EXETER – John Mikiewicz and Tom Biscotti have won tournaments together before, but none quite like the 73rd annual John A. Allan Memorial June 28-30 at Fox Hill Country Club.
On a weekend marked by the death of Biscotti’s father, Thomas, Mikiewicz-Biscotti worked their way back from fifth place and four strokes behind.
Mikiewicz-Biscotti put together the best round of any team in the tournament on the final morning, yet still had to withstand watching a six-stroke lead get away on the tournament’s last nine holes before pulling out a dramatic victory on the final hole of the 63-hole Championship Flight of the club’s biggest member-guest of each season.
Summoning control of a wide range of emotions, Biscotti rolled in what he described as a “tricky” sidehill putt for birdie on 18 to break a tie for the lead and decide the tournament.
“That was pretty unbelievable,” Mikiewicz said after winning the event with Biscotti for the third time.
They have also won the McCarthy Tournament, the similar event at Wyoming Valley Country Club where Biscotti is a member.
As he prepared for the winning putt, Biscotti paused and said a prayer, remembering his father who had passed the day before.
“It was a tough weekend, obviously, and I was just trying to do it for him,” Biscotti said. “I was just trying to get it together and make that putt for him.”
The tournament featured 18-hole rounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before the field of challengers was trimmed in half to play nine more holes.
Mikiewicz-Biscotti had the best scores of both the second round and third round, cutting into their deficit in the Saturday round, then seemingly taking control of the tournament with a scorching 63 Sunday morning.
John Mulhern Jr.-Zach Mulhern, who had led after each of the first two rounds, fought back on the final nine, stringing together birdies late.
“Having a big lead is very difficult,” Mikiewicz said. “You have to remain focused.
“It wasn’t that we weren’t focused. We hit a lot of good shots, but the Mulherns played great and they put pressure on us. … They came out and did unbelievable things on that last nine holes.”
John Mulhern made a birdie putt on 16 and stuck a shot close on 17, forcing Mikiewicz to make a tough two-putt par just to hold on to a piece of the lead going to 18.
“Even on 18 when we were tied after being six shots up, I said to Tom, ‘we still birdie to win this tournament,’ and we did,” Mikiewicz said.
Things got exciting early for Mikiewicz-Biscotti with three straight tap-in birdies on shots to within a foot by Biscotti at 5, then Mikiewicz at 6 before Mikiewicz narrowly missed a hole-in-one at 7. They ran the birdie streak to four holes with another at 8.
“It was probably the best round of golf John and I have played as a team together,” Biscotti said. “The wind was just blowing so hard, but we played good, solid golf.
“The putts were falling. We made a lot of birdies. We got a nice lead. We needed every bit of it obviously.”
The 63 was four shots better than any other team could muster in the Sunday morning round and two shots better than the Mulherns opening score, which had been the best of the weekend until then.
