Oct 2, 2018 3 min read

OAKMONT – The big winner at Tuesday’s WPIAL Class AAA golf championship at Oakmont Country Club was the weather.

Four times play was halted over the historic course by lightning, rain, tornado warnings and high winds.

The four delays consumed a combined one hour and 45 minutes, leaving two groups on the course. They will finish this morning with an 8 a.m. start.

The top 14 golfers advance to the PIAA Regional Oct. 15 at Tom’s Run in the Chestnut Ridge Resort near Blairsville.

Jimmy Meyers of Central Catholic holds a two-stroke lead over Brady Pevarnik of Latrobe. Pevarnik was in the last twosome to finish before play was stopped because of darkness.

Pevarnik, who lost in a playoff to Moon’s Chris Sabol in 2017 at Nemacolin Country Club in Beallsville, still has three holes remaining over the par-71, 6,677-yard course.

Luke Lestini of South Fayette was the lone qualifier out of four local competitors. Three others were from Peters Township: Parker Johnson, Ryan Marshall and Christian Schreiber. Jake Caldwell of Belle Vernon was tied for 28th in the 35-man field. 

Lestini sat in 10th place after shooting 10-over 81. That was quite a difference from the junior’s tournament on this same course two years ago as a freshman. He had a bogey on one, a 10 on two and a quadruple-bogey on three.

“Nerves,” said Lestini. “I learned that I had to quiet myself down.”

Lestini said the delays didn’t bother him and he’s had a number of events he’s played in interrupted by weather.

“You just have to stay focused and not let it bother you,” he said.

Lestini was one of the early leaders after parring the first three holes and making birdies on the par-5 fourth and par-4 fifth. But he bogeyed each of the final four holes to finish 2-over 38.

The back nine began slipping away with a triple-bogey on the par-4 12th and a double bogey on the par-3 13th before he regained his footing.

“On 12, I just made the wrong club selection and sent it over the hole,” he said. “I was in a weird spot, 50 yards in and I made a few bad shots. Out here on almost every single hole, if you aren’t in the right spot, you can make a big score. After that, I kind of took myself out of winning so I was just trying to survive.”

Lestini settled down after that with four consecutive pars and that got him through to the next round.

“He had a little bit of a brain cramp on 12 and 13,” said South Fayette head coach Bob Ruffolo. “Outside of that, he played really well. Oakmont is such a wonderful place to play. He made two bad swings and it cost him five strokes instead of two strokes. Welcome to Oakmont.

“He’s been our team leader and has carried us all year. He carries himself well and has a great attitude. He missed this by one stroke last year so he doesn’t want to be done yet.”

Johnson was holding onto a precarious spot, tied for 13th, before stumbling over the final three holes. Marshall shot 7-over on the front nine and it didn’t get much better on the back. Schreiber could muster only one birdie and three pars for his round.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Peters Township head coach David Kuhn. “We had three players who we felt could make it but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

Johnson finished plus-16, Marshall plus-20 and Schreiber plus-27.