A lot of catching up to do with the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit. No better place to start than …
Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz has been one of the Philadelphia Section PGA’s top players for a long time. Pretty sure he’s played in the PGA Championship two or three times after advancing out of the PGA Professional Championship.
When he turned 50 in December, a new window of opportunity opened for Steinmetz and, in his first chance to tee it up in a Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship June 13 and 14 at Medford Village Country Club, he made the most of his newly minted senior status.
Steinmetz closed with a solid 2-under-par 70 for a 36-hole total of 5-under 139 that left him one shot clear of a couple of the Philadelphia Section’s other seasoned pros, Merion Golf Club instructor Terry Hertzog and Bucknell Golf Club’s Brian Kelly.
The Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship has been played late in the summer in recent years, but took a new place on the calendar in 2022 in the last week of spring. It is a big event for the many talented senior players in the Philadelphia Section because it provides a pathway to next year’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a major championship on the PGA Tour Champions circuit.
Steinmetz will head a group of six Philadelphia Section PGA pros who earned a spot in the field for the 34th Senior PGA Professional Championship, presented by Cadillac, which will be played Oct. 13 to 16 at Twin Warriors Golf Club and Santa Ana Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.
The top 35 finishers in New Mexico will advance to next May’s Senior PGA Championship, which will be held at the PGA Frisco Fields Ranch’s East Course in Frisco, Texas.
Steinmetz had grabbed the lead following the opening round at Medford Village with a really solid 3-under 69. Steinmetz made birdies at the 10th, 13th and 16th holes and had 15 pars on his scorecard.
Hertzog and Kelly got into the clubhouse at 4-under for the championship with Steinmetz still on the course at 4-under when he arrived at the 365-yard, par-4 17th hole. Steinmetz knocked his approach close and converted the birdie putt to get it to 5-under.
Steinmetz got off to a good start in the final round with birdies at the first and third holes. He made his only bogey of the tournament at the sixth hole and then rattled off 10 straight pars before his decisive birdie at the 17th hole.
“I hit it really well,” Steinmetz told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “I put myself in good spots off the tee, which made it easy tee to green. I hit it close a lot, which helped. It was tough to read these greens. They’re very tricky.”
Hertzog matched par in the opening round with a 72 and took a run at the title with a 4-under 68 in the final round for a 4-under 140 total that left him a shot behind Steinmetz in a tie for second place.
Kelly carded a second straight 2-under 70 to share second place with Hertzog at 4-under 140.
Hertzog and Kelly represented the Philadelphia Section in last fall’s Senior PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Hertzog failed to make the 36-hole cut, but Kelly played all four rounds, finishing in a tie for 53rd place.
Greg Farrow, the long-time head pro at Deerfield Country Club punched his ticket to New Mexico by finishing alone in fourth place with a 2-under 142 total. Farrow was only a shot behind Steinmetz after opening with a 2-under 70 before matching par in the final round with a 72.
The final two qualifiers for the Senior PGA Professional Championship out of Medford Village were Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb and Brendon Post, the associate head coach and director of player development for the men’s and women’s golf teams at Delaware.
McNabb and Post had the same splits, each recording a 1-under 71 in the second round after matching par in the opening round with a 72.
For McNabb, it was a chance to tune up for last weekend’s U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Old Course, basically a home game in Bethlehem. McNabb opened with a solid 4-over 75 in the rain in the opening round at Saucon Valley that left him very much in with a chance to survive the 36-hole cut, but he couldn’t keep it going, carding a 7-over 78 for an 11-over 153 total.
It was McNabb’s second appearance in a PGA Tour Champions major this year because last fall at the PGA Golf Club, McNabb, the Philadelphia Section’s Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year for the second year in a row in 2021, closed with a sizzling 7-under 65 on the Wanamaker Course in the final round of the Senior PGA Professional Championship to finish in a tie for 14th place and earn a second straight trip to the Senior PGA Championship.
McNabb was the defending champion at Medford Village, having punched his ticket to the PGA Golf Club by capturing the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship last September at Huntsville Golf Club.
I chronicled McNabb’s showing in the Senior PGA Championship at the Harbor Shores Resort in Benton Harbor, Mich. in a post last month. Similar to his effort in the U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley, McNabb opened with a solid 3-over 74, but struggled in the second round with an 81 as he missed the cut with a 13-over 155 total.
Overbrook Golf Club head pro Eric Kennedy is the first alternate for the Senior PGA Professional Championship as he finished in a tie for seventh place at Medford Village with his colleague from across Sproul Road, Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster, each landing on even-par 144.
Kennedy added a 1-over 73 in the second round to his opening-round 71.
Forster is the second alternate after erupting for a 4-under 68 in the second round. He had struggled to a 4-over 76 in the opening round. Forster has qualified for the Senior PGA Professional Championship more than a dozen times since turning 50, including a trip to the PGA Golf Club last fall.
Eddie Perrino of the Country Club of York and Dave Quinn of Laurel Creek Country Club are the third and fourth alternates, respectively, after finishing in a tie for ninth place at Medford Village, each ending up with a 1-over 145 total.
Perrino matched par in the second round with a 72 over opening with a 73. Quinn had opened with a solid 1-under 71 before finishing up with a 74. Perrino also represented the Philadelphia Section in the Senior PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club last fall, but failed to make the cut.
John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, is the fifth alternate to the Senior PGA Professional Championship as he finished alone in 10th place at Medford Village with a 3-over 147 total.
Pillar added a 1-over 73 in the second round to his opening-round 74. Pillar also represented the Philadelphia Section in last fall’s Senior PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club, failing to survive the 36-hole cut.
The Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship was presented by Cadillac and supported by The Golf Channel and Jani-King.
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