and Rachel Rush, both of Hudson, also won easily, 4-and-2, over Aubrey Arnold and Samantha Spearman.
Korrine Knaze and Yumi Kohara (Cuyahoga Falls) and Julia Gulla (Sagamore Hills) and Kate Vickerman (Medina) provided the other NOPGA wins.
The NOPGA boys were not as fortunate as they split the four matches. Dexter James (Hudson) and Ryan O’Leary (Westlake) defeated Lucas Massa and Christian Yoder, 2-up and Dominic Castelluccio (Westlake) and Jake Rainieri (Mogadore) beat Brady Reuter and Reid Seimetz, 3-and-2.
SOPGA got victories from the boys teams of Casey Colton and Luke Holop, who edged Wren Spires (Medina) and Griffin Pickett (Painesville), 1-up, and Braylen Haney and Carter Westendorf, who beat Elijah Stewart (East Liverpool) and Mick Ambrose (Canfield), 4-and-3.
The competition was close as three of the eight matches were not decided until the 18th hole. One ended on the 17th hole and three on 16.
Players on both sides had to be careful in dealing with Brookside’s treacherous greens. The 32 youngsters recorded 32 birdies with the SOPGA team of Haney and Westendorf and the NOPGA’s Castelluccio and Rainieri leading the field with six each.
