Munko happy to win, hopeful about daughter
NEW CASTLE — Sometimes good things really do happen to good people.
Dennis Munko is an assistant golf professional at Treesdale Golf & Country Club, a regular guy who works hard at his job in a difficult industry.
But there’s more to Munko than his ability to make 12 birdies in 36 holes to win the Tri-State Open at New Castle Country Club.
Munko and his wife have a 20 ½-month daughter, Sophia, who has been through a tough time in her short life.
“Within five hours of her being born, the doctors figured out that something wasn’t quite right,” Munko said. “She was diagnosed with neutropenia, which is an abnormally low count of white blood cells that fight off infections, particularly those caused by bacteria and fungi.”
In Sophia’s case, the plan of attack was a bone marrow transplant, several medications daily, including two shots a day.
Imagine the difficulty of having to give a baby two shots a day.
The good news? The young lady is improving, doing better and her parents are hopeful about her future.
Talking about his daughter was a lot easier after putting up a four-under par round of 68 Tuesday after a highly-eventful even-par round of 72 Monday. In both rounds, he made six birdies. Yesterday, however, he also had a double bogey and a quadruple bogey and still managed to shoot even par.
Tuesday didn’t include any of the fireworks like Monday’s round, instead he got off to a flying start, making birdies on the first three holes to put pressure on first-round leader Ryan Sikora.
“It couldn’t have been a much better start,” Munko, who doesn’t get a lot of time to play at Treesdale, said. “I only played three 18-hole rounds there last year. This year, I haven’t played any.”
After going out in 32, he posted a 36 on the back with two birdies and two bogeys. What he didn’t do was blow up on any hole.
When he came to the par-five 15th, his tee shot found the left rough, eliminating any chance of any attempt at going for the green in two. He tried that twice on Monday and both times found the creek in front of the green.
The 35-year-old resident of Leechburg, whose first job was as the golf professional at Birdsfoot Golf Course, made a birdie and, despite making a three-putt bogey on the 17th, had a one-shot lead after completing his round.
One of his pursuers was Sikora, but he couldn’t get anything going and also three-putted 17. He did make a closing birdie, but came up a shot short.
“I played well today, I really did,” Sikora said. “But I had four three-putts and that just killed me. Give Dennis credit. He played well, that was a good score today.”
Sikora’s final round of 73 put him into a tie with Jason Robinson of Charles Town, W.Va., who also struggled with the flat stick on Tuesday.
Only five players managed to complete two rounds under par. In addition to Munko, Sikora and Robinson, Denny Dolci and Gordon Vietmeier were at one-under-par.
Geibel Catholic graduate Brian Dunaway of Willowbrook Country Club finished in a tie for seventh after following a first-round 73 with a 72 to end up at one-over. Dunaway, a Dunbar native who now lives in Greensburg, carded four birdies and four bogeys on Tuesday.
Uniontown Country Club professional Tom Bummer called his day a “hanging in day” as he struggled to a 76 and finished T25. He made seven bogeys and three birdies.