CHURCHVILLE, N.Y. (FLX) — The stage was set and the stakes couldn’t have been higher Saturday for the 2025 Churchville Classic. Tying the largest field in FLX Tour history, 44 youngsters making up 22 teams teed it up under blue and sunny skies for the annual two-man scramble tournament. What followed will be remembered to historians as pure electricity.

“The fellas went low,” FLX Tour Co-Commissioner Matt Driffill said. “Between the weather, the scores, and the drama, this was arguably the best event overall in four years of doing this.”

The first group teed off at 7:30 a.m. and one of those teams, Tom Dieure and Alex “Dooley” Mikalajo, were the leaders in the clubhouse at -10. That first group finished in four hours flat, a notable improvement upon usual FLX Tour pace of play.

The next few groups followed suit, with the pre-tournament favorites, Sean Sawyer and Chris Miers, coming up 18 with a chance to take the outright lead at -11, but the pair of Young Men of the Year both smoked short putts, and finished their round tied at -10, with everyone in the gallery thinking of a potential playoff. More on that in a bit.

For the next hour, the groups on the slopes of 18 waited with awe and concern as the apparent tournament had disappeared. Not a soul was seen for more than 60 minutes until the next group showed up; John Laganello, Josh Valletta, Mike Mortillaro, and Jarred Schrader. The pace of play pause started to make sense.

While neither of these teams would sniff a podium, it should be noted that Laganello and Valletta had teed off on 15, and took their approach shots to the green on 13 by accident. That approach, reportedly, was one of the team’s best shots of the day, and they were seen high-fiving and celebrating before being informed that their actual target was about 200 yards northeast of where they were aiming.

More groups started finishing up, but the scoreboard became murkier and murkier as some Tour pros failed the basic cognitive test of reading the rule sheets, which sent the app scoreboard into a frenzy. All in all, the newly instituted paper scorecards proved fruitful in their debut, ultimately settling the discrepancies on the electronic version.

“We’ll be using pencil and paper, along with the app, for every major tournament going forward,” FLX Tour Head of Content and Rules Czar Joey Mortillaro said. “It’s unfortunate that some people still can’t read, but we’re working on that.”

The Tour’s Head of Numbers, Tim Dorsheimer, was watching the groups finish up. The unlikely duo of Shane Driffill and Josh Kowalski clocked in their score of -11 as they waited with anticipation to see if their score would hold. Ultimately, it wouldn’t.

On hole 18, in the final group, defending Churchville Classic champion Chad Christ sank what could only be described as a miracle birdie putt to force a tie at -11, and a one-hole playoff to determine the winner.

“That was arguably the most important shot in FLX Tour history,” Matt Driffill said. “We all remember when Dieure holed out on 18 for eagle in front of the gallery at last year’s Classic, but with the stakes and the drama, this was truly a defining moment.”

That highlight wouldn’t last long if Christ and his partner, FLX Tour newcomer Nick Kozak, couldn’t finish the job.

With the gallery following behind, Shane Driffill, Kowlaski, Christ and Kozak all teed up at hole 1 on Churchville’s west course. After a pair of respectable drives and approaches, the duo of Driffill and Kowalski each pushed their chips a little too far past the hole for comfort. Meanwhile, with the door open, Christ, with ice in his veins, nearly holed out his chip in for birdie, striking the pin and leaving a tap-in for par.

Kowalski missed the sloping downhill putt, and Shane nearly holed it out, but golf’s a game of inches, and these inches don’t lie. Christ’s tap in bogey was the swing of defeat as Kozak and the redeemer scored par, and the title of Churchville Classic champions.

“This one’s going to sting for awhile,” Shane Driffill said afterwards. “You dream of these moments growing up, and to get that close …” his voice trailed off.

“These trophies are pretty nice,” Christ said of the new hardware for the tournament. He and his teammate also won custom golf towels, and of course, the cash prize.

After the debacle that was the 2025 Grand Open, it was reassuring to fans, pros, and leadership to see that the ol’ boys in the FLX still know how to put on a function.

“I think we’ll be talking about that playoff hole for the rest of our lives,” Mortillaro said. “Jobby was out there spotting like it was the PGA. Dozens of fellas screaming, recording, rooting them on. We don’t like to use this word too often, but really it was special.”

Special indeed, and the Tour will look to carry that momentum forward for the rest of summer. The next event is the two-man best ball Genesee Invitational coming up at the end of August. Tour pros should be on the lookout for the registration form soon.

“We’re on to Genny,” Matt Driffill said.

2025 Churchville Classic results

Rank	Tour Pro	Net Score	YMOTY points
1	Chad Christ	61	44
1	Nick Kozak	61	44
2	Shane Driffill	61	42
2	Josh Kowalski	61	42
T3	Tom Dieure	62	40
T3	Alex ‘Dooley’ Mikalajo	62	40
T3	Sean Sawyer	62	40
T3	Chris Miers	62	40
5	Dan Driffill Sr.	63	36
5	Jonathon Thorpe	63	36
6	Scott Stedman	64	34
6	Mike Petote	64	34
T7	Tim Dorsheimer	66	32
T7	Dan Riesenberger	66	32
T7	Boston Siwiec	66	32
T7	Mykola Prokopenko	66	32
T9	Lou Englert	67	28
T9	Eric Spanbauer	67	28
T9	Brandon Moynihan	67	28
T9	Brier Koroly	67	28
T9	Mike Mortillaro	67	28
T9	Jarred Schrader	67	28
T9	Dan Graves	67	28
T9	Nico Mattle	67	28
T13	Matt Driffill	68	20
T13	Zach Stedman	68	20
T13	Mike Dimuro	68	20
T13	Jasson Jobson	68	20
T13	Joey Mortillaro	68	20
T13	Ryan Netchke	68	20
16	Gene Ferrera	69	14
16	Ryan Wirth	69	14
T17	Danny Driffill	70	12
T17	Shane Partiss	70	12
T17	Patrick Moynihan	70	12
T17	Evan Santiago	70	12
19	Ben Annal	74	8
19	Jimmy Franz	74	8
20	Kyle Pierce	75	6
20	Nick Hawes	75	6
21	Chuck Pace	78	4
21	Nathan Wirth	78	4
22	Josh Valletta	89	2
22	John Laganello	89	2

2025 Young Man of the Year standings

Rank	Tour Pro	YMOTY Points
1	Dan Driffill Sr.	78
2	Chad Christ	77
3	Alex ‘Dooley’ Mikalajo	76
4	Shane Driffill	70
5	Mykola Prokopenko	66
6	Boston Siwiec	65
7	Matt Driffill	62
8	Dan Graves	61
T9	Tim Dorsheimer	59
T9	Zach Steadman	59
T11	Mike Mortillaro	57
T11	Ryan Netchke	57
T13	Scott Stedman	56
T13	Danny Driffill	56
15	Jonathon Thorpe	54
16	Shane Partiss	51
17	Eric Spanbauer	50
T18	Nick Hawes	48
T18	Chris Miers	48
T18	Tom Dieure	48
T21	Ryan Wirth	47
T21	Brier Koroly	47
23	Nick Kozak	44
24	Josh Kowalski	42
T25	Sean Sawyer	40
T25	Dan Riesenberger	40
27	Evan Santiago	39
T28	Brandon Moynihan	36
T28	Dom Trento	36
T28	Lou Englert	36
31	Mike Petote	34
32	Chuck Pace	31
33	Kyle Pierce	29
T34	Joey Mortillaro	28
T34	Jarred Schrader	28
T34	Nico Mattle	28
37	Nathan Wirth	26
38	Brandon Burris	24
39	Gene Ferrera	22
T40	Mike Dimuro	20
T40	Jasson Jobson	20
42	Patrick Moynihan	20
43	Vaughn Rowell	17
44	Jimmy Franz	16
45	Josh Valletta	10
T46	Ben Annal	8
T46	Todd Horne	8
T46	Michael Converse	8
T46	Steve Nally	8
T46	Kenny Rogers	8
T46	Jesse Cramer	8
T46	Brendan Milward	8
53	John Laganello	2