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Sunday, July 22, 2001

Frank B. Fuhrer Jr. no longer hosts the Family House Invitational that brought many of the PGA Tour's top players to the area for a two-day, 36-hole event. Instead, he is using his money to back another tournament that is the richest of its kind for the Tri-State PGA pros -- the Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational, formerly known as the Pittsburgh Open.

The three-day, 72-hole event begins tomorrow at Sewickley Heights Golf Club, and it features a $100,000 purse with $20,000 to the winner. Perhaps more important, the winner gets a spot in the PGA Tour's Marconi Pennsylvania Classic at Laurel Valley in September.

The field of 78 players will play 36 holes tomorrow. Then the low 36 players and ties move on to the final two rounds. The field is comprised of the top 30 money winners from the Tri-State PGA section, past tournament champions, 10 invited amateurs and qualifiers.

Last year, amateur Sean Knapp won the event for the third time, but Treesdale pro Joe Boros, who finished second, got to collect the $20,000 first prize. Knapp will not play this week because he will be in Niagara Falls, N.Y., playing in the Porter Cup, one of the top amateur events in the country.

The Pittsburgh Open was renamed several years ago to honor Fuhrer, who has bankrolled the event since it began 17 years ago.

"Considering the golf events in the area, and the purses they have, this is like a tour event for these players," said Fuhrer, a Fox Chapel businessman.

Fuhrer had given sponsor exemptions to part-time PGA Senior Tour player Roy Vucinich, Quicksilver director of golf Sean Parees and Oakmont assistant Tom Stevenson.

But, Vucinich had to decline the invite because he got a spot this week in the Senior Tour's State Farm Classic in Columbia, Md. That means Robert Green, an assistant at Mt. Lebanon Municipal, gets into the field from the alternate list.

Fuhrer gave Stevenson a spot because of a misunderstanding that occurred at the Tam O'Shanter Open, which served as a qualifier for the Fuhrer Invitational. Stevenson shot a qualifying score, but didn't realize he had failed to submit his entry fee as a potential qualifier.

"He's new to the area this year and I guess he just got a little confused," Fuhrer said. "I thought I'd help him out."

Trivia question

Who are the only two PGA Tour players to record four rounds in the 60s and still not win the British Open? Answer at end.

Adding length in Apollo

It opened just 13 months ago, but the growth and maturation at the Links at Spring Church, the 18-hole layout near Apollo, has been dramatic. The wispy fescue grasses that frame many of the fairways have grown to a golden color, giving the public course the desired links-style look it has been seeking.

Also, the course has built five new tees that will lengthen Spring Church to a more demanding 6,785 yards from 6,618. The most notable new tee is at No. 9, a 560-yard dogleg-right par 5 that bends around a lake. It has lengthened the hole to 614 yards, making it nearly impossible to reach the green in two.

Some of the others: The par-3 fourth has been lengthened from 129 yards to166; No. 13 from 360 yards to 397; and No. 18 from 505 yards to 530.

"We wanted to make the course a little more difficult for the better players," said head pro Dave Snyder.

Avalon Lakes renovated

The $7 million renovation at Avalon Lakes GC, performed by original architect Pete Dye, has transformed the course into a 7,551 monster from the back tees.

The course, former site of the LPGA Tour's Giant Eagle Classic, has not been stretched to such an extreme length just to make it a difficult test for the daily-fee player.

Avalon Lakes, located in Warren, Ohio, is hoping to attract a player of higher quality. Like, say, a PGA Tour player.

"That's what we want to do," said Jeff Shaffer, the course's director of golf. "We want to get a PGA Tour event here, and we're committed to doing so."

After Dye's renovation, the course hosted the LPGA Tour event last year for the final time. But the LPGA Tour set the course up much shorter for its players -- not what Avalon Lakes had in mind.

Speaking of which ...

The LPGA Giant Eagle Classic begins Friday at Squaw Creek Country Club in Vienna, Ohio, which formerly hosted the event for three years (1990-92) before moving to Avalon Lakes.

Karrie Webb and Anika Sorenstam, the top players on the LPGA Tour, are not entered in the event, but three-time champion Se Ri Pak is among the field of 132 players. So is defending champ Dorothy Delasin, whose victory, at age 19, was her first on the LPGA Tour.

Quinn a winner

Dan Quinn, the former Penguin, won the Lake Tahoe (Nev.) Celebrity Invitational two weeks ago, and pocketed the $100,000 first prize.

He had some help along the way, too -- from his caddie, Bob Wallo, a Nevillewood member.

Wallo, who is co-owner of RickJohn Roofing, took two weeks off from his job to accompany Quinn to Denver for John Elway's celebrity tournament and then to Lake Tahoe.

Quinn finished second in Denver, behind another former Penguin, Pierre Larouche, then won in Lake Tahoe. Last year, Wallo was Quinn's caddie when he won Mario Lemieux's Celebrity Invitational at Nevillewood.

"I like to think I had something to do with it," Wallo said. "I'll tell you, I don't think a lot of people realize how much a caddie can help a player. There's a lot of things that go into it beside golf. It was really a lot of fun and a neat experience."

Dissa and data

Lou Jesiolkiewicz, the No. 1 player for Chartiers Valley High School last season, has been named a high-school All-American after finishing 24th in a national scholastic tournament last month in Orange City, Fla.

The United States Golf Association has awarded a $40,000 grant to the West Penn Minority Junior Golf Association in Monroeville. The grant will help fund Golf Works, a work program that provides urban youths with job opportunities at public golf courses and country clubs.

Golfweek magazine is staging a new national tournament for club champions Oct. 27-28 at the Greg Norman-designed ChampionsGate Golf Resort in Kissimmee, Fla. The field is open to men who have won a club championship in the U.S. in 2000 or 2001. The event will be 36-hole stroke play. Interested should call 1-877-805-4653 or e-mail Gwen Garvy-Lucero at gwen@golfweek.com.

The 17th Worst Avid Golfers tournament, hosted by Angelo Spagnolo and benefiting the Multiple Sclerosis Society, will be Aug. 6 at Chartiers Country Club. Interested call 412-469-7240.

Trivia answer

Ernie Els in 1993 and Jesper Parnevik in 1994 are the only two players to shoot four sub-70 rounds and not win the British Open.