Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club, made his
first appearance in the PGA Professional Championship, presented by Club Car
and OMEGA, earlier this summer at the Black Horse and Bayonet Courses on
northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.
Stewart briefly got in the hunt for one of the 20 tickets
available to the best club pros from across the country to the PGA Championship
before fading in the final two rounds to finish in a tie for 69th. Stewart, who starred scholastically at Malvern Prep and collegiately at Saint
Joseph’s, came home and regathered himself, adding a Philadelphia Open title at
St. Davids Golf Club to the Pennsylvania Open victory he had at Rolling Green
Golf Club in 2015.
Thursday at Whitford Country Club, Billy the Kid took a big
step toward a return appearance in the PGA Professional Championship by firing
a sparkling 5-under-par 67 for a 36-hole total of 6-under 137 that gave him a
three-shot lead heading into Friday’s final round of the Philadelphia PGA
Professional Championship.
Stewart opened with a 1-under 70 over the 6,650-yard, par-71
Concord Country Club layout Wednesday before really getting it going at the
6,655-yard, par-72 Whitford layout Thursday.The top 60 finishers after the first two rounds -- the cut fell at 7-over 150 -- advanced to the final round Friday at Concord.
Stewart's closest pursuer is Stu Ingraham, the ageless head of
instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square who added a 3-under 68 at
Concord to the opening-round 72 he posted at Whitford for a 3-under 140 total.
Ingraham was at Bayonet and Black Horse as well and, although
he failed to survive the 36-hole cut, it was his 30th appearance in
a national PGA of America event. The 58-year-old Ingraham also made his second
straight U.S. Senior Open appearance this summer, failing to make the cut at
The Broadmoor’s East Course in Colorado Springs, Colo.
It didn’t appear Ingraham, the Section’s eight-time reigning
Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, teed it up in the Philadelphia
Senior PGA Professional Championship last month at White Manor Country Club. If
it was a physical issue that forced him to miss the start at White Manor, it
appears he’s back on his game.
Philmont Country Club’s Dave Quinn and Jeff Fick of Chapel
Hill Golf Club are tied for third at 2-under 141, four shots off Stewart’s
pace.
Quinn, who finished tied for second in the Philadelphia
Senior PGA Professional Championship, added an even-par 71 at Concord to his
opening round of 2-under 70 at Whitford. Fick had opened with an even-par 71 at
Concord Wednesday and carded a 2-under 70 at Whitford.
I’m not sure if Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Ashley
Grier is eligible for the PGA Professional Championship, although Suzy Whaley,
the PGA of America’s vice president, played in the event once or twice. Grier
fired a 3-under 69 at Whitford Thursday which has her tied for fifth with
Merion Golf Club’s head of instruction Mark Sheftic at 1-under 142.
The top 12 finishers in the Philadelphia PGA Professional
Championship earn a ticket to next year’s PGA Professional Championship at
Belfair in Bluffton, S.C.
Grier represented the Philadelphia Section earlier this year
in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Killdeer,
Ill., although she failed to make the cut. Grier has already booked a return
trip to the KPMG Women’s PGA, which will be held next year at Hazeltine
National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., by finishing fifth in the LPGA Teaching
and Club Professionals National Championship at the Pinehurst Resort’s No. 8
Course in Pinehurst, N.C. last month.
Grier opened with a 2-over 73 at Concord in Wednesday’s
opening round.
Sheftic, who has made it to the PGA Championship out of the
PGA Professional Championship three times in his career, added an even-par 71
at Concord Thursday to the 1-under 71 he posted at Whitford in the opening
round.
Stewart’s round featured six birdies and just one bogey. Not
sure if he started off No. 1 or No. 10, but Stewart had birdies on the fifth
and ninth holes on Whitford’s outgoing nine. He ripped off consecutive birdies at 11, 12 and 13 and birdied 15
before posting the lone blemish on his card, a bogey at 18.
Regardless of what happens in Friday’s final round, Stewart
appears in good shape to punch his ticket to Belfair for a second straight shot
at the PGA Professional Championship, which tees off April 28.
Stewart will represent the Philadelphia Section for the second
year in a row in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship
in November at the PGA Golf Club’s Wannamaker Club in Port St. Lucie after
finishing second in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship at
Laurel Creek Country Club earlier this summer.
Spring-Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz heads a
group of six players tied for seventh at even-par 143. Steinmetz has won the
Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship title four times, including twice at
Concord in 2007 and 2010.
Steinmetz carded a 1-under 71 at Whitford Thursday after
opening with a 2-over 72 at Concord.
Two other players who teed it up at Whitford Thursday are in
the group at even par, including Bethlehem Golf Club pro Alex Knoll and Bob
Hennefer, the director of golf at Indian Spring Country Club. Knoll posted a
1-over 73 at Whitford after opening with a 1-under 70 at Concord. Hennefer, the
Philadelphia Section’s Golf Professional of the Year in 2017, had opened with a
3-under 68 at Concord, but fell back with a 3-over 75 at Whitford Thursday.
Three other players in the group tied for seventh played at
Concord Thursday. Two of them, LedgeRock Golf Club head pro Tony Perla and the
Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Mark Anderson carded solid 2-under 69s Thursday
after each opened with a 74 at Whitford.
Perla took a five-shot lead into the final round of the
Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship a year ago at Laurel Creek, but
struggled in the final round to finish in a tie for fourth.
Rounding out the group at even par is Brendon Post, an
assistant coach and director of player development for the Delaware golf
program. Post added a 1-over 72 at Concord to the 1-under 71 he posted at
Whitford in the opening round.
With the top 12 finishers advancing to Belfair next spring,
the nine players tied for 13th at 1-over 144 are certainly in the
hunt for one of those spots.
Three of those nine, including defending champion Terry
Hertzog, the head pro at The Country Club of York, played at Whitford Thursday.
Hertzog carded a 2-under 70 at Whitford after opening with a 74 at Concord.
Overbrook assistant pro Trevor Bensel and Chris Krueger, out
of the Kings Creek Country Club pro shop, each posted a 74 at Whitford after
opening with a 1-under 70 at Concord.
The other six players tied for 13th at 1-over par
teed it up at Concord Thursday, including Mike Moses, who has been the head pro
at Concord for 23 years. Moses carded a 1-over 72 on his home course after
matching par with a 72 at Whitford.
Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster had one
of the best rounds of the day at Concord, a 3-under 68, after struggling to a
76 at Whitford Thursday. Forster earned his 13th straight trip to
the Senior PGA Professional Championship when he shared second with Philmont’s
Quinn in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship at White Manor
last month.
The Cricket Club’s Rusty Harbold, who had grabbed the
opening-round lead with a 4-under 68 at Whitford, struggled to a 5-over 76 at
Concord to join the group tied for 13th.
Like Forster, Michael Little of Lookaway Golf Club fired a
3-under 68 at Concord Thursday after opening with a 76 at Whitford.
Rounding out the group at 1-over 144 were Sunnybrook Golf
Club assistant pro Andrew Turner, who added a 2-over 73 at Concord to the
1-under 71 he posted at Whitford, and Jakob Gerney of Trump National Golf Club
Philadelphia, who added a 1-over 72 at Concord to his opening-round 72 at
Whitford.
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