Ashley Grier, an assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club and the 2020 Women’s PGA Player of the Year, got the jump on the field in the 100th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship by firing a 5-under-par 66 at Applebrook Golf Club Monday.
Grier hit all 18 greens in regulation on one of renowned golf course architect Gil Hanse’s early designs in East Goshen Township and finished with six birdies and just one bogey. Her lone blemish came on the finishing hole at Applebrook as she three-putted for bogey.
Half of the field played Aronimink Golf Club, the Donald Ross masterpiece that Hanse carefully updated in advance off the 2018 BMW Championship, and Aronimink proved to be the tougher test Monday as nobody was able to do better than match par. Aronimink will play host to the PGA Championship in 2026.
Grier will play Aronimink Tuesday and the field will be cut for Wednesday’s final round, which will be played at Aronimink. The forecast for Wednesday looks shaky with remnants of Hurricane Ida taking aim at the region.
The top 11 finishers in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which is presented by Cadillac, Club Car and Rolex, will qualify for next spring’s PGA Professional Championship, which will be held at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas.
Grier is in very good shape to earn one of those berths. Two years ago, Grier, along with Baltimore Country Club instructor Joanna Coe, became the first two women to survive two cuts and play four rounds in the PGA Professional Championship at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C. Grier finished in a tie for 71st place.
“I was unusually calm today,” Grier told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “It’s going to be a long week, so I was trying to be rerally strong mentally today. I hit the ball really well.”
Grier has been playing some really solid golf lately. Last month she finished in fifth place in the LPGA Professional National Championship at the Kingsmill Resort’s River Course in Williamsburg, Va. That earned her a ticket to the 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, an LPGA major championship, at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
Earlier this month, Grier was the runnerup for the second year in a row in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship at Cedarbrook Country Club, earning her a repeat appearance in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. in November. Grier was the only member of the Philadelphia Section’s contingent to make the cut in last fall’s NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship.
She followed that up by winning the inaugural Philadelphia Women’s PGA Professional Championship at Kennett Square Golf & Country Club.
Right on Grier’s heels were a couple of the Section’s talented young players in Brett Walker, an assistant pro at Sunnybrook Golf Club, and Billy Stewart, an instructor at Union League Liberty Hill, both of whom posted a 4-under 67 at Applebrook.
Walker has been having himself a pretty nice year as well. He finished in a tie for fifth in last year’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship that earned him a spot in the PGA Professional Championship in April at the PGA Golf Club. Walker then finished in a tie for eighth place at the PGA Golf Club, which punched his ticket into the PGA Championship, one of golf’s four major professional championships, at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course on the South Carolina coastline.
Earlier this month, Walker won the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship at Cedarbrook by two shots over Grier.
Stewart, winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship in 2018, was in his comfort zone at Applebrook, a course that used to be an occasional site for practice when Stewart played on the golf team at nearby Malvern Prep.
Bidermann Golf Club instructor Zac Oakley, who has been playing well all summer, shared fourth place with Steve Sanderson, playing out of the pro shop at Pine Valley Golf Club, each landing on 3-under 68 at Applebrook.
The Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship is also supported by Titleist/Footjoy, Nike, TaylorMade, The Golf Channel, the PGA Tour, Ship Sticks, Visit Delco, Pa. and Precise Yardage Books.
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