Knoll will take two-shot lead into final round as he tries to repeat in Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship

    Alex Knoll, an instructor at Glen Brook Golf Club, has gotten used to sleeping on the lead in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.

   Knoll was a wire-to-wire winner a year ago at the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale and Riverton Country Club and he’s threatening to do it again this week at Bent Creek Country Club and the Country Club of York.

   Knoll, who grabbed a one-shot lead with a sparkling 6-under-par 65 at the par-71 Bent Creek layout Monday, added a 3-under 69 at the par-72 Donald Ross design at the Country Club of York in Tuesday’s second round. Knoll’s 9-under 134 total left him two shots clear of the field heading into Wednesday’s final round back at Bent Creek.

   It is the 99^th edition of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which is presented by Club Car and Omega. Knoll has the inside track on the top prize of $9,000 out of a total purse of $72,000.

   Tom Cooper, playing out of the Pine Valley Golf Club pro shop, was Knoll’s closest pursuer. Cooper had fired a 5-under 66 at Bent Creek in Monday’s opening round and was tied for second, a shot behind Knoll. Cooper carded a solid 2-under 70 at the Country Club of York Tuesday for a 7-under 136 total that left him two shots behind Knoll.

   The top finishers following Wednesday’s final round – it’s usually the top 11 or 12 – will earn a ticket to the PGA Professional Championship, which tees off April 25, 2021 at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   The original field of 144 was cut to 61 for Wednesday’s final round. The cut fell at 8-over 151 with each player getting in a round at Bent Creek and one at the Country Club of York.

   Knoll’s victory in last year’s PGA Professional Championship propelled him to the Philadelphia Section PGA’s Omega Player of the Year award.

   The coronavirus pandemic forced the PGA of America to cancel this year’s PGA Professional Championship. Normally, the top 20 finishers in the PGA Professional Championship earn a berth in the PGA Championship.

   Knoll, who was the Philadelphia Section’s top finisher in last year’s PGA Professional Championship at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C., did get to tee it up in last month’s rescheduled PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco due to his standing on a national ranking of club pros.

   Knoll had four birdies on the front nine at the Country Club of York Tuesday at the first, third, seventh and eighth holes around a bogey at the sixth to get it to 3-under for his round. He said he could have gone even lower on the Country Club of York’s outgoing nine, but he couldn’t cash in on a couple more good birdie looks.

   Knoll dropped a shot with a bogey at the 14^th hole, but finished with a flourish, making a birdie at the last to get it in at 3-under for the round and 9-under for the championship.

   “It was a good day again,” Knoll told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “It’s always tough to follow a good round with another one. I was pretty proud that I came in with a 3-under score today, birdieing the last hole.”

   Cooper had an up-and-down round, but stayed aggressive to the tune of six birdies that offset four bogeys.

   After opening with a birdie at the first hole, Cooper made bogeys at three and four, but bounced right back with birdies at the fifth and nine holes to get it back to 1-under for the round. Cooper followed up a birdie at the 11^th hole with a bogey at the 12^th.

   Back-to-back birdies at the 14^th and 15^th holes got Cooper to 3-under for his round before he made a bogey at the 17^th to fall back to 2-under for his round and 7-under for the tournament, still very much in striking distance for the title and in very good shape to earn a ticket to the National Club Pro, the old-school moniker for the PGA Professional Championship.

   Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz, a three-time Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship winner, made the day’s biggest move with a 4-under 67 at Bent Creek that left him in a tie for third place with Sunnybrook Golf Club assistant pro Brett Walker at 5-under 138. Steinmetz had opened with a 1-under 71 at the Country Club of York Monday.

   Walker also got it going at Bent Creek in the second round, registering a 3-under 68 after opening with a 2-under 70 at the Country Club of York.

   Overbrook Golf Club head pro Eric Kennedy matched the 4-under 67 Steinmetz posted at Bent Creek to join Parks Price of the Country Club of York and Bidermann Golf Club instructor Zac Oakley in a tie for fifth place at 4-under 139. Kennedy had matched par with a 72 at the Country Club of York in Monday’s opening round.

   Price, who had opened with a 2-under 70 on his home course at the Country Club of York, added a solid 2-under 69 at Bent Creek Tuesday. Oakley, who has been one of the top performers on the Philadelphia Section circuit this summer, added a 1-under 70 at Bent Creek to the 3-under 69 he carded at the Country Club of York in the opening round.

   Merion Golf Club’s Terry Hertzog, another three-time winner of this championship, was alone in eighth place 3-under 140 after adding a 1-under 70 at Bent Creek to the 2-under 70 he signed for at the Country Club of York in Monday’s opening round. Hertzog is in his first year at Merion after many years working out of the Country Club of York pro shop.

   Hertzog’s Merion colleague, Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at the iconic club on Ardmore Avenue, had shared second place with Cooper after firing a 5-under 67 at the Country Club of York in Monday’s opening round.

   Sheftic, who has qualified for the PGA Championship three times out of the PGA Professional Championship, backed off with a 3-over 74 at Bent Creek, but headed a group of five players tied for ninth place at 2-under 141.

   Lookaway Golf Club head pro Mike Little, the Philadelphia Section’s 2016 Omega Player of the Year who recorded back-to-back victories in the last month at the William Hyndman III Memorial Classic and the TaylorMade Classic, was also in the group tied for ninth place at 2-under 141.

   Little matched par with a 71 at Bent Creek in the opening round before posting a 2-under 70 at the Country Club of York in Tuesday’s second round.

   Rounding out the group at 2-under were Andrew Turner of French Creek Golf Club, Hugo Mazzalupi of Patriots Glen National Golf Club and Rusty Harbold, who plays out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop.

   Turner added a 1-under 71 at the Country Club of York to his opening-round 70 at Bent Creek. Mazzalupi and Harbold each had opened with a 2-under 70 at the Country Club of York and matched par at Bent Creek with a 71 Tuesday.

   Ross Seaman of Manufacturers Golf & Country Club surged into position for a possible trip to the PGA Professional Championship with a sparkling 4-under 67 at Bent Creek after opening with a 3-over 75 at the Country Club of York. That left Seaman alone in 14^th place with a 1-under 142 total.

   Rounding out the top 15 was Overbrook assistant pro Ashley Grier, the Philadelphia Section’s top female player. After opening with a 1-under 70 at Bent Creek, Grier carded a 1-over 73 at the Country Club of York Tuesday and was alone in 15^th place at even-par 143.

   Grier had earned a trip to the 2019 PGA Professional Championship at Belfair in the 2018 Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship. Grier and Joanna Coe, a Mays Landing, N.J. native and an instructor at Baltimore Country Club, became the first two women to survive two cuts and play all four rounds of the National Club Pro at Belfair.

   The Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship is supported by Titleist/FootJoy, Nike, TaylorMade, The Golf Channel and the PGA Tour.