Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster moved up
the leaderboard in the second round of the Senior PGA Professional
Championship, presented by GolfAdvisor and Mercedes-Benz USA, Friday with a
4-under-par 68 at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The 60-year-old Forster, playing in the Senior Club Pro for
the 11th straight year, opened with a 1-under 71 at the Ryder Course
Thursday and is tied for 14th at 5-under 139 at the midway point.
That puts Forster well inside the cut to be among the top 35
finishers at the end of 72 holes who will earn a berth in the KitchenAid Senior
PGA Championship next May at Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Va.
Forster teed it up in the PGA Tour Champions major when it was held at The Club
at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich. in the spring of this year.
Forster heads a list of five Philadelphia Section PGA
members in the Senior Club Pro who made the 36-hole cut, which fell at 1-under
143, and will be alive for the weekend.
Foster started on the back nine at the Wanamkaer Course and
made birdies at 11 and 15 before a bogey at 16 left him at 1-under for his
round making the turn. He then ripped
off three straight birdies at two, three and four and added another at seven before
finishing up with a bogey at nine to fall back to 5-under for the championship.
Gene Fieger, the 2013 winner of this event who once
dominated the Philadelphia Section as an assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club
in the 1990s, moved into a tie for the lead with a second straight 67, this one
at the Ryder Course.
Fieger’s 36-hole total of 10-under 134 was matched by Lee
Houtteman, the head pro at Manitou Passage Golf Club in Michigan. Houtteman
fired a 4-under 69 at the Wanamaker Course after opening with a 66 Thursday at
the Ryder Course.
The 56-year-old Fieger, an assistant pro at The Club Pelican
Bay in Naples, Fla., started at the first and had a front-nine salvo that
included birdies at two, three, four and eight. His round stalled a little with
back-to-back bogeys at 10 and 11, but he finished strong with birdies at 13, 15
and 17.
“There’s still a lot of golf left and birdies to make,”
Fieger, a product of the old Nether Providence High School, told the PGA of
America website. “The weather is perfect
and the course is perfect. You’re not going to shoot 3-under on the weekend and
win this thing. Realistically, you have to shoot 3- or 4-under just to keep
pace.”
Jeff Roth of Sundown Country Club in New Mexico is alone in
third at 9-under 135 after adding a 67 at the Wanamaker Course to his
opening-round 68.
Mike Small, head coach of one of the top NCAA Division I
programs in the country at the University of Illinois, fired a 4-under 69 at
the Ryder Course and is tied for fourth at 8-under 136. He was joined at that
figure by Don Berry of Edinburgh USA Golf Club in Minnesota, who had a 5-under
67 at the Wanamaker Course in Friday’s second round.
Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb had his second
straight 71, this one at the Wanamaker Course, and is tied for 42nd
at 2-under 142.
Three Philadelphia Section entrants are part of a large
group tied for 57th, right on the cut line at 1-under 143. That trio
is led by the Philadelphia Section senior champion, Stu Ingraham, the head of
instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square. Ingraham, who recently
collected the Section’s Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year Award
for the seventh straight year, had a 1-over 73 at the Wanamaker Course after
opening with a 2-under 70 at the Ryder Course.
Joining Ingraham at 1-under 143 were Brian Kelly of Bucknell
Golf Club, who had a 4-under 68 at the Ryder Course, and Terry Hertzog of The
Country Club of York, who, like Ingraham, had a 73 at the Wanamaker Course
after opening with a 70 at the Ryder Course.
McNabb’s assistant at Applebrook, Rick Flesher, was four
shots off the cutline at 3-over 147 after posting a 75 at the Wanamaker Course
Friday.
Also missing the 36-hole cut from the Philadelphia Section
were: Wildwood Golf & Country Club’s John Appleget, who had a 78 at the
Ryder Course, and Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s John Allen, who had a 77 at
the Wanamaker Course, both of whom landed at 152; Philadelphia Cricket Club’s
Bill Sautter, who had a 75 at the Ryder Course to finish at 154; and Mountain
View Country Club’s Jack Brennan, who had an 82 at the Wanamaker Course to
finish at 160.
The weekend rounds will be played only at the Wanamaker
Course.
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