2023 Four-Ball Championship
Cordaro and Eichenlaub Take home 33rd Pennsylvania Four-Ball Championship
Orwigsburg – The Saucon Valley Country Club duo of Anthony Cordaro and Evan Eichenlaub used a five-under back nine to catch and pass the first-day leaders Ross Pilliod and Grant Skyllas of Ledgerock Golf Club to win the 33rd Pennsylvania Golf Association Four-Ball Championship Tuesday afternoon at Schuylkill Country Club. In carding their second consecutive 66 to win the Mayor’s Trophy, Cordaro and Eichenlaub’s 12-under score edged Pilliod and Skyllas and the team of Scott Kalamar of Green Pond Country Club and Kyle Pritchard of Olde Homestead Golf Club, both teams coming in at 11-under par.
The winning team took advantage of both back-nine par 5’s playing down wind on day two recording a Cordaro birdie on number 14 and Eichenlaub’s eagle at the 17th hole. Other birdies in the round came back-to-back on numbers three and four in addition to two others at the par 4 12th and 15th holes. The lone bogey on the card was at the par-5 8th hole. “Playing straight down wind made both those par 5’s on the back easier today,” said Cordaro. “I thought the pins were easier today as well and we made some putts. We had a lot more two-birdie looks on holes instead of one of us being out of it, so we weren’t scrambling.”
After Eichenlaub’s nine iron from 161 yards out settled above the cup on 17 his downhill 30-footer found the hole for the eagle three to put them ahead. The only possible scrambling of the day followed on 18 when Eichenlaub missed the green left with his second but hit a masterful chip just past the cup and negotiated a testy three and a half footer to seal the deal. “I thought our biggest hole on the back was the 15th which was playing into the wind,” Cordaro offered. That was a big birdie for us on the back, and Evan’s seven iron to a kick in at number four got us started on the front. They were two big holes for us today.”
Kalamar and Pritchard, who were tied with the winners in second place after day one, shot 67 in the second round to tie Pilliod and Skyllas, who carded a 68 Tuesday. The low round of the tournament came Tuesday from the team of Colin Smith of Bidermann Golf Club and Sam Pancoast of Radley Run Country Club, who shot 64 to vault them into a fourth-place finish at -10.
Cordaro, a Lehigh University graduate and commercial realtor, takes home Pennsylvania Golf’s third 4-ball title for his family as his father Joe’s name is already on the trophy twice. He and the 17-year-old Eichenlaub, a recent Moravian Academy graduate who will attend Babson College next year may seem like somewhat of a unique pairing. “He is an up-and-coming young player,” said Cordaro. When I was younger an older friend invited me to play in a four-ball. It was a great experience and I learned a lot so I thought it would be a good idea.” It was. And, if Cordaro keeps paying it forward in future events, it could become very scary for fellow competitors.
The tournament was sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods.