PEPPER PIKE, Ohio: While everyone was chasing Michael Balcar during the final round of the 25th Mitchell-Haskell Tour Championship at The Country Club on Tuesday, Balcar was chasing Arnold Palmer.
He just didn’t know it.
It wasn’t until he smoothed in his final birdie putt of the day from about three feet – his seventh of the round and 12th of the tournament on the 36th hole – that he learned he had broken The Country Club course record of 64 with a 9-under 63, eclipsing the record originally set by the legendary Palmer.
His two-day total of 68-63=131 was an astonishing 13-under and a couple of par-5s ahead of everyone else. It, too, was a tournament record.
“That’s pretty special,” Balcar said of erasing the mark set by Palmer, equaled by Casey Schrader in 2016 and verified by Country Club Director of Golf Steve Bordner. “No, that’s very special. To break a record set by the King is special. He was one of my favorite players even though I never got to meet him. I saw him once at a tournament when I was a kid. I’ve tried to emulate him in a lot of ways, especially in the way he treated the fans.”
Palmer and Schrader’s records came before The Country Club underwent an $11 million renovation in 2023, which left the course longer and more challenging. While the fairways are wide, everyone knows that birdies are tough to find in the rough.
The final individual stroke play event of 2026 also included a return to the winner’s circle by one of the Section’s all-time winners.
Pepper Pike Club Head Professional and NOPGA Hall-of-Famer Rob Moss rallied from a five-stroke deficit to win the Senior Division with a 36-hole score of 74-69=143 (1-under).
It marked the third win in this event for Moss, but his first as a Senior. He previously won Regular Division titles in 2012 and 2017 and is the only man to win as a Senior and Regular member.
“This means a lot,” said Moss, who turned 58 last week but said he feels more like 38. “The last couple of years have been a real challenge.”
Winner of three Ohio Open Championships during his storied career, Moss suffered a partially torn hamstring in May and admitted he returned to competition too soon.
“I probably should have sat 4-6 weeks, but I came back in about two-and-one-half,” he said. “But I feel I’m in a better place now, feel like I’m swinging the club a little better and hitting some better shots at key times.
“And, my kids have kind of guilted me into starting to exercise more, lift some weights. I’m not cross-fitting it like my assistant Sean (McGuire), but I’m getting a little more active in what I’m doing. And I feel good.”
Three-time Mitchell-Haskell winner Jim Troy finished second to Balcar with rounds of 69-73=142, and defending champion Sean McGuire was third at 73-70=143.
PGA Life Member Tom Atchison, a five-time winner of the Mitchell-Haskell, and Mark Evans, head professional at Barrington Golf Club and the first-round leader, tied for second at 145 in the Senior Division.
Moss, one of the most respected members of the Section, began the day five shots behind Evans and took the lead with a birdie on the 520-yard eighth, reaching the green in two with a 3-hybrid and two-putting from 25 feet.
A three-time winner of the Ohio Open and numerous other events, he saved his best for the closing stretch with birdies on three of the final four holes.
He made a 30-foot putt for birdie on the 164-yard 14th and hit a marvelous chip shot to 12 inches from just left of the green on the par-5 16th.
His birdie on the 340-yard 17th came when his tee shot found the deep rough above the hillside trap that guards the front-right portion of the green with the pin set back-left. From an awkward stance, he chipped to 10 feet and made the putt.
Moss had a few tense moments after he was in the clubhouse, waiting for Atchison and Evans to finish. NOPGA Executive Director – and fellow ex-Kent State golfer – David Griffith delivered the official news with a hearty congratulations and a slap on the back.
“You never know what could happen while there are guys still on the course,” said Moss. “It’s never official until it’s official.”
Balcar, who won the NOPGA Section Championship in August, began the final round with a one-shot lead over Troy but quickly extended that with birdies on three of the first four holes.
At that point, the tournament was over as no one was able to get closer than six shots.
With a four-shot cushion entering the final round, his game plan was sensible and efficient.
“I just wanted to take it one shot and one hole at a time, just like Coach Steve Weir taught us at CSU,” he said.
Lesson well learned.
Balcar, an assistant at Brandywine Country Club and a Cleveland State graduate, spiked his par-birdie-birdie-birdie start with an eagle on the 569-yard eighth hole when his 5-iron second shot reached the green in two and he made a 40-foot putt. At that point, he was 9-under and it was time to cue the trophy engraver.
His stunning play continued on the closing nine.
He birdied the 13th by making an 8-foot putt, the par-3 14th by chipping in from 17 yards, and the 541-yard 16th when he hit a scalding 2-iron from the trees on the right to the left side of the fairway, placed his third to 12 feet and made the putt.
He nearly drove the 312-yard 17th with a 3-wood, but his shot caught the hillside bunker on the right, resulting in a par.
While we marveled at his play down the stretch, he felt his birdie on the par-4 third hole was “the shot of the day.”
His second shot landed in a bunker and remained in the ball mark. He hit a delicate shot to a fast, downhill green. The ball hit the pin and fell in for a dazzling up-and-down.
“It just kept rolling and it went in,” he said. “That really picked me up. It kept the momentum going.”
He closed the performance when he hit a 355-yard drive on the closing hole and stopped his second from 114 yards to three feet and drained the putt.
“The thing is,” said runner-up Troy, “he not only hits it so far, but he might be the best putter in the Section.”
Balcar was not the only man smiling about his success. It’s safe to say that Tom Waitrovich, who will captain the NOPGA team in next week’s Ohio Cup rivalry with the Southern Ohio PGA, is happy to have Balcar on the team for the first time.
At this point, who wouldn’t?