Sheftic second in Philadelphia Section PGA opener

   The Philadelphia Section PGA kicked off its 2014 campaign with the Callaway Golf TPD Championship Monday at a new site, Waynesborough Country Club in Easttown Township below Paoli.

   The format was modified Stableford scoring, always a nice change of pace with one point for par, three for a birdie, six for an eagle, nine for a double eagle and minus a point for a bogey or worse. The format encourages a player to really go for birdies or better to try to pile up some points.

   Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, did just that as he had six birdies against two bogeys and his 26 points had him in the lead most of the day.

   But Philadelphia Country Club’s Mark Sommerville used five birdies and an eagle to offset two bogeys and take the top prize with 29 points.

   Stu Ingraham, the ageless teaching pro at M Golf Range in Newtown Square, easily topped the senior division with 24 points, a total that left him in a tie for third overall.

   Among some of the other top finishers were: Tony Perla of Radnor Valley Country Club, tied for fifth with 22 points; Overbrook Golf Club’s Eric Kennedy and Rolling Green Golf Club’s Michael Little, tied for ninth with 20 points; Aronimink Golf Club’s Bryan Kienke, 15^th with 19 points; Aronimink head of instruction Jeff Kiddie, tied for 16^th with 18 points; Radnor Valley head pro George Forster and Ben Debski of The Springhaven Club, tied for 29^th with 16 points; Aronimink’s Patrick Clark, tied for 40^th with 14 points; and Aronimink’s Nick Knight and Anthony Napaoletano of GolfTEC in King of Prussia, tied for 48^th with 12 points.