Brendon Post, the assistant coach and director of player
development for Delaware’s men’s and women’s golf teams, and John Cooper, out
of the Green Valley Country Club pro shop, shared the lead after the opening
round of the 96th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship
Tuesday.
Post and Cooper each posted a 3-under-par 68 over the
6,545-yard, par-71 Laurel Creek Country Club layout, one of two courses in
South Jersey being utilized for the first two rounds of the 54-hole event.
Tony Perla, out of the LedgeRock Golf Club pro shop, had the
day’s best round at the 6,585-yard, par-70 Burlington Country Club, a 1-under
69, and is tied for third with Rusty Harbold of Philadelphia Cricket Club,
whose 1-under 70 came at Laurel Creek.
The Philadelphia Section PGA website didn’t mention it, but
I have to think the gusty winds created by Hurricane Jose meandering a couple
hundred miles away in the Atlantic Ocean had to make club selection tricky at
Laurel Creek and Burlington.
Players will switch courses for Wednesday’s second round
after which the field will be cut to the low 60 scores and ties and the
survivors will all tee it up for the final round at Laurel Creek.
In addition to playing for the top prize – it was $8,000 last
year – the top 12 finishers will earn a ticket to the PGA Professional
Championship next summer at the Bayonet and Black Horse Courses in Seaside,
Calif.
Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb represented the
Philadelphia Section quite well in this past summer’s PGA Professional
Championship -- the National Club Pro as it was once known -- as he lost in a
playoff to former PGA Tour player Omar Uresti at the Sunriver Resort in
Sunriver, Ore. That showing also earned the 51-year-old McNabb a berth in the
PGA Championship, the last professional major of the year -- at least until it moves to May beginning in 2019 -- at the Quail Hollow
Club in Charlotte, N.C.
Post, playing in the first group of the day at Laurel Creek,
got off to a fast start with three birdies on the front nine. He offset two
bogeys on the back nine with two more birdies to finish at 3-under.
Cooper, playing four hours later, made two birdies to offset
a double bogey on the front nine, then ripped off three straight birdies at 12,
13 and 14 to join Post at 3-under.
Over at Burlington, Perla made the turn at even-par and
birdied 10 and 11 before giving a shot back with a bogey at the tough par-3 12th
to post his 1-under 69 total.
Gulph Mills assistant pro Jordan Gibbs, the runaway winner
of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at the Philadelphia Cricket
Club a year ago, matched par with a 71 at Laurel Creek and is tied for fifth
with Aronimink Golf Club assistant pro Sam Ambrose, who matched Gibbs’ 71 at
Laurel Creek.
Seven players are tied for seventh at 1-over, four with 72s
at Laurel Creek and three with 71s at Burlington. The Burlington trio included
John Bierkan, the head of instruction at Aronimink, Radley Run assistant pro
Brett Melton, who has been playing well in Philadelphia Section events all
year, and Dave Quinn of Philmont Country Club.
John DiMarco, right at home at Laurel Creek, was one of the
four players who carded a 1-over 72 at the course where he hangs his professional shingle.
Matching his 72 at Laurel Creek were Pat Butkus of Overbrook Golf Club, Rob
Shuey of Colonial Golf Club and Alex Knoll of Bethlehem Country Club.
McNabb, coming off a trip to England where he represented
the United States in the PGA Cup, Ryder Cup style matches against club pros
from Great Britain & Ireland, is one of six players tied for 14th
at 2-over after he carded a 73 at Laurel Creek.
McNabb and the U.S. fell, 16-10, to GB&I at the Fox
Hills Club & Resort’s Longcross Course in England.
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