Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

EXETER — In a match filled with incredibly consistent play, the most routine of all shots sealed a victory.

Except, nothing seemed normal about the four-foot par putt that sent two-time tourney champions John Mikiewicz and Tom Biscotti back to the Allan Tournament semifinals.

“Absolutely,” Mikiewicz said. “Any time you have a four-foot putt you have to play outside the hole when you have 150 people watching you, that’s what you play for.”

Mikiewicz calmly sank it, using Saturday’s final shot of the Championship Flight to lift the Mikiewicz/Biscotti team over a gallant father/son team of John and Zack Mulhern, 1-up, and into the final day of the member/guest match play tourney at Fox Hill Country Club.

“John made great par and we dodged two bullets,” Biscotti said. “John Mulhern made a great putt, I thought it was going in. His son lipped one out. My partner made a nerve-racking four-foot putt to win the match.”

The team of Mike Answini and Shamus Gartley dealt with a little pressure themselves while reaching their first Allan semifinals together.

They went 19 holes to fend off Brenden Carroll and Mariano Medico in Saturday’s first round before fending off Shawn McNamara and Jay Marsden, 2 and 1 in the quarterfinals.

“We both played really, really well,” said Gartley, a former Coughlin High School standout from Plains who now golfs for King’s College, played in the MAC championships and just qualified for the U.S. Amateur Tournament two weeks ago. “‘I’ve been playing a lot of golf. Playing school golf, you play a lot of competitive golf early in the year. It helps a lot.”

Experience helped the duo succeed and survive Saturday.

“We played together for a couple years now,” said Answini, whose brother Mark teamed with Jim Hoover to win last year’s Allan title. “I’m definitely not a real big hitter, but I get a lot of pars. And he (Gartley) has the opportunity to make birdies.”

The last quarterfinal match proved par for the Fox Hill course.

The four golfers in the group combined to make par 33 times in 36 attempts. The other three holes wound up with birdies. The Mulhern team made one, while Mikiewicz and Biscotti finished with two, which proved the difference in a tight match.

“Every hole was a chess match,” Mikiewicz, a Fox Hill member from Old Forge. “All four (players) would be on the green. Every shot mattered, because it would have flipped the match.”

Zack Mulhern made a huge one that nearly turned the tide, as the former Wyoming Area standout and current Misericordia University player delivered a stunning approach shot that turned up the pressure for the final hole.

“The greatest shot I witnessed was Zack Mulhern’s up-and-down on 17,” Mikiewicz said. “He hit it over the road, onto the green for an eight-foot putt to keep the match going through 18. It was just very steady golf. Pars weren’t winning today.

“It was an incredible match.”

Mulhern and Biscotti, who won back-to-back Allan titles in 2013 and 2014, began their Championship Flight play by taking out last year’s tourney winners Mark Answini and Hoover, 2 and 1.

“This tournament brings out the best in us, I think,” Biscotti, from Mountain Top, said. “For some reason, our games seem to click at the right time here. We’re always comfortable playing together, but we’re sort of in a comfort zone here.

“I really love this tournament.”

Biscotti and Mikiewicz will face William Burke and Christian Davis, who won both their Saturday matches 3 and 2, in Sunday morning’s semifinals.

In the other semifinal match, Mike Answini and Gartley will square off against Dave Kluger and former pro Eric Williams, who made the championship flight through a four-team playoff Friday before winning their two matches 3 and 2 and 2 and 1 on Saturday.

“Me and Mike are going to have to play really, really well,” said Gartley, who captured Fox Hill’s match play club championship earlier this month, “and we’re going to have to make a lot of birdies. The other teams in this area are very talented.”

This time, though, Mike Answini and Gartley gave themselves a chance to stand above the rest by finally making it to the Allan’s final day.

“Other than being exhausted,” Mike Answini said, “it feels great.”

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Golf-ball.jpg.optimal.jpg

By Paul Sokoloski

[email protected]

John A. Allan Invitational

Championship Flight Results

First Round

Dave Kluger/Eric Williams def. Don Crossin/Ryan Crossin, 3 and 2

Chris Tracy/Ryan Tracy def. Ed Hennigan/John Barone, 3 and 2

Shawn McNamara/Jay Marsden def. Bob Gill/Brian Corbett, 1-up

Mike Answini/Shamus Gartley def. Brenden Carroll/Mariano Medico, 19 holes

William Burke/Christian Davis def. Joe Carroll/Patrick Mitchell, 3 and 2

Bob Santarelli/Stephen Hudacek def. Jamie Anzalone/Bill Musto 69, 21 holes

John Mikiewicz/Tom Biscotti def. Mark Answini/Jim Hoover, 2 and 1

John Mulhern/Zack Mulhern def. William Gill/Todd Vonderheid, 5 and 4

Quarterfinals

Dave Kluger/Eric Williams def. Chris Tracy/Ryan Tracy, 2 and 1

Mike Answini/Shamus Gartley def. Shawn McNamara/Jay Marsden, 2 and 1

William Burke/Christian Davis def. Bob Santarelli/Stephen Hudacek, 3 and 2

John Mikiewicz/Tom Biscotti def. John Mulhern/Zack Mulhern, 1-up

Semifinals

(7:20 a.m. Sunday)

Dave Klinger/Eric Williams vs. Mike Answini, Shamus Gartley

William Burke/Christian Davis vs. John Mikiewicz/Tom Biscotti

Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski