Pickerington’s Carson Bellish is the 120th Ohio Amateur champion at The Virtues Golf Club.

With his victory, Bellish has earned an exemption into next month’s U.S. Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club.

After heavy rain washed out most of Tuesday's play, it was a sprint to the finish line at the 2026 Ohio Amateur Championship.

Heading into the final round, it appeared as if the championship would be fought for among the players in the final group: Mason's Timmy Hollenbeck (-10), Kent's Liam Curtis (-10), and Pickerington's Carson Bellish (-7). Fourth place sat five shots back of Bellish at -2.

With a slow start in the final round amongst the leaders that saw five penalty strokes in the first four holes, the window opened for a chaser to enter contention. That chaser happened to be Dublin's Luke Siefker, who played his first 10 holes of the final round in 3-under-par to reach -5 for the championship.

Behind Siefker, struggles for the final group continued until 54-hole co-leader Liam Curtis birdied 7, 8, and 10 to take a two-stroke lead at -8. At this point in the proceedings, Hollenbeck and Bellish were both -6.

The first big swing of the final round came when Bellish knocked a birdie putt on the 11th to get to -7. Curtis, the 2025 Ohio Junior champion and son of Ben Curtis (who was caddying for Liam), bogeyed to drop back to -7. All of a sudden, Bellish found himself tied for the lead.

More bogeys were made in the final group the next few holes, dropping Bellish to -5 and Curtis to -5 through 15 holes.

Up ahead, Siefker made another birdie on the difficult 15th to take the outright lead at -6. After making a three-putt par on 16 and missing a good look for birdie on 17, Siefker took the solo lead into the 18th hole.

After a wayward drive off the tee, Siefker found it difficult to recover and settled for bogey to finish the championship at 5-under-par.

Bellish and Curtis would both birdie 16 before the moment of the championship took place on the 17th. After missing the green with a one-stroke lead, Bellish pitched in for birdie to get to -7. Friends, family, and Bellish himself let out a big roar that could be heard all the way up at the clubhouse.

Heading to the 18th tee with a two-stroke lead, Bellish found trouble, forcing himself to lay-up well short of the green on the par-4 finishing hole. Curtis applied pressure by hitting his approach shot inside of 10 feet. However, Bellish came up clutch again, hitting his third inside of 5 feet. After a Curtis miss, Bellish capped off the championship with the winning putt.

Carson Bellish joins a long list of great Ohio Amateur champions including Arnold Palmer, John Cook, Jason Kokrak, Ben Curtis, Kyle Reifers, and many more.

"I'm just really excited. I feel like it's been a long time coming," Bellish said after receiving the trophy.

With fatigue setting in after a long week at The Virtues, Bellish referenced how it was a test of survival more than anything. "Definitely a lack of sleep this week. I just tried to survive this week, get as much sleep as I could, and just keep plugging, keep my head down, and not waste any energy," Bellish noted.

The 121st edition of the Ohio Amateur Championship will occur at Coldstream Country Club in July of 2027.

Thank you to the entire staff at The Virtues Golf Club for their help in completing a successful 72-hole championship.

Click HERE to view the final results.

Click HERE to view photos from the championship.

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