With all the scores turned in except each team\’s sixth man, Tyrone led Altoona by one stroke on Altoona\’s home course of Park Hills. What would have been a rather large upset was averted when Cory Perry turned in a score of 83 to propel Altoona to victory.
In the Mountain Athletic Conference, the top four scores of six eligible golfers on each team are combined to make the team score. Before Perry finished, Altoona\’s score stood at 345 with individual scores of 82 by Chris Perry, a 91 by Chris Garguilo and 86s by Andy Burchfield and Zach Cyman, but when Perry turned in his score of 83, Altoona\’s score dropped to 337 when the 83 replaced Garguilo\’s 91.
Tyrone, who plays without a sixth man, finished with their second lowest team score of the season at 344. The team\’s best performance came in a home match against Everett and Tussey Mountain when they shot a 340. The score was enough to edge Bishop Guilfoyle who shot 351, but not enough to upset Altoona or the overall winners on the day, Central Mountain who shot 324.
Once again, Tyrone\’s Jimmy Gillam earned medalist honors with a 1-under-par 69, as he has in all of Tyrone\’s matches this season, but it was Central Mountain who took the honors as a team with solid play from all of their place finishers.
Parker Everett used long putts to crack the 80s with a score of 77 while Robbie Emert, Adam Smith and Dan Dwyer all kept their scores under 85 at 80, 84 and 83 respectively.
Bishop Guilfoyle received solid performances from Vince Finochio, who shot a team low 83, and Nate Williams who posted an 84, but Chris Madden, Brian Neimer and Shaun Sides all shot 94 to boost the Marauders\’ score up to 351.
Ryan Ruscio turned in Tyrone\’s lowest score of the season not shot by Gillam with an 85. Ruscio opened the season with an 87, but had been slipping into the higher nineties until a 91 at the Bolton Invitational turned his momentum in the opposite direction.
\”Shots were going where I wanted them to go,\” Ruscio said when explaining the difference between this round and his previous matches.
One of the reasons the ball was going where Ruscio wanted it may have been head coach Jim Gillam\’s advice prior to the match to only use driver on selected holes.
Jason Tuskovich continued his roller coaster season by posting a 93. It was Tuskovich\’s second lowest score of the season. He shot a 91 in Tyrone\’s second match, but has slipped to 108 or over twice on the season including a 108 in Tyrone\’s last match at Lewistown.
Tuskovich\’s most recent turn around may have been contributed to an adjustment he made before the match to his stance while driving the ball. Tuskovich had been hooking the ball, but by moving forward in his stance, his drive straightened out.
Matt Brooks, one of Tyrone\’s most consistent performers this season, was on his way to another solid performance around his average in the low nineties, but the par-5 18th hole proved to be Brooks\’ downfall. Two balls hit out of bounds led to a 12 on the hole and a score of 97 overall.
As he has been all season, Gillam was tremendous. Gillam spent most of the day splitting fairways on drives and knocking approaches within 10 feet, but if there has been any flaw in Gillam\’s game this season, it has been on the putting green.
Gillam three-putted the par-4 second hole for a bogey before nailing an 8 foot putt on the par-5 fourth hole to get back to even. Gillam then birdied the par-5 fifth hole with a great second shot that provided him with an eagle putt.
However the seventh through 10th holes saw Gillam miss putts under 10 feet, and the miss on the 10th hole gave Gillam a bogey and moved him back to even par.
Gillam managed a birdie with a 5 foot birdie putt on the par-4 12th hole, but dropped back to even on the par-3 14th hole when he missed the green left, chunked a chip to the fringe, putted past the hole, and made a 3 foot bogey putt.
Gillam\’s seemed to solve his problems on the green on the next hole by draining a 30 foot birdie going downhill to go back to 1-under-par.
Gillam pared the final three holes to finish under par for the fourth time in five matches this season.
Tyrone\’s final match of the season is today when they host Huntingdon and Bellwood-Antis at the Sinking Valley Country Club at 1:30 p.m.
