Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, winner of the
Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship, opened the Senior PGA
Professional Championship, supported by GolfAdvisor.com and John Deere, Thursday with a 3-under-par 69 at
the PGA Golf Club’s Ryder Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
That left McNabb, a runnerup in the 2017 PGA Professional
Championship in Sunriver, Ore., in a tie for 16th in a field of the
top senior club professionals from all around the country. The top 35 finishers
at this week’s Senior PGA Professional Championship will earn a ticket to the
KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship next May at Oak Hill Country Club in
Pittsford, N.Y.
The player who beat McNabb in a playoff to capture the PGA
Professional Championship at Sunriver, Omar Uresti, a former PGA Tour pro from
Austin, Texas, is one of three players tied for the lead after the opening
round after he fired an 8-under 64 at the Ryder Club.
The two other co-leaders, Bob Sowards, an instructor at
Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club in Powell, Ohio, and Dan Olsen of Quail Creek
Country Club in in Robinson, Ill., also reached 8-under with 64s at the Ryder
Course.
McNabb headed up an eight-man contingent of Philadelphia
Section pros in the field at the PGA Golf Club.
Pretty sure the 51-year-old McNabb, who has qualified for
the PGA Championship three times out of the PGA Professional Championship, started
on No. 1 Thursday and got off to a shaky start with a bogey at the first and a
double bogey at the second.
But McNabb proceeded to birdie seven of the next 12 holes to
get to 4-under before making a bogey at the last to fall back to 3-under.
Philmont Country Club’s Dave Quinn and John Pillar, the
director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, were both among the
group tied for 34th at 2-under. Quinn’s 70 came at the Wanamaker
Course while Pillar recorded his 70 at the Ryder Course.
Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster, who is
playing in this championship for, I believe, the 13th straight time,
and Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club are among the group tied for 54th
at 1-under. Forster’s 71 came at the Wanamaker Course while Kelly posted a 71
at the Ryder Course.
Also in that group tied for 54th at 1-under is Gene
Fieger, an instructor at Club Pelican Bay in Naples, Fla. who once dominated
the Philadelphia Section when he was an assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club in
the 1990s. Fieger’s 71 came at the Ryder Course.
Concord Country Club head pro Mike Moses and John Allen out
of the Huntingdon Valley Country Club pro shop are among the group tied for 199th
at 5-over 77. Both played at the Wanamaker Course Thursday.
John Appleget, an instructor at The Shore Club in Cape May
Court House, N.J., is in the group tied for 218th after he carded a
6-over 78 at the Wanamaker Course.
The field will switch courses for Round 2 Friday and the field will
be cut after 36 holes. The final 36 holes will be played at the Wanamaker
Course. There will be a second cut following Saturday’s third round.
Sowards had eight birdies and no bogeys while Uresti ad
Olsen each featured nine birdies against a lone bogey on their cards.
Three players are tied for fourth, three shots behind the
top three, at 5-under.
Rich Morton of Rock Creek Golf & Country Club in
Jacksonville, N.C. and Stuart Smith of Somersett Golf and Country Club in Reno,
Nev. got to 5-under by each carding a 67 at the Wanamaker Course. Mike San
Filippo, a two-time winner of this championship from Hobe Sound, Fla., posted a
67 at the Ryder Course.
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