Warren’s Pico wins Summit County Senior title


Thrilling three-hole playoff seals victory

By Charles Grove

cgrove@vindy.com

After a lengthy absence from competitive golf, Warren’s Jack Pico won the 2016 Senior Summit County Amateur Championship this weekend at Barberton Brookside and Good Park.

The 58-year-old Trumbull County magistrate won the senior division with a two-day score of 145 to finish 2-over par and then won a thrilling three-hole playoff to win the overall championship.

“It’s nice to get back in the winner’s circle,” Pico said. “It takes a while to get back to being competitive.”

Pico took several years off to help coach his daughter Rachel, who was a standout softball pitcher at Warren JFK, but took down a field of some of northeast Ohio’s best senior amateurs with solid play.

“I hit 17 of 18 greens in the first round and I was able to hang on the second day,” Pico said. “It seemed like every time I bogeyed I’d come right back with a birdie on the next hole.”

Pico’s first round of 69 helped him fend off challenger after challenger, and one of those challengers, Tom Baugh who finished second to Pico, caddied for Pico during the three-hole playoff against Strongville’s Rob Cummins for the overall championship.

“I was a little angry for not finishing as well as I wanted but I knew I had a fresh start in the playoff,” Pico said. “Tom came up and asked to caddy for me and it was really nice to have a friend in that position.”

After both Pico and Cummins narrowly missed birdie putts on the first playoff hole, it appeared Cummins took the upper hand after a better tee shot on the par-5 second which featured a significant dog leg. Blocked by some trees on his second shot, Pico was forced to lay up while Cummins was just off the green and appeared primed for a a birdie.

But Pico wasn’t giving up that easily, he nearly holed his third shot and ended up 18 inches away with a fantastic wedge shot.

“I knew I had to make a legitimate birdie chance,” Pico said. “With the way the green was I knew I had to hit it below the hole and I hit the exact shot I wanted to hit.”

Cummins did well to make a strong chip to get within three feet himself, but missed his birdie putt and after a tap-in, Pico was in control.

The final hole, a 190-yard par-3, sealed the championship when Pico chipped out of the bunker on his second shot and got within a foot of the hole. That forced Cummins into a birdie-or-die scenario and his final putt from the fringe landed two inches from the cup, ending a long day in satisfying style.

“I teed off that final day at 1:18 and didn’t sink that final putt until 7 p.m.,” Pico said.