Ingraham has solid start in PGA Senior Professional Championship at Desert Mountain

   Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, fired a 2-under-par 70 over Desert Mountain’s Geronimo Course in Scottsdale, Ariz. Thursday to head the Philadelphia Section PGA contingent in the Senior PGA Professional Championship, presented by Mercedes-Benz and supported by GolfAdvisor and John Deere.

   The 57-year-old Ingraham, playing in his 29^th PGA of America national championship, had a spectacular birdie, birdie, eagle burst to close out the outgoing nine at the Geronimo Course and is tied for 15^th after the opening round of the 72-hole event.

   The top 35 finishers qualify for next May’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, the first major championship of 2018 on the PGA Tour Champions, at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich.

   Ingraham, who finished tied for 49^th at this summer’s U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass., started off slowly with a bogey at the second, but then birdied the seventh and the eighth before making an eagle at the par-5 ninth to suddenly reach 3-under.

   He birdied the 15^th to reach 4-under before making bogeys at 16 and 18 for a 2-under total on a Geronimo Course that played a little tougher than the Cochise Course Ingraham will play Friday.

Ingraham is five shots behind pace-setter Mike Small, the University of Illinois men’s golf coach who fired a 7-under 65 at the Geronimo Course.

   Seven players are three shots behind Small at 2-under 68, including defending champion Steve Schneiter of Schneiter’s Pebblebrook Golf Course in Utah and 2014 champion Frank Esposito, a teaching pro at Forsgate Country Club in Monroe Township,  N.J.

   Schneiter’s 68 was the only one accomplished on the Geronimo Course. Esposito and five others posted their 68s on the Cochise Course.

   George Forster, the 61-year-old head pro at Radnor Valley Country Club playing in this championship for the 12^th year in a row, is tied for 27^th after carding a 1-under 71 at the Cochise Course.

   Philmont Country Club’s Dave Quinn, who claimed the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship at Radnor Valley, is tied for 56^th after a 1-over 73 at the Cochise Course.

It was a tough day for the rest of the Philadelphia Section PGA contingent. 

   John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, is tied for 146^th after a 77 at the Cochise Course.

   Dave McNabb, the Applebrook Golf Club head pro who has had a busy schedule the last month, had an 80 at the Geronimo course and is tied for 204^th. After playing in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, McNabb represented the PGA of America in the PGA Cup matches in England.

   John DiMarco of Laurel Creek Country Club is tied  for 213^th after an 81 at the Cochise Course and Wayne Phillips of Lehigh Country Club is tied for 231^st after an 83 at the Geronimo Course.

   Gene Fieger, an assistant pro at The Club Pelican Bay in Naples, Fla., is tied for 76^th after carding a 2-over 74 at the Geronimo Course. Fieger, a Nether Providence High product who dominated the Philadelphia Section in the mid-1990s as an assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club, led this championship through three rounds a year at PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla. before finishing third.