Martin wins by 5 shots

Sunnehanna pro masters Chartiers

Ed and Gordon Vietmeier, golfing brothers and PGA pros, have been playing Chartiers Country Club since they were teenagers. They know every bend, slope and crazy break on the property.

So do Kevin Shields and Jim Cichra, who also have spent many days on the rolling, 6,562-yard layout in Robinson.

They were all in agreement after two days of the EZ-Go Tri-State Open.

“That’s the hardest I’ve ever seen it play,” Shields said.

It was for 59 of the 60 players who survived the cut. It wasn’t for Jason Martin, the head pro at Sunnehanna Country Club.

He birdied seven of the final 10 holes, capping off a two-day assault in which he made 15 birdies over 36 holes, and won the Tri-State Open by five shots Tuesday over amateur Jake Sollon of Peters Township, the No. 1 player on the Rider University golf team.

Martin followed an opening 67 that included a double bogey at the final hole with a second-round 66 to finish at 7-under 133 and win the oldest tournament in the Tri-State PGA section for the first time.

“He was too tough,” said Sollon, who began the day tied with Martin but shot 71 and finished at 138, the only other player in the field to finish under par. “He was steady all day.

“He was kind of hard to catch.”

Sollon tried, making four birdies in a six-hole stretch that began at the par-5 ninth, to stay with four shots of the lead.

But that wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with Martin, his playing partner, who ran off four birdies in a row and five in a six-hole stretch, beginning at No. 9.

“I don’t think I’ve had that kind of birdie run before,” Martin said.

Even after he threeputted from 10 feet above the hole at No. 15 for his only bogey on the back nine, Martin responded with birdies at the final two holes — hitting it to 10 feet at the 362-yard 17th and twoputting from 45 feet above the hole at the par-five finishing hole.

His closing birdie at the 537-yard 18th was redemption for what happened a day earlier when his tee shot landed in a grassy mound to the right of the elevated fairway, right next to a plugged ball from the adjacent practice range. Unable to play his shot without hitting the other ball, Martin took an unplayable lie and ended up making double bogey.

“It was a tough way to finish,” said Martin, who made seven birdies in a round of 67.

“But one thing I learned in the last couple years is you can’t let that stuff fester. You got to move on and clear it out and hit that reset button.

“I’m doing a better job of that the last couple years.”

Indeed, Martin did not let that finish bother him. He came right back with eight more birdies Tuesday, maybe none more improbable than a kick-in from a foot at the 381-yard 12th after hitting a 58-degree wedge from a sloping lie in the rough. Curiously, he stuffed a similar shot from almost the exact same spot in the opening round.

“Two birdies in two days from a total of 2 feet is pretty good,” Martin said.

So was his performance.