Steve Swartz of Out Door Country Club has been working on
his game with an eye toward next week’s Philadelphia PGA Professional
Championship.
That work paid dividends Tuesday as Swartz successfully
defended his Delaware Valley Open title with a sparkling 6-under-par 64 over
the 6,220-yard, par-70 Deerwood Country Club layout in Westhampton, N.J.
“I have been practicing my irons the last couple of weeks in
preparation for next week’s championship,” Swartz told the Philadelphia Section
PGA website. “It is always nice to get a win considering the caliber of players
we have in our Section. This will definitely give me some confidence heading
into Concord and the championship.”
The Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship tees off
Tuesday at Concord Country Club and Whitford Country Club. The Section pros
each play the two courses once before there is a cut with the survivors going
to Concord for the final round.
The top 12 finishers earn a ticket to the PGA Professional
Championship, which moves up in 2019 since the top finishers at what used to be
known as the National Club Pro qualify for the PGA Championship, which next
year moves from August to May. The PGA Professional Championship tees off April
28 at Belfair in Bluffton, C.C.
The Delaware Valley Open was originally scheduled for the
spring and was postponed by a recurring theme in 2018 – lousy weather. It was
merely cloudy and humid after a couple more days of steady rain, allowing the
Section’s pros to tee it up at Deerwood.
Swartz had an efficient round that included six birdies and
nary a bogey as he overtook the early leaders, Michael Little of Lookaway Golf
Club and Andrew Turner of Sunnybrook Golf Club, both of whom fired a 5-under
65. Overbrook Golf Club head pro Eric Kennedy joined Little and Turner in the
group tied for second when he also came in with a 5-under 65.
Four more players finished tied for fifth at 4-under 66, led
by Dave McNabb, the head pro at Applebrook Golf Club who captured the
Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship last month at White Manor
Country Club.
Joining McNabb at 4-under 66 were host pro Greg Farrow,
Curtis Kirkpatrick, the head pro at Indian Spring Country Club, and Overbrook’s
Ashley Grier, the Section’s top female player.
Grier earned her second straight trip to the KPMG Women’s
PGA Championship last month by finishing fifth in the LPGA Teaching and Club
Professionals National Championship at the Pinehurst Resort’s No. 8 Course in
Pinehurst, N.C.
Grier will be joined at next year’s KPMG Women’s PGA
Championship, a major championship on the LPGA Tour, at Hazeltine National Golf
Club in Chaska, Minn. by Mays Landing, N.J. native Joanna Coe, the director of
junior golf at Baltimore Country Club. Coe finished eighth at Pinehurst No. 8.
Reigning Philadelphia Section PGA OMEGA Player of the Year
Brett Melton, an assistant pro at Radley Run Country Club, headed a group of
four more players tied for ninth at 3-under 67. Joining him at that figure were
Bob Henefer, the director of golf at Indian Spring Country Club, Mike Furey of
Mahoning Valley Country Club and Trevor Bensel, the third player from the
Overbrook pro shop to make the top 10.
Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club who captured
the Philadelphia Open earlier this summer, headed a group of five players tied
for 13th at 2-under 68.
Stewart was joined at 68 by Spring-Ford Country Club head
pro Rich Steinmetz, Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club, Don Allan of Burlington
Country Club, and LedgeRock Golf Club head pro Tony Perla.
McNabb and Farrow shared the top spot in the senior division
with their 66s, each making five birdies against one bogey. Allan and Kelly
finished tied for third in the senior division.
Farrow topped the super-senior division with his 66, one
shot better than the 3-under 67 posted by Don DeAngelis of Center Square Golf
Club.
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