BEN AVON HEIGHTS — The Turowski brothers have created numerous individual memories on the golf course throughout the lives.
On Friday, however, they made one they’ll be able to share forever.
Alex and Nick Turowski shot a 5-under score of 66, claiming the 77th WPGA Brothers Tournament’s gross division title at Shannopin Country Club.
“We kind of just stayed patient,” said Alex Turowski, the older of the two brothers. “We came out a little hot and then we had two bogeys and that kind of slowed the momentum down. But we got going on the back nine pretty quickly and that allowed us to kind of settle into the round.
“We tried not to check any leaderboards until hole 16 or 17… We were just wondering if we really needed to make birdies stay patient again.”
The duo made a birdie on the 16th hole. A bogey on 18 opened the door a bit, but with the two teams closest to them — Brian and Kevin Fajt and David and Ronald DeNunzio — already in the clubhouse, the Turowski’s ended up with enough of a lead to hold onto a one-stroke victory.
“It’s not easy here,” said Nick Turowski, a rising junior at West Virginia University who won the 2024 WPGA Junior Championship and his first ever competition in a U.S. Kids Golf Tournament at Shannopin. “I think here I just put the small fairways behind me and try to hit driver as hard as I can and figure it out from there.”
While Nick Turowski — the WPGA’s Spring Stroke Play champion from earlier this year — is actively competing regularly throughout the country and keeping a busy schedule doing so, Alex is also dealing with a busy schedule while caddying at Oakmont Country Club and for professional Mark Goetz on the PGA Americas Tour.
Alex has caddied for Nick, as well, including at this week’s Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at Oakmont.
“I got to know his game a little bit more,” said Alex of Nick. “I don’t get to play with him as much as we did when we were kids, for sure. He’s hitting it a little bit longer than what I remember. The (Pennsylvania) Amateur was a good tune-up for this.”
The Fajt brothers and DeNunzio brothers — who won last year’s title — tied for second at 4-under. Jace and Maddox Rearic were 3-under and Henry and Liam McCrady shot 2-under.
In the net division Joe and Daniel Bulling shot 3-under, winning by four strokes over Dane and Marc Domonkos. It’s the second time in three years that Joe Blumling has won the Brothers’ net division, having done so with another brother, Robert, two years ago.
The Brothers Tournaments are the only of their kind among golf associations in the United States, having started in honor of two local brothers who died during World War II.
That history, as well as the opportunity to break free of their individual schedules for a day, is something that the Turowski’s cherish.
“We’re extremely lucky to be able to play in a WPGA event together,” said Nick Turowski. “I mean, what other association has a Brothers Tournament? It’s unbelievable how lucky we are that the WPGA hosts a tournament like this.”
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