It takes a little extra to be the Greatest

August 22, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

POLAND

A better script could not have been written for the seventh annual Farmers National Bank Greatest Golfer of the Valley tournament as two playoffs were needed Sunday to decide first-time champions.

Seven players overall earned initial titles at The Lake Club.

With cooperation from Mother Nature, Youngstown State’s Brandon Pluchinsky, this year’s Horizon League Player of the Year, defeated Joey Cilone in a one-hole playoff to capture the Pete Mollica Men’s Open championship.

Keith Schubert then followed with his extra-hole victory over Brad Barringer to earn the Men’s 5-8 crown.

Numbers were up in all areas as 26 teams kicked off the week’s festivities last Monday at The Lake Club in the popular Greatest Scramble, then Thursday’s Longest Drive Championship served as a warm-up for the nearly 300 players who took part in the weekend’s 54-hole challenge.

Ninety-six golfers qualified for Sunday’s action with Joan Ash winning her third overall title and her second consecutive in the Women’s 9+ division.

She joined YSU senior Mia Barchetti, Women’s Open champion, as the two players who led the field from their first drive to final putt.

There was a little bit of everything on display, not only for those in the field but for the gallery to witness as well.

Seniors Open winner Geno Bellatto entered his first Greatest tournament hoping to reignite his inner competitor, which dated to when he was 16 and playing when The Lake Club was known as Fonderlac Country Club.

Pete Bennett is a breast-cancer survivor who found his way to the winner’s circle by capturing the Seniors 10+ title.

Several of the area’s highly acclaimed courses – Avalon Golf and Country Club, The Lake Club, Mill Creek’s North and South courses, Oak Tree Golf Club, Tippecanoe Country Club and Youngstown Country Club – served as hosts to some of the area’s finest golfers ever assembled.