Kelly makes a major move in final round of Senior PGA Professional Championship

   Brian Kelly of the Bucknell Golf Club made a couple of late birdies to earn a spot in next spring’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship as a final round of 4-under-par 68 left him in a group tied for 22^nd place in the 31^st Senior PGA Professional Championship, which wrapped up Sunday at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa’s Fazio Foothills Course in Austin, Texas.

   A year ago, Kelly was an alternate after losing out in a playoff for one of the final tickets to the Senior PGA Championship, but he ended up getting the opportunity to represent the Philadelphia Section PGA at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course in Pittsford, N.Y.

   But the 59-year-old Kelly can book his trip for next May to the Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich. after finishing four rounds at Omni Barton Creek at 5-under 281. The Senior PGA Championship is a PGA Tour Champions major.

   Kelly started on the back nine of the par-72 Foothills Course and made bogey at the 10^th hole. But he rattled off three straight birdies at the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes and added another at the first hole to get it to 4-under for the tournament. He stalled with a bogey at the second hole, but back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes got him to 5-under and safely among the top 35 finishers who qualified for the Senior PGA Championship.

   Three of the six Philadelphia Section pros who teed it up in Sunday’s final round finished one frustrating shot out of the playoff for the final two Senior PGA Championship berths. The playoff participants finished at 3-under 283.

   Terry Hertzog of the Country Club of York and Dave Quinn of Laurel Creek Country Club each posted a 1-over 73 to end up at 2-under 284. Stu Ingraham, an instructor at the M Golf Range & Learning Center in Newtown Square, rallied with a final round of 2-under 70, but he too could only get it back to 2-under for the tournament.

   The 54-year-old Hertzog and the 53-year-old Quinn had entered the final round just inside the top 35 while the 59-year-old Ingraham, playing in his 38^th PGA of America championship, had fallen into a tie for 49^th place with a 4-over 76 in Saturday’s third round.

   Bob Lennon, a 59-year-old pro at Wilmington Country Club, matched par in the final round with a 72 to end up among the group tied for 59^th place at 1-over 287. Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster closed with a 3-over 75 to finish among the group tied for 63^rd place at 3-over 289.

   The 63-year-old Forster prevailed on the seventh hole of a playoff to claim the biggest prize offered at any Section tournament in the country, the $100,000 first-place check that goes to the winner of the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic at Sunnybrook Golf Club the day after Labor Day.

   Scott Hebert, a pro at the Traverse City & Country Club in Michigan, wiped out a five-shot deficit with 11 holes to play with a birdie binge that gave him the $21,500 top prize out of a total purse of $300,000. The Senior PGA Professional Championship is presented by Cadillac and supported by The Golf Channel and John Deere.

   The 50-year-old Hebert, winner of the 2008 PGA Professional Championship, joined Steve Schneiter and Bob Sowards as the only players to win both the regular and senior national Club Pro titles.

   Hebert trailed playing partner Frank Bensel Jr., an assistant pro at Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y., by five shots with 11 holes to play.

   But Bensel, a three-time winner of the Assistant PGA Professional Championship, came back to the pack and Hebert, who had surged into contention with a brilliant 9-under 63 in Saturday’s third round, made six birdies in his final 11 holes to get past Bensel and hold off Wake Forest head golf coach Jerry Haas, brother of Jay Haas and uncle to current PGA Tour standout Bill Haas.

   Hebert’s stunning burst enabled him to fire a 5-under 67 that gave him a 16-under 270 total and a deceiving four-shot margin of victory. His 14-under 130 total over the weekend was seven shots better than anyone else posted.

   The 56-year-old Haas matched Hebert’s 5-under 67 in the final round and finished in a three-way tie for second with Bensel and Jeff Hart, a Life Member of the PGA of America from Solana Beach, Calif., at 12-under 274.

   The 51-year-old Bensel, who took a one-shot lead over Hebert into the final round, matched par with a 72 to join the trio at 12-under. The 59-year-old Hart closed with a 3-under 69.

   Omar Uresti, a former PGA Tour player who was playing a home game in Austin, finished alone in fifth place at 11-under 275. The 51-year-old Uresti, who beat Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb in a playoff to win the 2017 PGA Professional Championship at the Sunriver Resort in Oregon, closed with a 1-under 71. Uresti played in the final group with Hebert and Bensel.

   “The way the day started, it didn’t look like it was going to go this way,” Hebert told the PGA of America website after hoisting the Leo Fraser Trophy. “As good as I finished my round (Saturday), I started out poorly today. But I got a little momentum going on the back nine.

   “Frank was great to play with, he was playing well. Two great guys, Omar and Frank. We’re just out here knocking it around, having fun, playing some golf.”

   Charlie Bolling, the 1978 Philadelphia Amateur champion when he was playing out of Gulph Mills Golf Club, finished in a tie for 16^th place at 6-under 280. The 61-year-old Bolling, who works out of the pro shop at the Bethpage State Park Golf Course on Long Island, closed with a 4-under 68.