The top-16 players in the Championship and Senior Divisions on the Northern Ohio Golf Association’s Player of the Year Points Lists have been identified and invited, and the field is now set with 27 committed for the 2025 NOGA Great Lakes Auto Scratch Series Tour Championship.
The Tour Championship begins this Sunday, September 7th at 12 noon at Firestone Country Club, with Round 1 action on the Fazio Course. Then very early on Monday morning, the second round will be contested over to the famed South Course. RD1 STARTING TIMES >
These 36 holes at Firestone will identify not only the winners of the Tour Championship from each Division, but determine the NOGA Player of the Year winners on each side, and help set the 12 Championship and Senior team members for the 2025 Lewis Cup at The Country Club in October.
Last year at Firestone, Howard Clendenin won the main division of the Tour Championship in a rout, shooting 69-67 for a six shot victory. Clendenin’s win helped Brian Smith capture the 2024 Player of the Year title, as both Vaughn Snyder and Chris Okeson had a chance at POY but needed a victory at Firestone to overtake Smith.
On the Senior side in 2024, Tom Laubacher took the title that no one seemed to want, shooting 150 for the two days at Firestone to win by three shots. Rob Schustrich entered the Tour Championship with a fairly sizable 2024 Senior POY lead, and played just well enough to hold off then defending POY Mark Borlin to claim his first POY title.
The 2025 NOGA Player of the Year race is tight in the Championship Division: five players still have a solid chance to win 2025 NOGA Player of the Year honors. 10-time past POY winner and reigning title-holder Brian Smith leads the list after earning medalist honors at the U.S. Mid-Am Qualifier and earning a team title in the NOGA Alternate Shot with Chris Brown this season.
But Smith’s margin is just 17.03 points over Vaughn Snyder, who has had a solid year with a Cleveland Amateur win and third place finishes at the Northeast Ohio Am and Summit County Am.
With 350 points up for grabs with a victory at the Tour Championship, Chris Okeson (83.11 behind), Rick Deichert (94.63 behind), and Lucas Liberatore (152.36 behind) all have a legitimate chance to capture Player of the Year honors with a win at Firestone, too.
In the Senior Division, reigning Player of the Year Rob Schustrich is again atop the leaderboard after wins this year at the NOGA Scratch Stroke Play #1 and the Senior Summit County Amateur. Allen Freeman trails him in second position, but needs a major points haul at Firestone to have even a remote chance to catch him.
Watch OHIO.GOLF for NOGA Live Scoring this weekend from Firestone…
