Playing catch-up with the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit with some big events looming on the calendar …
Anthony Sebastianelli, an assistant pro in the Rolling Green Golf Club pro shop, entered July without a Philadelphia Section PGA win on his resume. By the time August rolled around, Sebastianelli was a two-time winner on the Philly Section circuit, earning victories in a couple of big events in the Doylestown Open and in the Golf Association of the Lehigh Valley (GALV) Lehigh Valley Open.
Sebastianelli, who starred scholastically at Abington Heights and collegiately at Central Connecticut State, capped his month with a two-shot victory in the Doylestown Open July 26th with a sizzling 6-under-par 66 at Doylestown Country Club.
Sebastianelli opened his day at Doylestown with an eagle at the par-5 first hole. He made birdies at the sixth and ninth holes before his only miscue of the day, a bogey at 12. But Sebastianelli finished strong, making a birdie at the 14th hole, chipping in for birdie at 16 and closing out his round with a birdie at 18.
Danny Lewis, the head pro at the Philadelphia Cricket Club at St. Martin’s course, was Sebastianelli’s closest pursuer as he earned runnerup honors with a 4-under 68.
In addition to the winner’s prize, Sebastianelli also earned a $2,500 check from a bonus pool as the Doylestown Open was the last of the four qualifiers for next month’s Silvercrest Cup, which, in three short years, has established itself as one of the premier events on the Philly Section’s calendar.
The Rolling Green pro shop pulled in the top prize out of the Silvercrest Cup bonus pool in three of the four qualifiers as Sebastianelli’s colleague Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green, won the title in two of the other three qualifiers, the Delaware Valley Open at Bellewood Country Club and the Conestoga Classic at Conestoga Country Club.
Following the Doylestown Open, the 54-player field for the Silvercrest Cup was established. The Silvercrest Cup, which offers a top prize of $15,000 out of a total purse of $35,000, tees off Sept. 16 at the Union League Liberty Hill Course.
The Silvercrest Cup is the brainchild of the Silvercreest Asset Management Group, which provides traditional and alternative investment advisory and family office services to wealthy families and select institutional investors.
Trevor Bensel, an assistant pro at Sandy Run Country Club, finished two shots behind Laws in third place at Doylestown with a 2-under 70.
Bensel is a fixture on Philly Section leaderboards, which is why he landed at the top of the list of qualifiers for the Silvercrest Cup with 722.13 points.
Mike Moses, the head pro at Concord Country Club, Zach Barbin, an assistant pro at the Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, and Sam Ambrose, out of the Chester Valley Golf Club pro shop, finished in a tie for fourth place at Doylestown, each landing on 1-under 71.
Moses’ 71 gave him the top spot in the Senior division. The trio of Radnor Valley Country Club’s George Forster, Terry Hatch of Royal Oaks Golf Course and Terry Hertzog of Bent Creek Country Club finished a shot behind Moses in a tie for second place among the seniors as each matched par with a 72.
Bill Sautter, playing out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, recorded a 5-under 67 to finish first in the Super-Senior division. Greg Farrow, the longtime head pro at Deerwood Country Club, finished a shot behind Sautter in second place with a 4-under 68.
Sebastianelli was also the winner in the concurrent Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) event with his 66. Bensel was the runnerup with his 70 and Barbin finished in third place with his 71.
Brittany Weddell, an assistant pro at Green Valley Country Club, topped a short field in the Women’s division with a 7-over 79.
Kelly Sanderson of Huntingdon Valley Country Club was the only other competitor in the Women’s division and was the runnerup with an 88.
Neil Gordon, a Doylestown member, won the Amateur division with a 4-over 76.
The Doylestown Open was supported by Doylestown Country Club, the Silvercrest Asset Management Group, KM Golf Sales/Kevin McClellan, Ohana Farm LLC, Jani-King and the PGA Tour.
Earlier in the month, Sebastianelli claimed his first Philadelphia Section PGA victory, earning a one-shot win in the Golf Association of the Lehigh Valley (GALV) Lehigh Valley Open, which wrapped up July 9th at Brookside Country Club in Macungie.
Sebastianelli had opened with a 3-under 68 that left him a shot behind trio of Michael Little of Clubhouse 54 in North Wales, John Allen of Squires Golf Club and the ageless Forster, a PGA Life member who was the longtime head pro at Radnor Valley.
Sebastianelli started slowly in the July 8th opening round as he made a bogey on the fourth hole and a double bogey at five.
But he proceeded to rip off six birdies in his next eight holes, going back-to-back at the sixth and seventh holes and then making four in a row at 10, 11, 12 and 13.
Sebastianelli got off to a fast start in the second round with birdies at the second, fourth and sixth holes. Bogeys at the seventh and 11th holes slowed his roll a little, but he picked up a couple of critical birdies at 12 and 18 to card a second straight 3-under 68 for a 6-under 136 total.
Little added a 1-under 70 to his opening round of 4-under 67 to finish in a tie for second place with Brendon Post, the head coach of the Delaware men’s golf team, at 5-under 137. Post added a 3-under 68 in the second round to his opening round of 2-under 69.
Sebastianelli’s first Philly Section victory came in a Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year points event.
Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz, a two-time winner of the GALV Lehigh Valley Open, the ever-present Bensel and John Cooper, the head pro at Green Valley, were another shot behind Little and Post in a tie for fourth place, each ending up with a 4-under 138 total.
Steinmetz and Cooper had identical splits, each adding a 3-under 68 in the second round to an opening round of 1-under 70. Bensel registered a pair of 2-under 69s.
Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro Dave Pagett broke a competitive course record at Brookside that was originally set in 1968 with a 6-under 65 that left him among a large group of players tied for 10th place with a 2-under 140 total. Pagett had opened with a 4-over 75.
The old record of 5-under 66 was first set by Stan Dudas in an 18-hole playoff in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which he won. It was matched by former PGA Tour player Mike Hubert in a 1988 charity pro-am.
Post’s 5-under 137 gave him a victory in the Senior division. Steinmetz and Cooper shared second place, a shot behind Post at 4-under.
Deerwood’s Farrow was the runaway winner of the Super-Senior division as he added a 6-under 65 in the second round to his opening round of 3-under 68 for a 9-under 133 total. Farrow’s second round matched Pagett’s course record, but is not considered a course record since Farrow played a shorter course from the Super-Senior tees.
Wayne Phillips of Lehigh Country Club was the runnerup in the Super-Senior division as he added a 1-over 72 in the second round to his opening round of 3-under 68 for a 2-under 140 total that left him seven shots behind Farrow.
Green Valley’s Weddell was the lone entry in the Women’s division and she added a 7-over 78 in the second round to an opening-round 77 for a 13-over 155 total.
The GALV Lehigh Valley Open also had a concurrent Central Counties Chapter event with Brian Kelly of Titleist Fitcrew defeating Alex Knoll, an instructor at Glen Brook Golf Club. in a playoff after each finished at even-par with a 142 total.
Kelly, who retired last year after a long career as the head pro at Bucknell Golf Club, and Knoll, a two-time winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, had identical splits, each adding a 2-over 73 in the second round after opening with a 2-under 69.
Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, matched par in each round with a pair of 71s and was also in the tie at the top at 142, but was unable to hang around for the playoff.
Bergstol was the winner of the first Silvercrest Cup qualifier of the season with his victory at Tavistock Country Club. He was a close second behind Bensel in the Silvercrest Cup qualifying points list with 718.93.
Samantha Fritzinger, who starred scholastically at Emmaus and is an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s golf teams at Division II South Carolina Beaufort, shared top honors in the amateur division with John Keba of Emmaus as they each landed on 2-under 140.
Fritzinger, who was a collegiate standout at Division III Wingate, and Keba had the same splits, each matching par in the opening round with a 71 before closing with a solid 2-under 69.
The GALV Lehigh Valley Open was supported by the Golf Association of the Lehigh Valley, Payntr Golf, Jani-King and the PGA Tour.
Sebastianelli and Shattuck should have a bit of a home-course advantage when the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship tees off Aug. 26 at Rolling Green and Chester Valley, two of the more underrated of the Philadelphia area’s classic golf courses.
Players will play one round at each of those courses before the field is cut for the final round at Rolling Green, a William Flynn gem that played host to the 2016 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship . Shattuck’s runnerup finish a year ago in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship was the beginning of a road that led him to the PGA Professional Championship in the spring at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s new Texas headquarters.
Shattuck earned a trip to the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. as part of the Colebridge Financial Team after he finished in a tie for 16th place at Fields Ranch East. Shattuck was the low club pro at Valhalla and was one of just two members of the Colebridge Financial Team to survive the 36-hole cut in the PGA Championship.
The most recent Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year points event was the 48th Pro-Am for Wishes, which wrapped up Monday at Penn Oaks Golf Club where Chester County meets Delaware County along Route 202.
Little of Clubhouse 54 had been knocking on the door and finally broke through with a two-shot victory for his first Philadelphia Section PGA win of the season.
Little posted a pair of 4-under 67s at Penn Oaks for an 8-under 134 total that left him two shots clear of Bidermann Golf Club instructor Zac Oakley in what turned into a two-horse race.
Oakley, who will defend his Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship title in a couple of weeks, had grabbed the lead with an opening round of 5-under 66.
Little offset four bogeys with eight birdies to stay close to Oakley with his opening round of 4-under 67. It was a roller-coaster ride on the outgoing nine at Penn Oaks for Little as he made a bogey at the first hole, ripped off consecutive birdies at three, four and five, made bogeys at six and seven and then made birdies at eight and nine.
After a birdie at the 12th hole, Little made a bogey at 13, but finished up with birdies at 14 and 18.
With Oakley keeping the pressure on in the second round, Little sandwiched birdies at the second, third and sixth holes with bogeys at one and eight. Little, however, was very solid on the incoming nine at Penn Oaks with birdies at the 10th, 12th and 14th holes and six pars in a 3-under 33 tour of the back nine.
Oakley, who was also part of the Colebridge Financial Team in the PGA Championship at Valhalla in the spring after he joined Shattuck in the group tied for 16th place in the PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch East, closed with a 1-under 70 at Penn Oaks to finish in second place with a 6-under 136 total.
“Playing with Zac today really helped me a lot,” Little told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “He is an absolute competitor and I would not have made as many birdies as I did if he wasn’t in my pairing. It really helped to know where I was and I like to play golf that way. I think any PGA professional would want to be in that position.
“It’s a relief (to earn my first victory of the year). I have had a really good year so far and today I finally executed for an entire tournament.”
Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Sunnybrook Golf Club, and Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League Liberty Hill Course, finished in a tie for fourth place, each ending up six shots behind Oakley at even-par 142.
Sheftic added a 1-over 72 in the second round to his opening round of 1-under 70. Stewart closed with a 2-under 69 after opening with a 2-over 73.
Dave Quinn, who plays out of the pro shop at Laurel Creek Country Club, topped the Senior division as he signed for a pair of 1-over 72s for a 2-over 144 total.
Dave McNabb, the head pro at Applebrook Golf Club, and Eric Kennedy, the head pro at Overbrook Golf Club, shared second place among the seniors as they both finished two shots behind Quinn at 4-over 146.
McNabb tallied a pair of 2-over 73s while Kennedy bounced back from an opening-round 77 with a 2-under 69.
Green Valley’s Weddell was again the only entry in the Women’s division and she added a 3-over 74 in the second round to her opening-round 76 for an 8-over 150 total.
Jimmy O’Connor was a runaway winner of the Amateur division as he carded a pair of 1-over 72s for a 2-over 144 total.
Since the Pro-Am for Wishes was moved to Penn Oaks in 2008, it has raised more than $750,000 for Make-A-Wish of Philadelphia, Delaware and Susquehanna Valley.
The Pro-Am for Wishes was supported by Tamora Group, Todd & Marla Horn, Woodward Properties, Piazza Auto Group, Ambler Surgical, Meridian Bank, Caddick Construction, Aqua America, Connacht Rose LLC, Rich Weaver, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, HWE, Ducklings Early Learning Franchise and Akkodis.
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