Van Sickle wins West Penn Open; Rohanna fourth
Ed Cope
Mike Van Sickle, of Wexford, watches his shot toward the green on the par-3 third hole during the final round Tuesday of the 2013 PNC West Penn Open Championship at Mystic Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington.
Robert Rohanna, of Waynesburg, tees off on the first hole of the final round of the 2013 PNC West Penn Open Championship Tuesday morning at Mystic Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington. Rohanna parlayed a strong second round on Monday with a solid round Tuesday to finish tied for fourth in the prestigious event. (Photo by Ed Cope)
Ryan Sikora, of Greensburg, hits his second shot toward the first hole green during Tuesday's final round of the 2013 PNC West Penn Open Championship at Mystic Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington.
Daniel Obremski, of Irwin, hits a tee shot on the sixth hole during the final round of the 2013 PNC West Penn Open Championship Tuesday morning at Mystic Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington.
Austin Romeo, of Erie, tees off on the seventh hole during the final round of the 2013 PNC West Penn Open Championship Tuesday morning at Mystic Rock at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington.
Mike Van Sickle knows about winning golf tournaments.
He also now knows about winning golf tournaments at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.
The son of Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle earned his second title on the Mystic Rock course Tuesday, firing a final round 68 to post a six-shot victory over Ryan Sikora, of Greensburg, in the 109th PNC West Penn Open.
And while that’s a pretty impressive margin of victory, it could have very easily been several shots more. Van Sickle missed a 30-foot eagle putt on the eighth hole, a 10-footer for birdie on nine, he three-putted from 3½ feet on 10 that should have been a birdie and missed a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 11.
Other than the short one on No. 10, none of those were exactly gimmees, but the way he was playing, none were out of the realm of possibility, either.
“I came into today figuring the winner would have to shoot in the 60s to win, and I was able to do that,” Van Sickle said.
The win was significant for the 27-year-old resident of Wexford. It was his first victory in a tournament run by the West Penn Golf Association in nine years since the 2004 C.R. Miller when he defeated Nathan Smith. It was his second win at Nemacolin Woods (he won the WPIAL title there in 2004).
That’s just part of Van Sickle’s resume. He was ranked as high as No. 4 in the world, No. 2 in the United States by the R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking.
But most significant is the victory, which earned him $7,000, is his first win as a professional. He’s been grinding away on the mini-tours looking for that break to get him into a higher level, but that hasn’t happened yet.
And after he was presented with the trophy, he laughed about another big event coming up for him this week. “Yeah, believe it or not, I have an IRS audit coming up,” he said. “They can’t understand why I have so many expenses and such a low income. Welcome to the world of a young pro golfer!”
Van Sickle began the final round a shot out of the lead behind Sikora and Penn Township’s Dan Obremski.
They both tried to make runs at Van Sickle after he took over the lead, but Sikora finished with a 75 and Obremski struggled to a 77. At various times throughout the round, both had closed to within a shot, but then stumbled badly.
That was particularly the case with Obremski, but fell apart in the middle of the round, going double bogey, double bogey and bogey on No. 10-11-12.
“I played really solid golf and shot 3-over,” Sikora said. “The course was as easy as I’ve ever played it yesterday and today it just wasn’t. I had real trouble getting the ball close today.”
Evidence to the fact that it played tougher Tuesday was the fact that only six players recorded under-par rounds.
Robert Rohanna, of Waynesburg, was in the hunt at the beginning of the round, but the combination of not being able to get putts to fall and a couple mistakes at critical times, doomed him to a 75 and a fourth-place finish.
“I started out really good, I just couldn’t make it happen,” Rohanna said. “I didn’t feel like I played badly, but just couldn’t get anything going.”