Greater Cleveland Skins Game

Steve Blackburn Jr. of Willowick made it two years in a row, as he won The Greater Cleveland Skins Game Championship on a cold rainy night Thursday at Powderhorn Golf Course in Madison.

Paired together for the final round, Blackburn Jr. was in a tight race with Mike Angie, who was on top of the leaderboard for most of the year. But with a birdie skin at the short par four 13th hole ($153.33) and the pin shot on the 14th ($70), Blackburn pulled away for the season-long win, as Angie was shut out on the final night.

Blackburn Jr. set a new Greater Cleveland Skins Game money record with $1,622.32 for the 26 week season, while Angie finished a fine year with a hefty $1,331.58. Third place was nearly $600 behind that.  [Read more →]

With just one week to go, The Greater Cleveland Skins Game has a new — but familiar — name atop the leaderboard.

Steve Blackburn Jr. captured two skins and a pin shot on Thursday at Stonewater Golf Club to grab the season-long lead away from Mike Angie in their back-and-forth race. [Read more →]

With three events left in the chase for the Thompson Cup, Steve Blackburn Jr. and Mike Angie have been running neck to neck for weeks. Now with just two more nights to go, it’s even tighter!

Angie captured the first skin of the night this Thursday at Fowler’s Mill with a birdie at the difficult first hole. But Blackburn Jr. answered with a pin shot and birdie skin on the par-3 seventh hole. The pin shot win means Blackburn Jr. has closed the gap on Angie to a mere $13.09 for the season!  [Read more →]

It was a beautiful night for golf at Madison Country Club Thursday, and Steve Blackburn Jr. wasted no time trying to make a run at Mike Angie and first place: Blackburn birdied the par-4 first hole and captured a skin worth $84.33.

Gary Zehe had the big night of the week with a double-dip on the par-3 fourth hole, knocking it to six feet for a pin shot and a birdie skin. Pin shots were worth $38.50.

Rounding out the night’s earners, Dave Sotka grabbed a skin with a birdie on the par-4 fifth hole, and Dave DeLong cashed on his first night of competition with a pin shot on the long par-3 ninth hole.

Blackburn Jr.’s skin closes the the gap on leader Mike Angie to just $44.59 with just three weeks left to go in the race for the Thompson Cup.    [Read more →]

Steve Blackburn Jr. and Mike Angie continue their back-and-forth battle for the Greater Cleveland Skins Game’s Thompson Cup, and they are pulling away from the pack.

Blackburn Jr. captured two skins at Wicked Woods on Thursday with birdies on the par-4 10th hole and a long-putt deuce on the par-3  14th hole.

But Angie responded with a chip-in birdie on the 11th hole and a pin shot on the 15th hole. So Blackburn Jr. closed the gap, but Angie is still the leader — but by a mere $129 with just four weeks to go in the season. [Read more →]

Mike Angie still leads the pack!

It was a small turnout at Thunder Hill in Madison, but points leaders Mike Angie and Steve Blackburn Jr. each grabbed a skin to maintain their 1-2 positions on the Cleveland Skins Game Leaderboard, both over the “four figure” mark.

But it was John Niedzialek who was the big winner on Thursday, grabbing both pin shots and a skin.   [Read more →]

In a dramatic sudden death playoff, Pat Tyrrell of Sagamore Hills won the 2009 Greater Cleveland Shoot-Out Championship.

On a wet Labor Day Monday at Chardon Lakes Golf Course, Tyrrell and Steve Blackburn Jr. of Willowick each posted a score of 75 from the black tees in the stroke play event run every season for players of the Greater Cleveland Skins Game.

Coming in, Blackburn Jr. appeared to be the man to beat, since he is a past Shoot-Out winner and just won the Briardale Greens club championship the day before with 67-66. But Tyrrell noted that “he had the putter going well” coming into the day, and in the end he backed it up with critical putts to take the title.   [Read more →]

Groupings and Starting Times for the 2009 Greater Cleveland Shoot-Out, an 18-hole individual stroke play event for the players of the Greater Cleveland Skins Game series, to be held at Chardon Lakes Golf Course starting at High Noon on Labor Day Monday, September 7th. $1,700 in prizes sponsored by Steve Sports, Inc  and Blonde John Ticket Sales. Watch Northeast Ohio Golf for results! [Read more →]

Mike Angie did not waste any time Thursday at Powderhorn, making birdie at the difficult 430-yard par-4 1st hole to capture half the skins pot.

Angie’s out-of-the-gate skin of $138.00 takes him over the magic $1,000 mark for the season and extends his lead on Steve Blackburn Jr. and the rest of the pack. Angie is tied at the top for the most skins and the most pin shots won on the season. [Read more →]

The “Hilltoppers” came to play Thursday, as Scott Mackar and Dave Sotka of Chardon took the skins pot at Fowlers Mill Golf Club.

Mackar birdied the tough par-4 15th hole, and Sotka followed it with a birdie on the par-4 16th. The skins were worth $138 each. [Read more →]

The Greater Cleveland Skins Game is pleased to announce that its 2009 Greater Cleveland Shoot-Out will be held on Labor Day Monday, September 7 at Chardon Lakes Golf Course. This will be the first time this 18-hole stroke play event will be held at Chardon Lakes.

The $750 first place prize is guaranteed courtesy of sponsors Steve’s Sports and Blonde John’s Tickets, to allow amateurs to “play like the pros for a day” in this unique event started by Ed Tresger at Fairway Pines Golf Course almost 20 years ago.    [Read more →]

Stormy skies and a rain-shortened event made for a small field on Thursday at Quail Hollow. But Steve Blackburn Jr. made a charge up the leaderboard by capturing the only skin and a pin shot at the Weiskopf Course.

The field played six holes before the skies unloaded. Three holes were birdied, but two of those birdies were canceled on holes 1 and 6.  [Read more →]

The birdies were flying at Pleasant Hills on Thursday, as six of the nine holes were birdied on the night. Newcomer Scott Mackar and Rob Shustrich were the two players who found their way to the pay window with skins worth $135.00 each: Mackar birdied the par-3 5th hole and Shustrich birdied the par-4 7th hole.

But Mackar was the big winner on the evening, as he also took two pin shots on holes five and eight worth $30 each. [Read more →]

Mike Angie birdied the par-4 first hole (#10) at Chardon Lakes on Thursday, grabbing a skin worth $83.33 and extending his season-long lead in the 2009 Greater Cleveland Skins Game series.

But the big winner of the evening was Paul Kish of Painesville Township, who came alive by capturing two skins and a pin shot. Kish birdied the 210-yard par-3 14th hole by draining a 15-foot putt after earning the pin shot worth $38.50. Kish then birdied the par-4 15th hole to capture another skin, making a big climb up the leaderboard with $205.16 on the night. [Read more →]

It took perennial favorite Mark Foss of Mayfield Heights 15 weeks to finally get a skin in the 2009 Greater Cleveland Skins game — and he broke through in a big way with an eagle on a par four.

Foss eagled the par-4 18th hole at Powderhorn Golf Course Thursday with a driver and 12-foot putt, taking home a $160 skin. Foss also bagged the pin shot on the 14th hole for another $49.   [Read more →]