Ingraham, Pillar, McNabb survive the cut in Senior PGA Professional Championship

   The Philadelphia Section PGA contingent at the Senior PGA Professional Championship at the Desert Mouintain Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. had a rough couple of days with only Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, and Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb surviving the 36-hole cut.

   Ingraham was tied for 15^th after carding an opening-round 70 on Desert Mountain’s Geronimo Course,  but struggled on a couple  of holes during Round 2 Friday at the Cochise Course on his way to a 4-over 76. Still, at 2-over 146, the 57-year-old Ingraham, playing in his 29^th PGA of America national event, is tied for 42^nd and very much in the hunt to qualify for next spring’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Mich.

   The top 35 finishers in the PGA Senior Club Pro, presented by Mercedes-Benz and supported by GolfAdvisor and John Deere, earn a ticket to the Senior PGA Championship, the first major of 2018 on the PGA Tour Champions.

   Pillar, who has had a very good 2017, teeing it up in the U.S. Senior Open and the PGA Professional Championship in Sunriver, Ore. in addition to earning a trip to sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open, had struggled to 77 in the opening round. But he bounced back Friday with a 1-under 71 on the Geronimo Course to end up a shot under the cut line at 4-over 148. Pillar is one of 21 players tied for 69^th.

   The final two rounds will be played at the Cochise Course.

   Ingraham started on the back nine at the Cochise Friday and quickly got it to 4-under for the tournament with birdies at the 12^th and 14^th holes. He stumbled with a double bogey at the 15^th, but a birdie at the 18^th hole got him back to 3-under.

   A triple bogey at the first, though, was followed by bogeys at three and eight that left him a 2-over at the halfway point, still easily inside the cut line.

   Gene Fieger, an assistant under Ingraham at Overbrook Golf Club back in the day, is a shot better than Ingraham in a tie for 34^th at 1-over 145 after battling to a 1-under 71 on the Cochise Course Friday. Fieger, an assistant pro at the Club Pelican Bay in Naples, Fla., won the Senior Club Pro in 2013.

   McNabb had to battle hard to make the cut after opening with an 80 on the Geronimo Course Thursday. McNabb, who has had a busy month that’s included berths in the PGA Championship and the PGA Cup in England, had an efficient three-birdie, no-bogey 3-under 69 for a 149 total that made the cut on the number.
   McNabb earned his trip to the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow with a runnerup finish in the PGA Professional Championship at the Sunriver Resort in Oregon, where he lost out in a playoff to Omar Uresti.

   Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster, playing in the Senior Club Pro for the 12^th straight year, struggled to a 79 at the Geronimo Course for a 150 total. Forster had opened up with a solid 1-under 71 on the Cochise Course Thursday.

   He was joined at 6-over 150 by Philmont Country Club pro David Quinn, who won the Philadelphia Senior PGA Championship last month. Quinn added a 77 at the Geronimo Course Friday to his opening-round 73 Thursday at the Cochise Course.

   Laurel Creek Country Club pro John DiMarco had his second straight 81 for a 162 total and Lehigh Country Club pro Wayne Phillips added an 82 on the Cochise Course to the 83 he carded Thursday at the Geronimo Course for a 163 total.

   Steve Schneiter, an assistant pro at Schneiter’s Pebblebrook Golf Course in Utah, made a big move toward repeating as the winner of the Senior PGA Professional Championship as he added a 5-under 67 at the Cochise Course to his opening-round 68 at the Geronimo Course to grab a one-shot lead at 9-under 135.

   Schneiter missed only two greens in regulation while making seven birdies to offset his only mistake, a double bogey at the 10^th.

   Mike O’Toole, out of the pro shop at Riverside Golf Course in Indiana, added  a 68 on the Geronimo Course to the 68 he shot at the Cochise Course and is a shot behind Schneiter at 8-under 136.

   Frank Esposito of Forsgate Country Club in Monroe Township, N.J. and Chris Starkjohann, a PGA of  America Life  Member  from Oceanside, Calif., are tied for third, three shots behind O’Toole at 5-under 139.

   Esposito posted a 1-under 71 at the Geronimo Course Friday after opening up with a 4-under 68 at the Cochise Course Thursday. Starkjohann moved into contention with a 68 at the Cochise Course after he had opened up with a 71 at the Geronimo Course Thursday.