84 Lumber Fayette County Open notebook
Calvaresi takes lackluster second round in stride BULLSKIN TWP. – Pat Calvaresi’s tailspin of a second round in the 84 Lumber Fayette County Open was rather bizarre.
How could someone shoot so well in the first round – a 5-under-par 66 at the Uniontown Country Club on Thursday to take the lead by four strokes – only to flounder with 15 golfers bettering his 8-over-par 79 a day later at the Pleasant Valley Country Club?
Instead of brooding over the question, Calvaresi was waxing poetic in the clubhouse following his round of five bogeys and two double bogeys.
“That’s why golf is such a beautiful game,” Calvaresi said. “Golf’s not a game you can beat, you have to conquer it in small doses.”
Golf seem to get the best of him in small doses on No. 2 when he three-putted from seven feet away, a blooper for a professional golfer like Calvaresi.
So was it bad luck?
“I’m not blaming it on bad luck,” Calvaresi replied. “I’m a firm believer that you make your own luck.”
Then it must have been lack of confidence.
Calvaresi, whose strength is his using his irons from the fairway, admitted he lost some of the confidence he gained on Thursday using his driver when he only laid up once.
“Did I lose it? Yes,” Calvaresi said.
“Will I get it back? Yes. You sometimes have to make regressions before you can make progressions.”
The answer is, as Calvaresi would put it quite glowingly, there is no answer. It was just the golf gods keeping him on his toes.
“Today was not a setback,” he added, “today was a wake-up call. Just when you think you have all the answers it goes against you.”
One hot Minnick
While the top two golfers were all fretting over lackluster play, there were some golfers like Len Minnick whose name near the top of the leaderboard comes as a surprise.
The Perryopolis native was tied with Matt Pramuk for the top second-round score of 75 in the clubhouse until John Kingora, playing in the last group, turned in his 72.
Minnick, crediting his chipping and putting as catalyst, is fourth overall through two rounds with a 149 including his 74 in the first round on Thursday. After 10 years of competing in the Fayette County Open, Minnick has never been this high on the leaderboard after two rounds.
“It’s definitely a surprise,” said Minnick, whose home course is Linden Hall in Dawson. “This is the best I’ve played. I pretty much had no expectations coming in. I just come here to play golf and see some guys I only see once a year.”
Minnick will tee off in the second-to-last group in today’s third round.
“There’s going to be some pressure,” he added. “But hopefully I’ll continue to play steady and keep away from the doubles (bogeys).”
This one’s for Mike
John Kingora’s golf game may have drawn his ire during the second round, but he did crack a smile on the course Friday. The eight-time Fayette County Open champion who holds the lead despite his self-professed lack of consistency, drew inspiration from Mike Carbonara, his former high school principal at Albert Gallatin.
Kingora, like many competitors in this weekend’s tournament, are keeping Carbonara in their thoughts. Carbonara, who has played in 15 of the 17 Fayette County Opens as recent as last year, could not play as he continues to win his bout with cancer.
“When I thought about him,” Kingora said, “it put a smile on my face because I knew it was going to be OK.”
Up next
The third and finals rounds will be played at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort’s Links course in Farmington. Last year the final two legs were staged at Nemacolin Woodlands’ Mystic Rock course. The grand prize for the winner of the Fayette County Open receives $700. The first group tees off at 7 a.m. this morning while the lead threesome of Kingora, Calvaresi, and Tim Mulholland tees off at 8:38 a.m.