Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range in
Newtown Square, will go into the final round of the Senior PGA Professional
Championship Sunday with a shot to earn a ticket to next May’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
The 57-year-old Ingraham and much of the field struggled as
some tricky winds descended on the Desert Mountain Club’s Cochise Course in
Scottsdale, Ariz. during Saturday’s third round. Ingraham, playing in his 29th
career PGA of America national event, carded a 2-over 74 and is tied for 51st
at 4-over 220 after three rounds of the Senior PGA Professional Championship,
presented by Mercedes-Benz and supported by GolfAdvisor and John Deere.
The top 35 finishers after Sunday’s final round qualify for
the KitchenAid Senior PGA, the first major of 2018 on the PGA Tour Champions,
which will be held at The Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich.
Gene Fieger, who dominated the Philadelphia Section PGA when
he was an assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club in the 1990s, is just two shots
ahead of Ingraham at 2-over 218 and is inside the top 35 in a tie for 34th
going into the final round.
Fieger, an assistant pro at the Club Pelican Bay in Naples,
Fla., carded a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s third round.
Also still in with a shot to make it to Harbor Shores is
John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs.
Pillar posted a 2-over 73 and is tied for 60th at 5-over 221. That
was a shot inside the second cut of the tournament, which came at 6-over 222.
Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb did not survive
the second cut. McNabb battled back from an opening-round 80 at the Geronimo
Course with a 3-under 69 on the Cochise Course Friday to make the 36-hole cut
on the number.
But his 3-over 75 Saturday was two shots too many as it left
him at 8-over 224, two shots off the 54-hole cut of 222.
It has been a remarkable year for the 51-year-old McNabb,
highlighted by his runnerup finish in the PGA Professional championship at the
Sunriver Resort in Oregon, where he lost in a playoff to former PGA Tour player
Omar Uresti. That strong showing earned him a trip to the PGA Championship at
the Quail Hollow Club and a spot on the team that represented U.S. club pros in
the PGA Cup in England. Oh yeah, and he qualified for the U.S. Senior Open at
Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass.
Ingraham, who finished tied for 49th in that U.S.
Senior Open at Salem, got off to a good start in Saturday’s third round. He
started on the back nine at the Cochise Course and made birdies at 11 and 13,
both par-3s, to get to even-par for the tournament.
But he couldn’t keep it up in the tough conditions and on a
tough golf course. He made back-to-back bogeys at 17 and 18 to fall back to
2-over. He made it three birdies on par-3s with another 2 at the second, then
bogeyed the fifth and birdied the sixth.
But he ran out of luck on the par-3s when he made a double
bogey at the seventh and then finished up with a bogey at the ninth. Ingraham
has yet to figure out the front nine at Cochise. His 2-over 38 on the outgoing
nine leaves him at 7-over on the front side in two rounds.
Fieger, a product of Nether Providence High, also started on
the back nine and parred his first seven holes before things started getting
interested.
The 57-year-old Fieger, who finished third in the Senior Club
Pro a year ago at PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla. and
won the title in 2013, also at the Wanamaker Course, bogeyed 17 and birdied 18
and headed for the front nine even for his round.
Fieger made bogey at one and then birdied four and five to
get into red figures for the day at 1-under before making a costly – is there any
other kind – double bogey at the sixth to fall back to 1-over for the round.
Frank Esposito, the 2014 Senior Club Pro champion from
Forsgate Country Club in Monroe Township, N.J., took a one-shot lead on the field as his 3-under 69 left him a
8-under 208.
Chris Starkjohann, a PGA Life Member from Oceanside, Calif.,
carded a 2-under 70 and is alone in second place at 7-under 209. Sam Randolph,
a U.S. Amateur champion with a PGA Tour victory on his resume, also had a 70
and is in third place at 6-under 210. Randolph is a teaching pro at Mira Vista
Country Club in Texas.
Defending champion Steve Schneiter, an assistant pro at
Schneiter’s Pebblebook Golf Course in Utah, had a one-shot lead entering the
third round, but fell back into a tie for fourth at 5-under 211 after a 4-over
76.
He was joined at 211 by Jim Schuman, who lives in Scottsdale, but works most of the year at the Blue Mound Golf
& Country Club in Wauwatosh, Wis. and had a 1-under 71 in the third round, and Walt
Chapman of the Fairways and Greens Golf Center in Tennessee, who also posted a
1-under 71 Saturday.
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