TOLEDO CC PRO JAYSEN HANSEN WINS NOPGA SECTION CHAMPIONSHIP FOR SECOND TIME
Victories come in all varieties.
There is your expected victory as opposed to your upset victory. You’ve also got your moral victory and your landslide victory, which we all know is the irreconcilable of your narrow victory.
We can’t forget the gratifying victory, the well-earned victory and the shallow victory. We’ve all heard of the bitter-sweet victory, like when you beat your little brother or your best friend.
Any champion will tell you there is no such thing as an easy victory.
One way or another Jaysen Hansen experienced practically all those varieties on Wednesday when he capped three days of terrific golf and won the coveted Northern Ohio Professional Golfers Association Professional Championship for the second time with a near-flawless final-round 69 for a 54-hole score of 7-under 200 at Tippecanoe Country Club.
Hansen, the head professional at Toledo Country Club who last won this event in 2020, was the only player in the field of 56 -– 28 if you count those who made Tuesday’s cut – to shoot three consecutive sub-par rounds over Tippecanoe’s challenging 6,902 yards with scores of 71-69-69.
This was no fluke. Hansen beat a strong field and a stronger golf course that yielded just 15 sub-par rounds out of a possible 168. He made twice as many birdies (14) as bogeys (7) and certainly no doubles.
Jim Troy, an instructor at The Golf Dome, equaled the second-lowest score of the event with a final-round 67 to finish second with scores of 75-70-67=212.
Troy, a three-time champion of this event, edged Canterbury Golf Club Assistant Professional Anthony Panepento (76-67-70=213) while Belmont Country Club Director of Instruction and 2019 winner Mike Stone (72-73-69=214) was fourth and Optimus Golf owner Mark Sierak (71-73-72=216) was fifth.
By virtue of their finish all five qualified for the 58th PGA Professional Championship, to be held Apr. 26-29, 2026 at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore. More about that later.
Hansen, 46, has been battling a busy schedule as the head professional at TCC and some personal issues. Only a handful of people know what he’s experiencing, and he prefers to keep it that way, only to say he has “been through a lot the last few months.”
He was grateful to be able to shed the yoke of all that for the last three or four days and settle down to do what he does best.
“This was like a vacation from all that’s going on around me,” he said. “I needed a break.”
Hansen began his final round in the lead, three shots in front of Panepento and first-round leader, Youngstown Country Club Assistant Professional Jon Jones.
What unfolded was a study in intelligent, minimize-the-risk, no frills golf, the kind that accomplished players know how to play.
“You got to see how boring that was,” Hansen said half in jest about his round that included four birdies and one harmless bogey.
It might have been boring for some. Not with what was at stake. Hansen made $7,500 for his victory and will have an opportunity to play for much bigger money come April.
“With the lead I just tried to play smart, tried to play to the fat part of the green, and I just wanted to get on the green, two putt and make four because I knew everyone would have to come and get me.”
Nobody was able to get any closer than two shots. Any charge anyone was able to mount wasn’t enough to strike fear. From the 10th hole on it was Hansen’s tournament to win. Or lose.
Unlike the first two rounds Hansen parred the first hole and birdied the second, just as he had on Tuesday. A par and another birdie followed.
“To get your round started and be two-under after four holes,” he said. “I mean, I knew who was behind me. You got Jimmy Troy. You got Mike Stone and Anthony and all these guys who you know are going to take advantage of the par-5s and you know they are going to make birdies. My goal today was to get to 10-under and run away with it. Obviously, I didn’t get there. I just kept saying to make a birdie and make another birdie. That’s all I kept wanting to do.”
He picked up his third birdie on the 508-yard seventh hole, the shortest par-5 on the course. He nearly reached the green in two and faced an uphill roll of about 45 feet. He putted to within five feet and made it and made the turn at 34 and 6-under for the tournament.
“I thought that was a great two-putt birdie,” he said.
The back nine started with a wasted opportunity. He reached the par-5 10th in two from 275 yards but three-putted from about 50 feet for par.
A prime example of Hansen’s smart play came on the 12th hole, a tempting 339-yard severe dogleg left. The temptation would be to grab a driver and bash it over the tree that stands at the cut of the dogleg. Instead, Hansen hit a 3-wood right of the tree to the middle of the fairway and had an unobstructed 70 yards out. He wedged his second shot to three feet below the hole and drained the putt to get to 7-under.
With no one charging like Arnie at Cherry Hills in 1960, that putt was golf’s version of an insurance run. Unencumbered with trying to protect a lead or having to force an issue Hansen played his final six holes stress-free, reeling off two-putt pars on each with several near-misses for birdie.
“I really didn’t leave myself in any bad spots,” he said. “Coming down the stretch, I hit a good putt on 16 and thought I had made the birdie on 17.”
Settling for six straight pars with a comfortable lead would be like settling for a pork chop instead of filet mignon.
There were a few semi-tense incidents that might have been cause for concern had Hansen not been playing as solidly as he was.
The 25-year-old Panepento, who seems destined to become one of the Section’s top-tier players, made birdie on the par-5 14th and chipped in for another on the par-3 16th to get to 4-under but bogeyed the 18th.
Troy, who began the day five shots behind and led the field with 15 birdies, sandwiched four birdies around one bogey through the first seven holes and cut the deficit to three with a birdie on the 11th. A bogey on the 13th slowed the rally and he finished strong with birdies on the 14th and 18th in a gallant effort to catch Hansen. Too little, too late.
As a consistent candidate for NOPGA Player-of-the-Year honors – he’s won three since 2009 — and a cart full of victories Hansen maintained his status as one of the Section’s finest. He considers his latest Section title one of his greatest accomplishments.
“Outside of making it to the PGA Championship in 2017 and 2018 and considering all I’ve been through this year this is the biggest (win),” he said.
A big win. Hansen’s victory in the Section’s third major of the year was just that. It was big and in Hansen’s own words, bigger than most.
OHIO CUP UPDATE
The Professional Championship (also known as the Section Championship) is the last event to help determine the members of the regular division NOPGA team when it faces the team from the Southern Ohio PGA in the 29th annual Ohio Cup Matches in October.
The Regular Division Team will consist of nine players and Mitch Camp will have one captain’s choice. The Senior Division team will consist of five players and one’s captain’s choice.
As a result of the finish in the 75th Professional (Section) Championship the regular division team looks like this:
Jaysen Hansen (Toledo Country Club)
Jim Troy (The Golf Dome)
Anthony Panepento (Canterbury Golf Club)
Randy Dietz (Windmill Golf Center)
Mark Sierak (Optimus Golf)
Nick Gustin (Erie Shores Golf Course)
Cory Kumpf (Brookside Country Club)
Adam Lewicki (Portage Country Club)
Nick Paez (GolfTec)
Captain’s pick to be made later
The Senior Division team will be finalized after the Northern Ohio PGA Senior Section Championship at Chagrin Valley in two weeks.
RD3 PHOTO GALLERY: 2025 NOPGA Professional Championship >
FINAL RESULTS: Northern Ohio PGA
2025 NOPGA Professional Championship
Tippecanoe Country Club, Canfield
Monday, August 11 – Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Blue Golf Hole-by-Hole Results >
1. Jaysen Hansen, Twinsburg, OH, The Toledo Country Club, $7,500.00, *71-69-69-209 -7
2. Jim Troy, Strongsville, OH, The Golf Dome, $4,000.00, *75-70-67-212 -4
3. Anthony Panepento, Wooster, OH, Canterbury Golf Club, $3,000.00, *76-67-70-213 -3
4. Mike Stone, Perrysburg, OH, Belmont Country Club, $2,000.00, *72-73-69-214 -2
5. Mark Sierak, Twinsburg, OH, Optimus Golf, $1,700.00, *71-73-72-216 E
6. Nick Gustin, Perry, OH, Erie Shores Golf Course, $1,400.00, *71-73-73-217 +1
7. Jon Jones, Warren, OH, Youngstown Country Club, $1,200.00, *68-75-77-220 +4
8. Dennis Miller, Youngstown, OH, PGA Of America Life Member, $1,050.00, *73-77-71-221 +5
8. Randy Dietz, Tallmadge, OH, Windmill Golf Center, $1,050.00, *76-72-73-221 +5
10. Scott Pollack, Chagrin Falls, OH, 1899 Indoor Golf – Twinsburg, $875.00, *71-76-75-222 +6
10. Milton Carswell, Toledo, OH, Stone Oak Country Club, $875.00, *73-71-78-222 +6
12. Mark Scott Jr., Rocky River, OH, Westwood Country Club, $743.75, *77-74-72-223 +7
12. Nick Paez, North Olmsted, OH, GolfTEC – Cleveland West, $743.75, *75-76-72-223 +7
12. Mark Bixler, Willoughby, OH, Kirtland Country Club, $743.75, *74-76-73-223 +7
12. Rob Moss, Broadview Heights, OH, Pepper Pike Club, $743.75, *70-76-77-223 +7
16. Bret James, Cave Creek, AZ, Sylvania Country Club, $650.00, *76-75-73-224 +8
16. Sean Kenily, New Philadelphia, OH, Union Country Club, $650.00, *73-75-76-224 +8
16. Nate Curtis, Westerville, OH, NorthStar Golf Club, $650.00, *82-66-76-224 +8
19. Jordan Paolini, Tallmadge, OH, Shaker Heights Country Club, $600.00, *74-74-77-225 +9
20. Jordan Schroeder, Findlay, OH, Findlay Country Club, $575.00, *79-74-73-226 +10
21. Tony Adcock, Canton, OH, Foxy Golf Canton, $550.00, *74-75-79-228 +12
22. Adam Lewicki, Macedonia, OH, Portage Country Club, $512.50, *77-75-77-229 +13
22. Sean Patrick, Youngstown, OH, Tippecanoe Country Club, $512.50, *75-73-81-229 +13
24. Ian Haidle, Canton, OH, Shady Hollow Country Club, $475.00, *77-76-77-230 +14
25. Gary Trivisonno, Aurora, OH, PGA Of America Life Member, $425.00, *76-77-78-231 +15
25. Gary Rusnak, Painesville, OH, 1899 Indoor Golf – Twinsburg, $425.00, *75-78-78-231 +15
25. Kevin Sullivan, Painesville, OH, Quail Hollow Country Club – Weiskopf/Morrish, $425.00, *76-76-79-231 +15
28. Tim Perin, Huron, OH, Lakewood Country Club, $375.00, *76-76-82-234 +18
FULL FIELD RESULTS >
