Pillar rides hot streak to Robert 'Skee' Riegel Senior Open victory at Radnor Valley

   John Pillar’s game seems to be heating up right along with the weather.

   The head pro at the Country Club of Woodloch Springs ripped off five straight birdies on his way to a 5-under-par 65 at Radnor Valley Country Club Thursday to capture the Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Open.

   A month ago, in even hotter weather on the eve of the Fourth of July, Pillar topped the field in the Philadelphia Section PGA’s Connelly Cup Head Professional Championship with a sizzling 6-under 65 at Applebrook Golf Club.

   Pillar had to be good to top what has to be one of the most competitive groups of senior club pros anywhere in the country.

   He finished two shots ahead of Philmont Country Club’s Dave Quinn, who will defend his Philadelphia Senior PGA Championship later this month at White Manor Country Club. In third place at 2-under 68, a shot behind Quinn, was Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square and the reigning eight-time Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section.

   Pillar was even-par through six holes over the 6,270-yard, par-70 Radnor Valley layout when he birdied the par-5 seventh hole. He followed that up with birdies at eight, nine, 10 and 11 and suddenly was 5-under. He got it to 6-under with a birdie at the 13^th before a bogey at the 14^th dropped him back to 5-under.

   Quinn had five birdies and two bogeys on his way to a 3-under 67. Ingraham had six birdies, one less than the seven on Pillar’s card, and reached the 18^th tee at 4-under. But a double bogey at the 18^th left him in third place at 2-under.

   The Country Club of York head pro Terry Hertzog, who captured the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship late last summer at Laurel Creek Country Club, matched par with a 70 to finish alone in fourth place.

   Huntingdon Valley Country Club assistant pro John Allen and Philadelphia Cricket Club assistant pro Mark Anderson shared fifth place, each posting a 1-over 71. Burlington Country Club head pro Mike Mack finished alone in seventh place with a 2-over 72.

   Host pro George Forster, who has been one of the top senior club pros in the country for more than a decade, headed a group of four players tied for eighth at 3-over 73.

   Joining Forster at that figure were Concord Country Club head pro Mike Moses, Bill Sautter, a colleague of Anderson’s in the pro shop at the Cricket Club, and Don Allan, another member of Mack’s staff at Burlington Country Club.

   Rick Flesher of Applebrook Golf Club, Don DeAngelis of Center Square Golf Club, Bob Lennon of Wilmington Country Club and Terry Hatch of Hidden Valley Golf Club finished in a tie for 12^th at 4-over 74.

   Mack’s 72 also gave him top honors in the super-senior division by a shot over Forster and Sautter.

   The Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Open memorializes one of the legendary figures on the Philadelphia Section PGA scene. Riegel won the U.S. Amateur in 1947 at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, where this year’s U.S. Amateur will be contested later this month, and, after turning pro in 1950, was the runnerup to Ben Hogan in the Masters in 1951.