John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, defeated Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb on the first hole of a playoff Tuesday at Concord Country Club to capture the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship for the second straight year.
Pillar and McNabb will head a seven-man contingent from the Philadelphia Section PGA to the 32nd Senior PGA Professional Championship, supported by The Golf Channel and John Deere, which tees off Oct. 15 at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
McNabb had grabbed a one-shot lead over Greg Farrow, the veteran head pro at Deerwood Country Club, with a 4-under-par 66 at the par-70 Concord layout, in Monday’s opening round, which doubled as the rescheduled Delaware Valley Open in a bit of creative scheduling by the Philadelphia Section, a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Pillar was a shot behind Farrow and two shots behind McNabb in third place after opening with a 2-under 68 in defense of the title he won a year ago at Applebrook.
Pillar put together a flawless four-birdie, no-bogey 4-under 66 Tuesday to finish at 6-under 134 for the two rounds. Pillar’s round featured back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes, a birdie at the 11th and a birdie at the 17th that got him to 6-under.
McNabb birdied the first hole, made a bogey at the fifth and then birdied the sixth and eighth to get it to 6-under for the tournament. A bogey at the 10th hole dropped McNabb back to 5-under, but he matched Pillar’s birdie at the 17th to force the playoff.
Not exactly sure how the playoff went down, but from a couple of Twitter posts by the Philadelphia Section, I could tell they played the par-5 18th hole. It’s a hole that’s reachable in two, although it looked like McNabb’s second shot was right of the green in a tough spot near a cart path and he was unable to reach the green with his chip.
It’s been three years since McNabb played in two PGA Tour Champions majors, the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Va. and the U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass., as well as the PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., which he qualified for with a runnerup finish in the PGA Professional Championship at the Sunriver Resort in Oregon, which he lost in a playoff to Omar Uresti.
It was certainly a summer to remember for any club pro and McNabb remains one of the top players in the Philadelphia Section of any age.
Farrow, who topped the Super Senior field, finished two shots out of the playoff as he added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 67 for a 4-under 136 total. Super Senior, that means he’s 65 or older, so the guy is out there flirting with shooting his age both days.
Dave Quinn of Laurel Creek Country Club booked a return trip to the Senior Club Pro as he added a 2-under 68 to his opening-round 70 for a 2-under 138 total that left him a tie for fourth place with John Allen of Huntingdon Valley Country Club.
Allen also opened with a 70 and, like Quinn, carded a 2-under 69 to get his share of fourth place.
The top 35 finishers in the Senior PGA Professional Championship earn a spot in the field for the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, which tees off May 27 of next year at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Quinn finished a shot out of a playoff in last year’s Senior PGA Professional Championship at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas for the final berths to the 2020 Senior PGA Championship, although that event, which was scheduled to be held at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich., was cancelled due to the pandemic.
It would hardly be a Senior PGA Professional Championship if Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster wasn’t there. Forster added an even-par 70 to his opening-round 69 for a 1-under 139 and then beat out Mike Moses, head pro at host Concord, in a playoff for the next-to-last ticket to the PGA Golf Club in October.
Forster was the runnerup to Farrow in the Super Senior scoring, so he’s north of 65. Pretty sure he’s qualified for nearly every Senior PGA Professional Championship since he turned 50.
Moses matched Forster’s splits, adding an even-par 70 to his opening-round 69. Moses is the first alternate for a trip to the Senior PGA Professional Championship.
I got to know Moses a little during my time at the Delaware County Daily Times and I suspect if there was a tournament being held at Concord, he was busy making sure it was run right while he was shooting 1-under for two days.
Three players finished in a tie for eighth place at even-par 140 and one of them, Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club, will also represent the Philadelphia Section at the PGA Golf Club in October.
Kelly finished in a tie for 22nd place in last year’s Senior PGA Professional Championship at Barton Creek and earned a trip to the Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores that was a victim of the pandemic last spring. I’m guessing he might have been exempted into the Senior Club Pro since he missed out on the Senior PGA Championship berth he earned last fall.
Oh yeah, he’s another Super Senior, but the guy can play. Kelly added a 1-under 69 to his opening-round 71 to finish at even-par.
Also at 140 were Merion Golf Club’s Terry Hertzog, who is the second alternate, and Royal Oaks Golf Course’s Terry Hatch, who is the third alternate. Hertzog and Hatch had the same splits that Kelly did, rallying from an opening-round 71 with a 1-under 69 in Tuesday’s final round.
Hugo Mazzalupi of Patriots Glen National Golf Club and John Cooper of Green Valley Country Club are the fourth and fifth alternates, respectively, after they finished in a tie for 11th place at 1-over 141. Mazzalupi added a 71 to his opening round of even-par 70. After opening with a 1-under 69, Cooper carded a 72.
The top three finishers in the Super Senior division, Farrow at 4-under 136, Forster at 1-under 139 and Kelly at even-par 140, are all headed to the PGA Senior PGA Professional Championship.
Finishing fourth in the Super Senior division was J.R. Deitch, another representative from Moses’ Concord pro shop who added a 73 to his opening-round 71 for a 4-over 144 total.
The Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship was supported by The Golf Channel, John Deere, Jani-King and the PGA Tour.
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