McNabb, Steinmetz finish in a tie for 20th in Senior PGA Professional Championship, punch tickets to Senior PGA Championship

 

   Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb and Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz will represent the Philadelphia Section PGA in next spring’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship after they both finished in the group tied for 20^th place in the Senior PGA Professional Championship, which wrapped up Sunday at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   It will be the fourth straight year that McNabb will tee it up in the Senior PGA Championship, a major championship on the PGA Tour Champions. The 2024 Senior PGA Championship will be played Memorial Day weekend at the Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Mich.

   McNabb was an automatic qualifier for this past weekend’s Senior PGA Professional Championship, presented by Cadillac and supported by The Golf Channel, because he made the cut and played all four rounds in last spring’s Senior PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco at the new PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas. McNabb finished in a tie for 63^rd place with an 8-over 296 total at Fields Ranch East.

   McNabb made three birdies on the incoming nine at the par-72 Wanamaker Course in Sunday’s final round to complete a solid 3-under 69 and get into the tie for 20^th place with a 2-over 289 total.

   McNabb had opened with a 1-under 70 over the par-71 Ryder Course before posting back-to-back 3-over 75s at the Wanamaker Course.

   McNabb opened his final round with back-to-back birdies at the first and second holes before falling back to even-par for the round with bogeys at six and nine.

   But his back-nine surge left McNabb easily among the top 35 finishers who form the Colebridge Financial PGA Team that will represent the club pros across America in the Senior PGA Championship.

   It will be the second straight trip to the Senior PGA Championship for Steinmetz, who joined McNabb in the group tied for 20^th place at 2-over 289.

   Steinmetz earned his spot in the field at the PGA Golf Club by winning the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship in the summer at LedgeRock Golf Club, his second straight victory in that event in his first two years of eligibility as a senior player.

   Steinmetz, a scholastic standout at Perkiomen Valley back in the day, opened with a solid 2-under 69 at the Ryder Course and matched par with a 72 at the Wanamaker Course in Friday’s second round before falling back a little with a 4-over 76 at the Wanamaker Course in Saturday’s third round.

   Steinmetz, the Philadelphia Section’s reigning Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, got it going early in his final round with birdies at the fourth and eighth holes. He fell back to even-par for the round with bogeys at the 10^th and 11^th holes. A birdie at the 16^th hole offset a bogey at 17 as Steinmetz closed with an even-par 72 to join McNabb at 2-over.

   Bob Sowards, the director of instruction at the Kinsale Golf & Fitness Center in Powell, Ohio, ran away with a six-shot victory, putting his name on the Leo Fraser Trophy for the second time and earning the top prize of $27,000. Sowards last won the title in the Senior PGA Professional Championship in 2018.

   Sowards punctuated his run to the title with a sizzling burst of 5-under-par golf in a five-hole stretch of the incoming nine of the Wanamaker Course. After making birdies at the 12^th, 13^th and 15^th holes, Sowards drilled a 3-iron from 224 yards away at the 510-yard, par-5 16^th hole to 12 feet and drained the eagle putt.

   Sowards had opened the tournament with a 4-under 67 at the Ryder Course, added a 1-under 71 at the Wanamaker Course in Friday’s second round and a 3-under 69 in Saturday’s third round at the Wanamaker Course to take a three-shot lead into the final round.

   Sowards’ strong finishing kick resulted in a 6-under 66 in the final round that gave him a 15-under 272 total.

   “I can’t really play much better than I played today,” Sowards told the PGA of America website. “I executed it perfectly, didn’t take any chances and made a lot of birdies. It was fun.”

   The head coaches at two of Division I college golf’s two most powerful programs, Jerry Haas, the head man at Atlantic Coast Conference power Wake Forest, and Mike Small, whose Illinois team dominates the Big Ten, were Sowards’ closest pursuers.

   Haas closed with a sparkling 5-under 67 at the Wanamaker Course to claim runnerup honors with 9-under 278 total that left him six shots behind Sowards. Small, who had opened with a scintillating 6-under 65 at the Ryder Course, closed with a 2-under 70 at the Wanamaker Course to finish two shots behind Haas in third place with a 7-under 280 total.

   Stu Ingraham, an instructor at the MGolf Driving Range & Learning Center in Newtown Square, survived a pair of cuts and finished in a tie for 62^nd place with a 9-over 296 total.

   By my count, Ingraham was teeing it up in a PGA of America championship for the 39^th time in his outstanding career as a club pro. After opening with a 4-over 76 at the Wanamaker Course, Ingraham battled back with a solid 1-under 70 at the Ryder Course. Ingraham finished up on the weekend at the Wanamaker Course with a 2-over 74 in Saturday’s third round and a bookend 4-over 76 in Sunday’s final round.

   Charlie Bolling, winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur in 1978 when he was playing out of Gulph Mills Golf Club, also played four rounds at the PGA Golf Club, finishing in a tie for 67^th place with a 10-over 297 total. Bolling calls Glen Cove, N.Y.  on Long Island home these days. He closed with a 3-over 75 at the Wanamaker Course.

   John Cooper of Green Valley Country Club, another member of the contingent from the Philadelphia Section, failed to survive the 36-hole cut with a 7-over 150 total. Cooper bounced back from an opening round of 7-over 79 at the Wanamaker Course by matching par on the Ryder Course with a 71 in Friday’s second round. The 36-hole cut came at 4-over 147.

   Terry Hertzog, playing out of the Bent Creek Country Club pro shop, matched par in the opening round with a 72 at the Wanamaker Course, but struggled to a 79 at the Ryder Course to miss the cut with an 8-over 151 total.

   Philadelphia Section representative Hugo Mazzalupi opened with an 80 at the Wanamaker Course before posting a 3-over 74 at the Ryder Course for an 11-over 154 total.

   John Allen, playing out of the Squires Golf Club pro shop, added an 84 at the Ryder Course to his opening-round 80 at the Wanamaker Course for a 164 total.