2022 and 2023 NOGA Tour Championship winner Ian Hardesty, a Kent resident and member at Barrington Golf Club, made three consecutive birdies on the TV holes at Firestone Country Club’s South Course to add the Great Lakes Auto Scratch Series finale to his resume for a third time.
After opening the tournament with a pedestrian 74 on the Fazio Course — leaving him a whopping seven shots behind the lead — Hardesty started his round on the 10th tee early on Monday morning, the opposite side from the final featured groupings.
The air was a crisp 48 degrees right before play began, and the course set up was tough.
Hardesty made birdie at 10 for a strong start. A bogey on the next wasn’t helpful. But four straight pars got his round headed in the right direction.
From there, Hardesty went full fireworks: birdies at 16, 17 and 18 to turn at 3-under par for the side and 1-over par for the tournament. He held a 1-shot lead over a pack of players, all of whom were struggling.
A birdie at the par-5 second got Hardesty back to level par for the tournament. Bogeys at the tough fourth and fifth holes hurt, but Hardesty closed with four straight pars to post a 68 on the famed South Course and 2-over par championship total of 142.
2024 Cleveland Amateur champ Lucas Liberatore of Lakewood teed off at the same time as Hardesty, but off the first tee instead of the tenth.
Opening with 69 on the Fazio course to sit in fourth place after Round 1, Liberatore sputtered to 5-over par through seven holes in the early chill on the South Course. He bounced back with birdies at 8 and 11 to give chase to Hardesty, but bogeys at 13 and 18 left him two shots short of the trophy.
Overnight leader Chris Brown shot 67 on the Fazio but went for 79 on the South Course. After each posted a Sunday 68 to sit at T2, Rick Deichert shot 78 and Ben Hogan shot 79 on Monday. Vaughn Snyder shot 70 on the Fazio then 76 on the South, greatly assisted by a back-nine 34 after a frustrating outward nine of 42.
Snyder, Brown and Deichert all finished T3 at 146. Hogan was one shot further back, in sixth place.
In the Senior Division, Fairlawn resident and Firestone Country Club member Howard Clendenin now owns a customized NOGA Tour Championship wine bottle trophy from each division.
Winning the Championship title last year, Clendenin took the Senior edition this year by shooting 4-under par 66 on the Fazio Course on Sunday, then following that up with a solid even-par 70 on the South Course on Monday.
First round co-leader Jeff Semple, also a Firestone member, opened with a birdie on the South Course to jump out to a quick one-shot lead on Monday morning. When Clendenin made bogey at four, Semple was up by two shots.
But Clendenin answered Semple’s call with birdies at 5, 7, 8 and 10 to shut down the conversation.
Semple suffered a run of bogeys right after Howard’s heater to finish in second place at 66-76=142, six shots behind Clendenin.
Windham’s Rob Schustrich took third place at 70-74=144, easily wrapping up the NOGA Senior Player of the Year title for a second consecutive year.
RD2 PHOTO GALLERY: 2025 NOGA Tour Championship >
FINAL RESULTS: Northern Ohio Golf Association
2025 NOGA Great Lakes Auto Tour Championship
Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio
Sunday, September 7, 2025 – Fazio Course
Monday, September 8, 2025 – South Course
Golf Genius Hole-by-Hole Results >
CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION
1 Ian Hardesty, Barrington Golf Club 74 – 68 = 142 $400.00
2 Lucas Liberatore, Big Met Golf Course 69 – 75 = 144 $300.00
T3 Vaughn Snyder, Shady Hollow Country Club 70 – 76 = 146 $175.00
T3 Christopher Brown, Lakewood Country Club 67 – 79 = 146 $175.00
T3 Rick Deichert, Canterbury Golf Club 68 – 78 = 146 $175.00
6 Ben Hogan, Oberlin Golf Club 68 – 79 = 147 $100.00
T7 Andrew Malkus, USGA/Northern Ohio GC 72 – 76 = 148 $37.50
T7 Shaun Kloetzer, USGA/Northern Ohio GC 73 – 75 = 148 $37.50
9 Doug Barber, USGA/Northern Ohio GC 72 – 77 = 149
10 Colin Burns, USGA/Northern Ohio GC 71 – 79 = 150
T11 Andrew Grayson, Weymouth & Fox Meadow CC 72 – 82 = 154
T11 Brian Smith, Oberlin Golf Club 73 – 81 = 154
13 Jack Garswood, USGA/Northern Ohio GC 75 – 80 = 155
T14 Chris Okeson, Mayfield Sand Ridge Club 75 – 81 = 156
T14 Adam Pry, USGA/Northern Ohio GC 79 – 77 = 156
RD2 CHAMPIONSHIP SKINS: $36.67 ea
Adam Pry – Par on 1
Shaun Kloetzer – Birdie on 2
Lucas Liberatore – Birdie on 11
Vaughn Snyder – Birdie on 12
Andrew Grayson – Birdie on 14
Vaughn Snyder – Par on 18
SENIOR DIVISION
1 Howard Clendenin, Firestone Country Club 66 – 70 = 136 $400.00
2 Jeff Semple, Firestone Country Club 66 – 76 = 142 $300.00
3 Robert Schustrich, Trumbull Country Club 70 – 74 = 144 $225.00
T4 Mark Borlin, Silver Lake Country Club 70 – 79 = 149 $150.00
T4 Tom Laubacher, Club Walden 75 – 74 = 149 $150.00
6 Allen Freeman, USGA/Northern Ohio GC 74 – 78 = 152 $100.00
7 Mike Belacic, Firestone Country Club 73 – 80 = 153 $75.00
T8 Paul Krueger, Sleepy Hollow Golf Course 75 – 80 = 155
T8 Dean Cutlip, Firestone Country Club 80 – 75 = 155
10 Nick Lambos, Brookside Country Club 74 – 82 = 156
11 Tom Baugh, Portage Country Club 76 – 81 = 157
12 David Trier, Firestone Country Club 77 – 83 = 160
13 Greg Myers, Club Walden 81 – 81 = 162
14 John Toth, Turkeyfoot Lake Golf Links 79 – 97 = 176
RD2 SENIOR SKINS: $40.00 ea
Jeff Semple – Birdie on 1
Tom Laubacher – Birdie on 3
Howard Clendenin – Birdie on 5
Howard Clendenin – Birdie on 8
Howard Clendenin – Birdie on 10
Dean Cutlip – Birdie on 17
Mark Borlin – Birdie on 18
