A couple of old guys who can really play, Radnor Valley
Country Club head pro George Forster and M Golf Range head of instruction Stu
Ingraham, were the only two players left standing after the regulation 54 holes
of the Philadelphia Section PGA championship Thursday at Llanerch Country Club.
It took three more holes and a birdie by Forster to finally
decide the issue in Forster’s favor, but there is no doubt that these two guys
have to be among the most talented over-50 club pros in the country.
Forster competed in the Senior PGA Championship for the
sixth time two years ago at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich. and earned a
spot in the U.S. Senior Open at Omaha Country Club in 2013. Ingraham was 52 two
years ago when the defeated Greg Farrow in a playoff to win the Section PGA
championship and clinch Player of the Year honors in the section for the second
straight year.
And there they were Thursday, showing all the youngsters how
it’s done.
Forster, who was three back of a trio of co-leaders coming
into the final round, carded a 1-under 70 at Llanerch for a 1-over 214 total.
Ingraham, who was only one back at the beginning of the day, posted a 1-over 72
to match Forster at 214.
Both players will lead a sizable Delco contingent that will
tee it up in the PGA Professional National Championship in 2015 and they won’t
have far to go to play in that event. The National Club Pro – the old-school
name of the event – will be staged at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s two great
courses – the classic A.J. Tillinghast-designed Wissahickon Course and the new
Militia Hill Course – June 28 to July 1. Those dates are a week later than what
I’ve been reporting this week, but there’s a little time to work on that
discrepancy.
When Ingraham qualified for the 2013 National Club Pro with
his victory in the 2012 Philadelphia Section tourney, he told me he it was his
23rd national PGA championship, fifth best in the history of the PGA,
so his appearance at the Cricket Club will make it 24. The top 20 finishers at
the Cricket Club will earn berths in the 2015 PGA Championship, professional
golf’s final major of the year which returns to Whistling Straits in Kohler,
Wis.
Six times in his career Ingraham has qualified for the PGA
out of the National Club Pro.
Also earning spots in the field at the Cricket Club next
year with high finishes Thursday were: Aronimink Golf Club assistant pro
Patrick Clark, whose 1-under 70 matched Forster for the low round of the day
and gave him a share of fifth place at 3-over 216; Merion Golf Club assistant
pro Robby Bruns, who had a 73 to finish in a tie for eighth at 4-over 217;
Concord Country Club head pro Mike Moses, who had a 76 and also finished in
that tie for eighth at 217; and Merion director of instruction Mark Sheftic,
who had a 75 and nabbed the 13th and final berth at 5-over 218.
Sheftic has advanced out of the National Club Pro to the PGA
Championship three times in the last five years.
Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, who began the day
tied at the top with Moses and Colonial Golf Club’s Rob Shuey, had a 75 and was
in that group at 5-over with Aronimink’s Clark. McNabb will be seeking a third
straight PGA Championship berth when he tees it up at the Cricket Club next
summer.
Aronimink head of instruction John Bierkan finished just
outside that top 13. He had a final-round 74 to finish in a tie for 15th
at 6-over 219.
No comments:
Post a Comment