EXETER – Ed Hennigan proved it is not yet time for him to stop competing for the top titles at Fox Hill Country Club.
Michael Chomicz showed he is ready to be competitive again.
Both figure to be in the hunt, along with their partners, when the 71st annual John A. Allan Invitational is decided Sunday afternoon. They played their way into a share of the lead after Friday’s first round.
Hennigan and Chomicz were two of the familiar names in the championship flight where eight of the 20 teams were packed within two strokes of the lead after Friday’s first 18 holes. Another 18 holes were scheduled for Saturday and again early Sunday to determine which 10 teams will keep playing nine more holes Sunday afternoon to settle the championship in the 63-hole, medal play format.
The 74-year-old Hennigan, who has won four previous Allan titles with two different partners, also has a total of 24 club championships on his own in the Men’s, Senior and Super Senior categories.
Chomicz, a frequent championship flight threat before taking a break from competition, is back playing more seriously after encouragement from his 89-year-old father Walter, a two-time Super Senior champion at the club.
“It was a fun day,” Michael Chomicz said after teaming with Joe Weiscarger for a 5-under-par, 66. “I’ve been out of competing for a long time, but I practiced a lot last year and I practiced a lot this year.
“The only downfall today was that I wish my Dad was here to see it. He’s in a rehabilitative nursing home, but I would have given my right arm for him to be here.”
Chomicz, 52, played very little golf for six years while helping care for his father, now a resident at the Gardens at Butler in Drums, but came back to Fox Hill last July.
“I had just stopped playing,” Chomicz said. “I came back last year. Then, this year I was playing in the (Golf Association of Philadelphia) matches. Joe gave me my first loss and we were sitting here after the match and I just happened to bring up the Allan.”
A first-time partnership was born from those post-match discussions.
Chomicz credited his father for encouraging his return to golf and Weiscarger, who won the 2006 Allan championship with John Callahan, for helping him get comfortable Friday.
“Attitude, having a good time, and pace,” Chomicz said were the reasons for the successful round. “Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself and Joe kept me focused on what we had to do.
“I’ve practiced quite a bit this year, especially driving the ball to keep it in play. He’s played a lot of competitive golf – a lot more than I have the last few years – and he kept me focused on the matter at hand.”
The Chomicz-Weiscarger team was one of three new combinations that shared the lead after Friday.
Hennigan was playing with 22-year-old Corey Palma, a junior member at Fox Hill from Old Forge who just completed his college golf career at King’s.
They shared the lead along with Rick Laneski-Eric Plisko.
Hennigan and Palma were introduced to each other by Shane Gartley, another King’s College golfer. They played a casual round together, decided to team up for the tournament and played a bit more together before the tournament.
Palma’s distance off the tee – he hit driver, followed by wedge into the green on many holes – led to six birdies. Hennigan threw in a birdie on 12 and provided steady assistance.
Hennigan said he may have to consider whether to keep pursuing the championship flight of the Allan when the tournament reverts back to match play next year, requiring two rounds each on Saturday and Sunday for the tournament finalists. For now, he remains a threat with a new partner after former partner Jim Hoover dropped down to play in the first flight.
“I’ve been playing pretty well, but nothing fantastic,” said Hennigan, who played his first Allan 55 years ago and estimates he has been in between 45 and 50 of the tournaments total.
Hennigan has won Fox Hill’s last nine Super Seniors titles, but he can still keep up with younger players, too. He won Fox Hill’s men’s title just four years ago and he is the reigning club champion at Olde Hickory Golf and Country Club in Fort Myers, Fla., where he acknowledges the field skews a bit older than at local clubs.
Hennigan, who still plays 4-5 times a week, won the Allan three straight times from 1975 to 1977 with Dave Monka and again in 2001 with Anthony Kondracki.
Laneski won in 2012 with current rising pro Brandon Matthews.
Gartley is among the players trying to beat out the partnership he helped form. He joined Michael Answini for a round of 67 to tie for fourth through Friday’s play.
They were tied with Mark Answini-Matthew Hoover. Mark Answini won in 2015 with Greg Mascioli.
Three teams shot 68s, including John Mikiewicz-Tom Biscotti, the most recent championship team still playing together. They won the 2013 and 2014 titles.
Paul Keating-Connor McNicholas and Robert Santarelli-Steve Hudacek also shot 68.
There are 14 flights of round-robin match play competition. Those flight winners will compete in a shootout prior to the last nine holes of the championship flight Sunday afternoon.
