Wooster native Panepento wins first pro golf tourney

Anthony Panepento made a name for himself as a standout golfer at Wooster High School, qualifying for the state tournament as a senior and also helping his team advance in 2016.

Panepento then had some bright moments playing for Division III Methodist University in Fayetville, North Carolina before the COVID pandemic wiped out his junior and senior seasons.

However, nothing Panepento has done on the links compares to what he did at Portage Country Club on Oct. 19.

Panepento defeated four-time Northern Ohio Professional Association Player of the Year Jim Troy 6-and-5 in the 36-hole finals of the 49th Denny Shute Match Play Championship for his first professional victory. Twenty-seven area golf pros qualified for the event.

“This is massive for me,” 24-year-old Panepento said of the championship, which earned him $1,400 and a trophy. “This is one of the major tournaments for our section — one of the big three or four we play all year. I’ve been a PGA professional going on two years this spring. This is really huge for my confidence going forward.”

Panepento is an assistant pro to Jason Carbone at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, which hosted the 1973 PGA Championship. The Wooster alum started playing in professional tournaments earlier this year and showed promise with seventh-place finishes at a pair of previous NOPGA tourneys.

In order to reach the Shute finals, Panepento defeated Pepper Pike assistant Sean McGuire 5-and-4 in the semifinals and defending Shute champion Mark Scott Jr. 3-and-2, handing the Westwood Country Club head professional his first loss at Portage since 2021 in the quarterfinals. Prior to that he eliminated NOPGA veteran Tom Waitrovich 2-and-1 and Windmill Golf Center teaching pro Trent Maxwell 3-and-2 in his first match.

Panepento shot even-par 70 in the qualifier to determine seeding of the four-day tournament, which tied for second.

“I think everybody who gets to this point, no matter how talented they are, has a point in which they can have doubts if they can compete in the professional ranks,” Panepento said. “Not that this is PGA Tour level by any means, but it is lower-level professional golf.

“I’m very fortunate to have won that tournament and shown myself that I can compete among these guys. Hopefully, I can continue to get better and better.”

Panepento was 2-up after the front nine of the first 18 holes and never relinquished the lead against Troy. Panepento carded a birdie on the 525-yard second hole to start the final 18 holes. Long birdie putts on the 489-yard 11th and 366-yard 13th closed out the match.

“One-hundred percent the putter,” Panepento said when asked what the key was to winning the championship. “I’m normally a very good putter, but the putter was unreal. I made a 66-foot putt and then a 22-footer to close out the match against Jim.

“I played solid all week, but the putter just got really hot. When I won against Jim in the finals, I was 6-under through the 30 holes that we played. The technical term since it was match play is I was ‘6 holes up, with 5 to play,’ and that clinched the win.”

Panepento tied for seventh in the NOPGA Professional Championship, also known as the Section championship, at Tippecanoe CC in Canfield Aug. 21-23 and the NOPGA Assistants Championship at Avon Oaks CC on Aug. 29.

So where does Panepento go from here?

“My goal is to finish in the top five of the Section championship next year,” he said. “The top five guys in our Section championship get to go play in the Professional National Championship, and the top 20 there qualify for the PGA Championship, which is one of the four majors. That would be the ultimate goal — to get to play in a legitimate men’s major.”

Panepento loves his job working as an assistant golf pro, where he does everything from give lessons to run tournaments and help with merchandise at Canterbury.

When he gets a break to dream a little, the thought of playing in an actual PGA event now seems attainable.

“I think that would be tremendously cool,” Panepento said. “I’ve had college teammates who actually have played in the PGA before. I think it’s very doable. I’ve just got to keep working at it.”

Aaron Dorksen can be emailed ataarondorksen24@gmail.com.