After a ten-year hiatus, Pictured Rocks Golf Course has a new club champion.

With a two-hole lead with one hole to go, Izaak Mahoski defeated former club champion Curt Heribacka in match play on Sunday, Sept. 17 in Munising to win the title.

“It feels good. I just wanted to go up and down and hit as many pars as I could,” Mahoski said. “It was good to have all the support and play in front of the crowd.”

Playing the back nine for the championship round, Mahoski and Heribacka were even after four holes. With a closer approach shot, Mahoski was able to birdie 14 and take the lead back in the final round. After both parred holes 15 and 16, the championship pair had difficulties on the seventeenth green.

With a birdie putt in front of him and the championship on the line, Mahoski went for glory and pushed the ball passed the hole, leaving the opportunity for Heribacka.

“I was getting a little aggressive. It was a good putt, but the wrong lie. It’s not what I wanted to do,” Mahoski said.

But after Heribacka missed his par putt from 14 feet out, it gave Mahoski the opportunity to hit par and take the PGRC championship.

Mahoski qualified for the finals after being the fifth seed, coming out of Saturday’s qualifying round. He defeated Shane Livermore in the opening round of match play, Dakota Maki in the quarterfinals and defeated topseed Adam Spalding in the semis before reaching the championship. Heribacka was the second seed on the other half of the 16-man bracket, defeating Ashton Wymer, Rich Prunick Jr. and Ryan Fischer on his way to the title match.

Heribacka was not only a previous club champion, but the defending champion, winning the 2013 title. Unlike other major clubs in the region, Pictured Rocks Golf Course did not have a club championship for over a decade until it restarted this year. Heribacka said that the idea got started with conversations between him, Chris Prunick and Joe DesJardins.

“It’s good for the club. Clubs all across the U.P. and the U.S. for that matter have club championships,” Heribacka said. “We wanted to have that back and we were able to make it happen. This is a great start for us and we’ll be able to bring it back better next year.”