PREVIEW: 2020 Tigertown Open

The 69th edition of the Tigertown Open will continue to feature the largest guaranteed one-day payout in Ohio – a $5,000 first place prize – with a full field of pros and ams competing at The Elms Country Club in Massillon.

But with all of the recent uncertainty from COVID-19, one big change has been made to this long-running tournament for 2020: the Thursday Pro-Am and Shoot-Out will not be held.

“With changes disrupting businesses and the current ban on shotgun starts, we didn’t want to run the pro-am and the shoot-out in a way that was anything less than we had in the past,” said The Elms owner Tony Mastrianni. “We thought about work-arounds, but decided it was best for the players and sponsors if we focused solely on the main tournament this year.”

The 2020 Tigertown Open will be played on Friday, July 17th and will still feature four divisions: Professionals, Senior Professionals, Amateurs and Senior Amateurs. The age requirement for the two senior divisions is 50.

After watching 2019 champion Jake Scott set a new tournament record last year with an 11-under par 61 – with a bogey on the scorecard no less – players are going to have to reach deep to see if they can better Scott in his defense of the title, or the new scoring record.

A host of strong defenders in the other divisions are expected to return, too. In 2019, Jeff LeMaster won the Senior Pro Division, 50-year old Pittsburgh resident Rick Stimmel won the Am Division, and Stow’s David Trier (pictured above) captured the Senior Am Division.

An even bigger field could be a reality for 2020, as some players who might normally compete in the pro-am may decide to try their hand at the main event. And since the two amateur prize pots are based on the number of entries from each division, that could boost the total take for those top finishers.

The entry blank for the 2020 Tigertown Open is now available. Entries are due by Monday July 13th. But it may be wise to get your entry in as soon as possible, before the event sells out. Because just about every other tournament this season has filled up and gone to a waiting list…

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