When the destination is Baltusrol Golf Club, it seems to
bring out the best in the game of Spring-Ford Country Club head pro Rich
Steinmetz.
Steinmetz and Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at
Merion Golf Club, led the Philadelphia Section PGA contingent in the opening
round of the PGA Professional National Championship Sunday at the Turning Stone
Resort in Verona, N.Y.
The top 20 finishers in the PNC qualify for the PGA
Championship, the last of golf’s four professional major championships, which
will be played at Baltusrol in Springfield, N.J. The last time the PGA was
staged at Baltusrol in 2005, Steinmetz made the field with a ninth-place finish
at the PNC.
Steinmetz and Sheftic, who has qualified for the PGA three
times via a top-20 finish at the PNC, both played the Atunyote Course at
Turning Stone Sunday and matched par with 72s. That left them tied for 40th
and they are the only Philadelphia Section pros inside the projected cut of
1-over par. They’ll play the Kaluhyat Course Monday before the cut is made.
The rest of the Philadelphia Section group has some work to
do.
Four players – Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George
Forster, Jake Gerney of Trump National Golf Club, Philadelphia, Steve Swartz of
the Country Club of Harrisburg, and Dave Quinn of the Links Golf Club – are at
3-over 75. Forster and Quinn played at Kaluhyat while Gerney and Swartz were at
Atunyote.
Aronimink Golf Club head of instruction John Bierkan and
Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, who won the Philadelphia Section
title last fall, each carded a 5-over 77, Bierkan at Atunyote and McNabb at
Kaluhyat.
Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range in
Newtown Square, had a 78 at Kaluhyat. Ingraham has qualified for the PGA
Championship six times out of the National Club Pro, as it was once known as.
Ashley Grier of Overbrook Golf Club and John Lynch of
Cripple Creek Golf & Country Club both carded a 79 at Kaluhyat. And John
Pillar of the Country Club at Woodloch Springs had an 80 at Kaluhyat.
Ryan Helminen, a pro at Ridgeway Country Club of Neenah,
Wis., and Craig Bowden of Bloomington, Ind.
carded 5-under 67s to share the lead after the opening round. Helminen,
who earned a trip to the PGA at Whistling Straits a year ago out of the PNC at
Philadelphia Cricket Club, played at Kaluhyat while Bowden, a former PGA Tour
and Web.com Tour player, posted his 67 at Atunyote.
Mark Brown, a pro at Tam O’Shanter Country Club and an Oyster
Bay, N.Y. resident, was one of six players tied for third at 4-under 68. Brown
used a 7-iron to ace the 196-yard 11th hole at Atunyote on his way
to his 4-under total. It was his 14th career hole-in-one.
Ben Polland, a pro at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, N.Y.,
is also at 68. Polland made a double bogey on the last hole at the Cricket Club
to let the 2015 National Club Pro title slip out of his grasp. Polland’s
4-under round came at Kalhuyat.
Also at 4-under 68 are Rod Perry of Port Orange, Fla., the
2013 winner of this event, Texan Brad Lardon, former PGA Tour veteran Omar
Uresti, who finished tied for fifth at the Cricket Club a year ago, and Rich
Berberian of Derry, N.H.
Perry and Lardon played at Kalhuyat while Uresti and
Berberian were at Atunyote.
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