After Wednesday’s all-day rain and the wet conditions it left behind, the superintendent at The Country Club in Pepper Pike could not approve the use of carts for anyone, even NOGA staff, for Thursday’s Singles Matches. The property was soaking wet and it does not have cart paths all the way around.
That left NOGA with no choice but to declare the competition finished after the Four-Ball and Foursomes matches of Day 1, making the Senior Amateur team the champions of the 2025 Lewis Cup.
By a single point. With an unlikely finish.
The morning Four-Ball session yesterday ended in a tie at 2.5 points per team. Each side had two wins, two losses, two ties.
The afternoon Foursomes matches, which were played entirely in a solid rain with upper-40 degree temperatures, were tied for most of that session as well.
The teams split the first four matches, each by a fairly convincing margin.
The fifth match match ended in a tie after both teams missed birdie chances at the last.
So it all came down to the final Foursomes match of the day, and that match was tied through eight holes.
Senior Amateur Greg Myers hit a solid drive off the 18th tee, leaving partner John Toth at 130 yards in the fairway. With their Amateur counterparts struggling on the hole, and with the other members of both teams watching on from the ballroom windows in the clubhouse, Toth hit his approach shot like a laser to 10 feet, essentially clinching the point that won the Lewis Cup for the Senior Amateurs. A lag putt, a tap-in, victory.
The Senior Amateur Captain, NOGA Senior Player of the Year Rob Schustrich, who could not play in the event due to his recent shoulder surgery, still ventured out into the wind and weather on Wednesday, rooting on his pairings.
“It was pretty awesome the way the guys battled through the weather conditions yesterday to beat the youngsters,” he said this morning after learning of the Day 2 cancellation. “Jim Durr and Tom Skidmore stepped in as injury replacements at the last minute and played so well. Howard Clendenin and Jeff Semple did great work, earning two full points. Mark Guadagni and Durr, plus Myers and Toth, each brought home a point-and-a-half. Incredible stuff.”
Jim Durr
“I’m sure both sides would have loved to compete today in the Singles Matches today, because The Country Club is a great course and the Lewis Cup is a great event,” Schustrich continued. “But we’ll take the hard-fought victory, and we’ll be back at it again next year.”
With this year’s Senior win, the matches now stand at Amateurs 3, Senior Amateurs 2. It is expected that the 2026 edition of the Lewis Cup will return to the two courses of Westfield Country Club, home to the first four matches. Played again in September, without winter hats and mittens.
FINAL LEADERBOARD: 2025 Lewis Cup >
The Senior Amateurs (left in grey) and the Amateurs (right in blue) from the 2025 Lewis Cup.
