Several Erie County golf tournaments have yet to tee off this summer. Circle these dates
Josiah Swan discusses his EDGA Junior Match Play Tournament victory
Josiah Swan, a North East eighth-grader-to-be, upset Clarion University-bound Devon Lauer in the EDGA Junior Match Play Tournament’s boys final.
Monday marks the latest sanctioned golf tournament at an Erie County course.
The Erie District Golf Association’s J.C. Martin Senior Tournament is scheduled at the Kahkwa Club. Rick Carlotti is the defending champ thanks to his three-stroke victory vs. Bob Paris in last season’s event at North East’s Lake View Country Club.
Kahkwa also hosted the EDGA’s initial tournament for the summer. The EDGA Marquette Savings Bank Match Play Championship was held at Kahkwa last month, with Mike Wolfe the winner.
Wolfe dominated the final with a 6 and 4 victory against fellow Kahkwa member Ted Grassi III.
Monday’s Senior competition will run less than a week after some of the region’s younger golfers participated in the Great Lakes Junior Golf Tour’s first major. Its Match Play Tournament, which also falls under the EDGA umbrella, was held at The Ridge Golf Club outside Waterford.
Josiah Swan, the fourth of five North East siblings who have thrived in the sport, won the boys final.
Alexis Marsh, a recent McDowell graduate bound for Maryland’s Stevenson University, was the girls titlist.
The brunt of the action for all three tours is scheduled over the next two months.
EDWGA Match Play Tournament
- When: Thursday-July 21
- Where: Lawrence Park Golf Club.
- Defending champion: Anna Swan is the two-time defending medalist for an event that’s nearing the century mark.
- Notable: The original tournament, won by Kahkwa member Elizabeth Darrow, was held in 1925. It’s taken place every year except 1943, when it was cancelled because of World War II.
EDGA Team Tournament
- When: July 29
- Where: Downing Golf Club.
- Defending champions: North East siblings Lydia and Isaiah Swan were the 2023 victors for the tournament’s regular division. Ron Coleman and Dan Achille were first in the senior standings.
- Notable: The 18-hole, two-man team competition will consist of regular, senior (age 50 and over) and super-senior (age 65 and over) divisions. There will be gross and net winners
Great Lakes Junior Golf Tour Championship
- When: Aug. 1-2
- Where: Oakland Beach Golf Club, Conneaut Lake.
- Notable: The tour’s top players will converge at the western Crawford County course to determine who’s the best of the best for 2024. Overall champions will be determined in age 19-under, 15-under and 12-under divisions for boys and girls.
More: Age doesn’t deter eighth-grader Josiah Swan from title in EDGA Junior Match Play Tournament
EDWGA Stroke Play Tournament
- When: Aug. 10-11
- Where: Lawrence Park Golf Club.
- Defending champions: Anna Swan completed a season sweep of the majors when she recorded a 6-under 150 over 36 holes. That was three lower than Lydia Swan, her older sister and winner of the three previous tournaments. Anna Swan is scheduled to join Lydia on the Oral Roberts University women’s golf team next month. Moira Erhartic, who went on to be an all-region golfer as a Fairview freshman, was the 2023 tournament’s net winner.
EDGA Marquette Savings Bank Amateur Championship
- When: Aug. 16-18
- Where: Lake View Country Club, North East
- Defending champion: Tyler Cozad, at 4-under par 212, won last year’s tournament by one stroke over another former victor, Drew Deimel. That victory at Lake Shore Country Club was the North East graduate’s third Amateur title since 2017.
- Notable: Erie County’s oldest tournament of its kind, which began in 1921, will cut to the top 24 and ties after the second round. Should Cozad defend next month, he’d tie EDGA Hall of Famer Ellery Tarbell for the most tournament championships. Tarbell claimed the last of his four in 2011.
More: Mike Wolfe wins EDGA Match Play Tournament with dominant victory vs. Ted Grass III
EDWGA Better Ball Tournament
- When: Sept. 13
- Where: Venango Valley Golf Club, Venango.
- Defending champions: Ari and Georgia Capotis are the defending champs for the tournament’s gross division.
- Notable: The two-person team competition won’t be confined to association members.
EDWGA Mixed Couples Championship
- When: Sept. 15
- Where: Kahwka Club
- Defending champions: Geoff and Cora Hirz won last year’s gross division with a round of 75.
- Notable: The female half for each two-person team aren’t required to be association members.
Contact Mike Copper at mcopper@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNcopper.