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Large Greatest Golfer field tees off today

CANFIELD — The 11th Farmers National Bank Greatest Golfer tees off today at Mill Creek with 290 golfers set to play.

It’s the fourth-largest field in the event and features golfers from 25 local courses and 10-out-of-state — including Maine.

Today’s play will be followed by play on Saturday at Youngstown, Tippecanoe, Trumbull and Avalon country clubs. The top 25 percent in each of the 13 divisions will advance to The Lake Club on Sunday.

The Greatest Week opened with a bang on Wednesday night during the seventh annual HBK-Golf Headquarters Greatest Golfer Long Drive Par 3 competition at Tippecanoe Country Club.

Down to his final shot, Ken Keller proved you only need one last shot to win a championship.

The YSU and former Cardinal Mooney golf standout used his final shot to launch a 312-yard drive, three yards better than Griffin Todd.

Ursuline High and Point Park University product Lauren Martauz, who finished second in 2017, won the Ladies Long Drive crown with a 218-yard drive, five yards better than Katie Rogner.

Richard Gent placed two of his three iron shots inside the four-point circle to beat David Cooper, 9-5, in the Par 3 competition.

Keller’s long drive win was suspenseful.

With a one-club wind straight into the golfers’ faces all night, Keller had not broken 300 yards in the qualifier. He and Andrew Murphy landed 298 yards in the grid to make the finals — nine yards behind the leader, Todd, who went 307 yards.

In the three-shot championship round, Todd led the way again, landing at 309 in his first two shots while Keller and Murphy missed their two shots.

With Keller’s last shot the only thing in the way of a Todd win, Keller found his best of the night at 312 yards and just one foot inside the grid.

“On my final shot, the only thing I was thinking was swing straight, stay straight and let Mother Nature take over,” Keller said.

Todd’s victory-lap final shot instead became a win-or-lose shot. With an eager crowd watching, it landed outside the grid.

“This is the third time that I competed in the Long Drive contest, never making it to the finals my other two years,” Keller said. “So to win it all is a very special feeling.”

Former YSU golf standout Felicia Ciotola Drevna won the last two ladies titles and was seeking a three-peat.

Martauz placed two of her four shots on the grid with her 218-yard effort, five yards better than Rogner’s 213-yard drive and eight better than Ciotola Drevna’s 210-yard effort, the only one of four attempts that she kept in play.

“My goal was to do the best that I could and I was obviously pleased with the outcome,” said Martauz, an accountant at HD-Davis CPA’s, LLC. “My strategy was to place my first two tries on the grid and then go all out on my last two attempts.”

Cooper’s 11 points led the Par-3 shooters in the qualifier round. Merrill Whippo scored 10 and Gent 9.

All Gent wanted to do was qualify, knowing full well that anything could happen once you advance to the finals.

“You can’t win it all unless you get to the finals,” Gent said. “I compete with my friends, but to win this year’s Par 3 event is something special to me. Prior to my last attempt, I received a text from a golfing friend telling me that my first two shots were close, just put a little more oomph on my final attempt.

“I was just glad that I didn’t put it in the water.”

Gent placed two shots in the tough 10-foot circle toward his winning, nine-point total.

Cooper finished runner-up with five points, while Whippo finished third, a point behind Cooper.

“Our Long Drive event just seems to get better every year and with good reason,” event founder and coordinator Todd Franko said. “We had a close competition this year in both the men’s and ladies’ divisions while our Par 3 event went down to the wire as well.”

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