Photo by Gary Kellner
NOTHING AMATEURISH ABOUT HIS PERFORMANCE;
NON-PRO HOWARD CLENDENIN LEADS SENIOR OPEN
By Tim Rogers
NOPGA Media
May 28, 2025
AKRON: Amateurs winning the Regular Division of the Ohio Senior Open is a rare occasion, almost as rare as someone winning the career Grand Slam.
Until the spring of 2016 a non-professional had never won the Regular Division of the Ohio Senior Open when it was played at Firestone Country Club.
Then came Canton’s Nick Lambos who became the first non-professional in 26 years to win the Open on the Fazio Course in 2016, and 18 years later came New Franklin’s Bobby Spino when he won last year.
Oh, there were earlier amateur winners. Delaware’s Chuck Smith won the inaugural Senior Open in 1986 and Ashland’s Jack Miller prevailed four years later. But both those wins came at Plum Brook Country Club in Sandusky.
So, two amateur winners in 18 years on the Fazio Course and four winners overall in 39 years. Not quite as rare as seven Grand Slam winners in 95 years but you get the point.
Amateur and Firestone member Howard Clendenin would love to become the fifth overall and the second in a row to win at Firestone and he has a golden opportunity when the final round of the 40th Ohio Senior Open is played on Thursday.
Clendenin, a retired sales engineer from Fairlawn put himself in great position to accomplish that when he shot a five-under 35-30=65 during Wednesday’s opening round, played under trying conditions when an on-again, off-again misty rain made the 55-degree temperatures feel more like 45.
Clendenin, a frequent contender and runnerup in this event in 2020, used a torrid finish to build a one-shot lead over five-time champion Bob Sowards, whose string of victories that began in 2019 snapped last year by Spino in an event that was shortened to 18 holes because of, well, take a guess.
Sowards, the Director of Instruction at Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club in Powell, alone in second place after a bogey-free 32-34=66.
Four players – all professionals — were in a logjam tie for third, including 2013 champion Tom Waitrovich (33-35), Pepper Pike head professional Rob Moss (33-35), Youngstown Country Club assistant professional Jon Jones 35-33) and Belmont Country Club assistant pro Mike Stone (37-31), all three shots back at 2-under 68.
Clendenin, who turns 56 on Sunday, led the field of 138 with seven birdies, with five coming over his final six holes. He began his round with bogeys on the first two holes but was bogey-free the rest of the way. He caught fire with seven birdies over his final 11 holes.
A putt of 20 feet trickled in for birdie on the eighth and a chip to 18 inches from the left fringe produced another, enabling him to make the turn at even.
“I think I was a little too careful on the front, a little too careful or cautious, and that’s not my style,” said Clendenin, who has been a member at Firestone for six years.
He birdied 13, 14 and 15 by making sizeable putts, parred the par-3 16th and closed in sterling fashion with two great shots that set up an up-and-down from just in front of the green on the par-5 17th and rolling in a 25-footer from below the hole on 18.
Clendenin, a runnerup to Sowards in 2020, minced no words when asked what winning would mean.
“It would mean everything,” he said. “This is an event that I have wanted to win every year I’ve stepped out here.”
Sowards, who turns 57 on June 9, birdied three of the final four holes on the front and added another on the 11th before running seven straight pars.
Waitrovich, the former long-time head professional at Lakewood Country Club, was one-under through 16 holes but spiked his round with an eagle on the 506-yard 17th to get to three under only to bogey the closing hole, regarded as one of the toughest on the course.
After making the turn at even-par, Jones birdied three of the first six holes on the back to get to 3-under but he also bogeyed the 18th.
Moss, who has been unable to add the Senior Open to his illustrious hall of fame career, made the turn at 2-under then made seven consecutive pars before making his fourth birdie on the par-5 17th only to give it back on the challenging 18th.
Clendenin said the weather was a minimal factor but said he got over it after five holes.
“From the sixth hole on I don’t think I missed a golf shot,” he said.
After his bogey on the par-3 third, Clendenin made four straight pars before birdieing the final two on the front.
“Even though I parred the sixth I had hit two good, solid shots and felt like this is it,” he added while praising caddy Rick Sargent. “He gave me two really good reads that I had missed.”
While Clendenin is one of two amateurs in the top seven of the Regular Division, seven non-professionals hold the top 10 spots in the Senior Plus Division.
Brecksville’s Allen Freeman (37-34), Solon’s Marc Fried (36-35) – both amateurs – share the lead with Tim Krapfel (35-36), a Golf Galaxy teaching pro in Dublin, at one-over 71.
Red Tail head professional Todd Company, Firestone member Steven Shaw and Cincinnati’s Dan DeVore are tied for third at 2-over 72 while Clevelander David Games, Beachwood’s Dean Pahr, 2020 Senior Plus champ Mike Cassell (Hudson) and 2022 champion Ed Steiber (Cincinnati) are tied for seventh at 4-over 74.
Freeman, Fried, DeVore, Games, Pahr, Cassell and Steiber are amateurs.
Play resumes on Thursday at 8 a.m, with the Freeman, Krapfel and Fried going off at 9:50 and Clendenin, Sowards and Waitrovich starting at 2:10.