I’m fully aware that the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship got started Monday at the Country Club of Scranton and Elmhurst Country Club in northeast Pennsylvania and I was a little busy the last couple of days on the bag for Tara Joy-Connelly of Middleborough, Mass. in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at an occasionally stormy North Course at Stonewall. Had a front-row seat as former Pennsbury and Penn State standout Jackie Rogowicz, a co-medalist in qualifying for match play, knocked out Joy-Connelly, 5 and 4, in the opening round of match play Monday after Joy-Connelly was one of three players who survived a playoff among eight women to make it into the match-play bracket. But I had started a post on the Silvercrest Cup, which has quickly become an important event on the Philadelphia Section calendar, and it was interesting the way the event played out and I wanted to finish it up. So here you go …
Mike Little of Clubhouse 54 had the oversize check for $15,000 – the biggest payday of his career – he had the trophy and the gold medal hanging from his neck.
But in the hours following what appeared to be a dramatic one-shot victory for Little in the second annual Silvercrest Cup on a steamy day after Labor Day at Applebrook Golf Club, something didn’t seem right to Little.
As he relived the round in his head, he realized that his scorecard said he made a par on the second hole and he knew he had made bogey.
After contacting the Philadelphia Section PGA and going over the round again with his playing partners, one of whom had kept Little’s score, Little’s worst fears were confirmed.
Submitting an incorrect scorecard means disqualification and nobody knew that better than Little.
“Obviously I am upset about this situation and think the weather and the moment got the best of me,” Little said in a statement about the disqualification on the Philadelphia Section PGA’s website a little less than 24 hours after the tournament ended. “I want to be the first to congratulate Dave Pagett and Andrew Keeling on their co-victory.”
The Silvercrest Asset Management Group, an investment adviser providing asset management and family office services to high net-worth individuals and select institutional investors, got involved with the Philadelphia Section PGA in a big way for the first time last year with one of the most lucrative tournaments on the schedule with a total purse of $30,000.
Four of the Philadelphia Section’s regular tournaments were also designated as Silvercrest Cup qualifying events with boosts to the purses of the top finishers out of a Silvercrest Cup bonus pool.
Got a chance to meet Little last summer while working on an article for Joe Burkhardt’s Tri-State Golfer about Makefield Putters, a new line of flat sticks that were the brainchild of a couple engineers, Everett Farr and Michael Fuchs. At the time, Little was listed as a co-founder and vice president of sales and marketing for Makefield Putters.
I watched as Little explained a lot of the technology behind the putter and fitted Burkhardt for one.
Not sure what the status of Makefield Putters is right now,
but I wouldn’t be shocked if Little didn’t use a Makefield Putters stick to
sweep in a long birdie putt on the 18th green at Applebrook, the Gil
Hanse original in East Goshen, Chester County, that gave him the apparent victory with a 3-under 68.
Little, a two-time Philadelphia Section Player of the Year, was in the process of hatching Clubhouse 54 in his home town of North Wales when I met him at the Makefield Putters headquarters in Bensalem a year ago.
Golf is a big part of Little’s life and when it occurred to him that he might have broken a rule, he did what all golfers do: He self-reported it. It cost him a lot of money, but golfers, perhaps more than any other sport, tend to abide by the rules. There’s no official with a flag in his or her back packet, it’s you and your conscience.
The beneficiary of Little’s DQ was Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro Dave Pagett as he ended up sharing the top spot with Kennett Square Golf & Country Club amateur Andrew Keeling, the defending champion, each posting a 2-under 69.
As the low pro, Pagett pocketed the top prize of $15,000.
Keeling had won the inaugural Silvercrest Cup a year ago when he defeated Brian Bergstol, the talented instructor at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, in a playoff at Gulph Mills Golf Club
The Silvercrest Cup invites the top players from the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s season-long points standings and Keeling seems to enjoy teeing it up with the Philadelphia Section pros on courses like Gulph Mills and Applebrook.
The Rolling Green Golf Club pro shop was well-represented on the Silvercrest Cup leaderboard as Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction and reigning PGA Professional Championship winner, and assistant pro Anthony Sebastianelli shared third place with Andrew Turner of Berkshire Country Club, Louis Kelly of Gulph Mills and Ryan Rucinski of Wilmington Country Club, each landing on 1-under 70.
Shattuck’s road to his stunning victory in what used to be known as the National Club Pro at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. in the spring began with his runnerup finish in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship a year ago that earned him a spot in the PGA Professional Championship in the first place.
A talented group of eight players, headed by senior players Brendon Post, the associate head coach and director of player development for the Delaware men’s and women’s golf teams, Pete Lovenguth of Sandy Run Country Club and Terry Hertzog of Bent Creek Country Club, finished in a tie for eighth place, each matching par with a 71.
Post, Lovenguth and Hertzog shared the top spot in the Senior division.
Rounding out the large group at even-par were Chesapeake Bay Golf Club’s Zach Barbin, winner of a pair of Golf Association of Philadelphia major championships, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur and the Patterson Cup, in 2020, David Hicks of Philadelphia Country Club, Mark Sheftic, one of the region’s top instructors at Sunnybrook Golf Club, Grant Gardiner of Merion Golf Club, and Parks Price of the Country Club of York.
The only entry in the women’s division was Merion instructor Joanna Coe, whose 1-over 72 left her in a group of 10 players tied for 16th place in the overall scoring.
In addition to sharing the overall title with Pagett, Keeling captured low-amateur honors with his 69.
The runnerup to Keeling in the Amateur division was the host club’s Robert Olseski, who starred scholastically at Conestoga. Olseski posted a solid 2-over 73.
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