By Tim Rogers, NOPGA Media

AKRON: By any measurable means the first round of the 105th playing of the Ohio Open Championship was nothing less than a smashing success.

The day had everything a golf fan could ask for. It was hot, man, it was Africa hot with not enough wind to move a leaf. . . a scoring record set by a native Northeast Ohioan . . . some wonderful playing by a large number of players and some not so wonderful playing by an even larger portion of the field of 288 – or 286 if you count two who withdrew in mid-round. . . impressive showings by some of Ohio’s youngest and brightest amateurs.

And the fact that the North and Fazio Courses at Firestone Country Club can be as rewarding or as ornery as the more well-known South Course.

In all, 53 players shot under par on either the North (par-72) or the Fazio (par-70) course. Twelve were at even par. That means that 223 players – or 77 percent of the field – came in at over par. 

Yet, there were 52 scores in the highly successful 60s, including a record-setting 10-under 60 by Strongsville native and first-round leader and long-time contender Jake Scott on the Fazio Course.

Alone in second place at eight-under is 25-year-old Tyler Goecke, a Xenia native and Wright State graduate who is playing FCC for the first time as a professional after several appearances as an amateur. He shot 33-31-64 on the North Course, where the rough is deeper and thicker than on the Fazio.

Goecke began his round on the 10th and was just as hot as the weather. He was three-under after five holes, and seven under at the turn. He added three more birdies on the front — thanks to putts of 10, eight and six feet — and finished is round bogey-free.

“I hit a lot of good wedge shots and really had good looks all day,” said Goecke, who was the individual champion in the Horizon League tournament as a senior.

Goecke, who played one season at the University of Illinois after his Wright State days, did not play any practice rounds and chose to keep his advance prep to rolling a few putts on Sunday. He birdied all four of Fazio’s par-5 holes with clutch wedge play and some nifty up-and-downs. 

Alone in third place at 7-under on the North is Kevin Hall, a former Big 10 champion at Ohio State. Hall, who is deaf, has also contended in the Open many times. 

Then things get congested as seven players stand at 6-under and another seven are at 5-under.

Scott’s round of 60 – he flirted with 59 until a 3-putt par on the 525-yard 17th — becomes the lowest score of any Open played at Firestone, eclipsing the record of 62 set by Barberton amateur Nolan Haynes in last year’s first round.

It also is the lowest “known” single-round score in the Open played on any course in tournament history, erasing by one stroke the 61s shot by Ryan Gutowski at Westfield in 2016 and Alex Weiss in the third round in 2019, also at Westfield.

Scott, a Cleveland State graduate, is no stranger to the Ohio Open. He has twice finished as the runner-up, by two shots to Chase Wilson at Fox Meadow/Weymouth in 2017 and by one shot to Drew Salyers at Westfield Country Club in 2024. He has been in the top six three other times.

“This is one of my favorite tournaments,” said Scott, who won the National PGA Assistants Championship in 2012 and has been playing the Korn Ferry and PGA Americas Tour most recently. “I love the courses and it’s always nice to come back home.”

Scott, 38, got off to a torrid start with four birdies through his first five holes and five through his first seven. It was a combination of getting the ball close and making some testy long putts, like a 15-footer on the 324-yard fourth, a 25-footer that broke about three feet on the 191-yard seventh and several others in the four to eight-foot range.

“It was good from start to finish,” he said. “I putted well and I was happy with my iron play,” said Scott, who had 11 one-putt greens and that dreaded 3-putt on 17 after he hit his drive into the left rough but hit his second to about 15 feet from about 260 yards. “I hit a lot of good shots and wedges and made everything I looked at until 17.”

“I hit a good putt, I thought I had read it well,” he said.

His first birdie came on the 211-yard third hole when his tee shot stopped 30 inches from the hole.

“I stepped on a 5-iron” he said.

Scott said one of his downfalls has been getting too greedy. Several times on Monday he chose 3-wood off the tee.

One of his best shots of the day came on the par-3 seventh when he carried an 8-iron to a little more than two feet and made a left-to-right putt.

After making the turn at 5-under 30 Scott said he had a little conversation with himself to maintain an even approach.

“I had a a lot of holes left that I felt I could birdie but there were a lot of long, tough par-4s left,” he said.

The meeting obviously worked as he played his next seven holes in five under, including four straight birdies on holes 13 through 16.

“After 16 I knew something was going on,” he said. The 3-putt par was really a fluke.

His game plan for Tuesday’s second round is the same one he used in the first round, knowing the North Course can be a strong test.

“You just can’t get too greedy,” he said. “If you get too greedy a lot of weird things can happen.”

 As usual several young amateurs made their marks and there were several other notable scores.

  • Zac McGrath, the youngest player in the field at 15 shot an impressive 3-under 67 on the Fazio Course in a round that included nine birdies and six bogeys.
  • Last year’s runnerup and Ohio State junior Vaughn Harber, 20, shot a 64 on the Fazio Course and is at 8-under.
  • Jack Vojtko, Harber’s OSU teammate and Stow High grad, shot 5-under on the Fazio.
  • Kyle Smith, a junior at Xavier who had rounds of 65-66 last year, opened with a 67 on the North and is one of seven tied at 5-under,
  • Former champions Will Grimmer, Jordan Gilkison, Alex Weiss and Bob Sowards at tied for 18th at 4-under; Steve Gangluff and Rob Moss were tied for 200th at 7-over and TT Crouch (T-127), Jake McBride (T-168) and Chris Black (T-257) have had better rounds.

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