Fayette Open keeps plugging along
The Fayette County Open is a grind, and I didn鈥檛 even hit a drive or line up a putt.
I imagine the fellas who chased around that little white ball across four of the county蘑菇视频 golf courses last week would tend to agree.
Harison Laskey survived the grind, leading from his first round even-par 71 at Pleasant Valley on Thursday all the way through his 2-under 68 Sunday in the final round at Springdale Golf Club.
Fellow Laurel Highlands graduate Santino Marchitello shared the lead after the second round at 3-over 145 after he shot a 71 at Uniontown Country Club and Laskey carded a 74.
Former Mustangs standout Brian Galica, who was a bit younger on the calendar than Laskey, won the tournament after his freshman year in college, as Laskey did this year.
Galica graduated from Laurel Highlands in 2002 and won the county title the following summer. Laskey was a 2015 LH grad and completed his freshman year at Mercyhurst in 2016, where he golfs on the Laker squad.
Bernie Wydo has said many times through the years the Fayette County Open is about guys who want to play golf and aren鈥檛 afraid to post a score.
The scores, when I didn鈥檛 mistype, improperly add or occasionally omit, were pretty solid.
Par for the four-day tournament was was 284 (71-71-72-70) and the top 10 finishers shot 300 (16-over-par) or lower, for an average of 4-over a round. That蘑菇视频 pretty fair shootin鈥�, if you ask me.
Former champions Jeremy Enslen (294), Pat Calvaresi (296), John Lenkey (297), Marchitello (297), and Mike Revak (300) were among those top-10 finishers.
Lenkey, notably, went from a pink (or was it salmon?) shirt and slacks on a hot, humid first round at Pleasant Valley where he was pleased to break 85 (with an 83), to rounds of 73, 74 and 67, the low round of the tournament.
Ian Picosky also had an 83 (in the second round at Uniontown), but played the other three rounds in 2-over 215 to cruise to the low round of the five left-handers in the main field.
The highest round Laskey, David, Enslen, Calvaresi, Marchitello, Scott Bedilion, Ron Jones, and Marcus Ondra had between them was Ondra蘑菇视频 79 in the first round as all eight golfers shot in the 70s in all four rounds.
A new tee box (which created an issue or two) greeted golfers on No. 16 at Pleasant Valley Country Club, while a dousing rain delayed play Saturday morning at Duck Hollow Golf Club.聽
Bedilion, who graduated from Waynesburg Central in 2001, happened into the county championship and was happy he did. On the top of the leaderboard in all four rounds, Bedilion complimented the golfers every day, noting how enjoyable it was to play a round of golf with each group.
I鈥檝e threatened to get my act together on the golf course and tee it up on year. Who knows? Maybe I鈥檒l have the chance to botch up my score in the paper in 2017!
The Fayette County Open is a unique opportunity to tee it up and post a score on the county蘑菇视频 courses. I鈥檇 suggest any golfer who is up to the challenge and hasn鈥檛 done so to date, get that handicap in order and play in the county championship. If for no other reason, it蘑菇视频 an opportunity to watch a four-day golf fashion show on the course.