Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel, who has
been one of the hottest players on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit this
summer, got off to fast start and cruised to a four-shot victory in the
National Car Rental Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship,
hosted by Dick Smith Sr., which concluded Tuesday at Chester Valley Golf Club
in West Whiteland.
Bensel heads a group of five players who will represent the
Philadelphia Section PGA in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional
Championship Nov. 14 to 17 at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamker Course in Port St.
Lucie, Fla. The event, with a total purse of $150,000, is supported by Srixon,
Cleveland Golf, XXIO and Golf Advisor.
Bensel recently claimed his first victory in a Philadelphia
Section PGA Omega Player of the Year points race since 2017 when he beat his
boss, Overbrook head pro Eric Kennedy, in a playoff to win the GALV Lehigh
Valley Open. He then finished in a tie for sixth in the Doylestown Open.
Bensel proceeded to birdie five of his first six holes in
Monday’s opening round on his way to a sparkling 5-under-par 65 on the classic
Chester Valley layout, which once hosted a stop on the PGA Tour Champions for
nearly a decade.
Bensel then added a 1-under 69 in Tuesday’s final round for
a 6-under 134 total that was four shots clear of runnerup Michael Little of
Lookaway Golf Club.
Bensel ripped off birdies at the first, second, fourth,
fifth and sixth holes before making a bogey at the eighth hole for a 4-under 31
in his opening round. Birdies at the 10th, 12th and 14th
holes offset bogeys at the 11th and 15th holes on the
back nine.
Bensel stumbled a little at the start of his second round
with a double bogey at the first hole, but finished strong with birdies at the
ninth, 11th and 13th holes and five straight pars to
finish his round and maintain the cushion he created with his strong opening
round.
Little had the best round on Day 2, a 3-under 67, which,
combined with an opening round of 1-over 71, left him alone in second place at
2-under 138.
Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Rusty Harbold, who finished in a
tie for 30th in last fall’s Assistant PGA Professional Championship
in Florida, headed a group of three players tied for third at 1-under 139.
More importantly, Harbold, Christopher Filling of the
Seaview Hotel & Golf Club and Michael Furey of the Blue Shamrock Golf Club
grabbed the final three berths out of the Philadelphia Section to November’s
national assistant pro championship.
Harbold, Filling and Furey all trailed Bensel by three shots
as each opened with a 2-under 68. All three closed with a 1-over 71 to land on
1-under 139.
Billy Stewart, an instructor at The ACE Club and the
reigning Philadelphia Section PGA Omega Player of the Year, came up just short
in his bid to advance to the Assistant PGA Professional Championship for a
third straight year. Stewart had finished in a tie for fifth place in his first
appearance in the national assistant club pro two years ago.
Stewart had joined the group that opened at 2-under 68 before
finishing up with a 2-over 72 for an even-par 140 total that left him alone in
sixth place.
Davis Johnson of Merion Golf Club was another shot behind
Stewart at 1-over 141 after adding a 2-under 68 to an opening-round 73.
Two of Bensel’s colleagues in the Overbrook pro shop, Ashley
Grier and Matthew Cocco, were part of a foursome that finished in a tie for
eighth at 2-over 142.
Grier, who was one of the first two women to play four
rounds in the PGA Professional Championship at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C. in the
spring, and Cocco each added an even-par 70 to an opening-round 72.
Joining Grier and Cocco at 142 were The Country Club of
York’s Parks Price, who had a pair of 1-over 71s, and Deerfield’s Michael
Tobiason, who added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 73.
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