Sep 16, 2004 By Jim Kriek For The 4 min read

Rich Sikora has scored other birdies on the golf course, and hopefully will get a lot of others in the future, but it might be a long time before he enjoys one any more than he did one shot he made Wednesday. Sikora birdied the second hole at the Uniontown Country Club to start his round, and as it eventually turned out, that would be the winning edge for his fivesome in the Pro-Am Division to open the annual Fall Classic.

Sikora, along with Pete Clakeley, Mary Pat Bonchosky and pros Brad Apple and Jim McGurk, finished in a tie for first place with pros Ty Roush and Dave Lawrence and amateurs Ernie Dehaas, Stacey Duke and Keith Piggot, both scoring 53s.

The first rule for breaking ties is to compare scorecards, and when that was done it was found that Sikora had birdied the No. 2 hole (158, par 3), and that gave his team the edge over the other fivesome, which had a par.

Scoring for the teams was on the basis of best-ball-of-five, with 80-percent handicap for the three amateurs, with the winners having nines of 25-28 and the runners-up 28-25. The Pro-Pro portion of play was decided on best-ball-of-two.

Sikora wasn’t the only one in his fivesome with a key shot.

Bonchosky eagled the par five, 486-yard fifth layout.

She said of the two-under achievement, “My drive went to the right, and into the rough, but I hit back onto the fairway with a five-wood, and had about a 70-yard shot to the green.”

She used a pitching wedge from there, and “the shot went left, hit the bank, and kicked left into the hole.”

It was her second career eagle, having previously solved the eighth (428-yard, par 5).

Proceeds from the event will go to the Woodlands Foundation, which benefits children and adults with disability and chronic illness.

Clakeley, who represented the Woodlands Foundation, was a member of the winning fivesome.

The top two fives finished three strokes ahead of pros Mark Cunningham and Don Staton, and amateurs Dave Stuart, Tom Balling and Don Stone, who scored 30-26-56.

Rounding out the top five, and tied at 57, were pros Jack Pawelkoski and Steve Superick, amateurs Cathy Radcliffe, George Franks and George Taner, 27-30; Joe Flogge and Gary Keating, Tom Notturno, Rusty Mechling and Fraser Stokes, 31-26; Dan Braun and Scott Cortazzo, Joseph Sinclair, Tom Jamieson and John Duty, 31-26; and Harry Toscano and Nick Sabol, David Hughes, Charles Cluss and Bill Ulmer, 28-29.

Brad Apple and Jim McGurk won the Pro-Pro competition with 30-32-62, one stroke ahead of Gary Makulish Jr. and Phil Fenstermaker, whose 32-31-63 was one stroke ahead of Mark Cunningham and Don Staton’s 33-31- 64.

Completing the top five and tied with 65s were Don Slebodnik and Glenn McCloskey, 35-30; Jack Pawelkoski and Steve Superick, 31-34; Dan Braun and Scott Cortazzo, 33-32; and Craig Goldsberry and Cory George, 30-35.

Apple and McGurk combined for 11 birdies in their winning total, partially offset by four bogies. Apple birdied three (361-yard, par 4), five (569-yard, par 5), eight (531-yard, par 5), nine (138-yard, par 3), and 13 (459-yard, par 4), around bogies on two (158-yard, par 3), 14 (477-yard, par 5), and 17 (380-yard, par 4).

McGurk had birds on the way out at four (292-yard, par 4), six (376-yard, par 4), and eight, around a bogey on seven (304-yard, par 4). Coming back he birdied 10 (316-yard, par4), 14 (477-yard, par 5), and 18 (169-yard, par 3).

NOTES: The pros begin a 36-hold Pro-Pro team event this morning, with the second round set for Friday. …Along with Bonchosky, two other golfers fired eagles, Dave Lawrence on the 16th (373, 4) and Rick Schuller the 14th (477, 5. …Team 22 had to play as a foursome, Gary Gibson the only pro when his partner had to cancel out. He had a pair of 40’s by himself, and joined with Kathy Bush, Terry Cellurale, and Sam Seeman for a 34-30-64 team score. …A big bouquet of thanks to the tournament committee whose great help made it much easier for this writer to go about covering the event. Marisa Marchitello is chairman, aided by Anni Cardenas, Trudy Koury, Reta Semans, Robin Semans, Jan Kikta, Bill Shelby, Jon Pidich, George Tanner and Bob Garrett.