It will be an unusual 2018 KitchenAid Senior PGA
Championship in that it will not have a representative from the Philadelphia
Section PGA in the field.
John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club of
Woodloch Springs, and Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range
in Newtown Square, came up short Sunday in their bids to finish among the top
35 in the Senior PGA Professional Championship, presented by Mercedes-Benz USA
and supported by GolfAdvisor and John Deere.
The 50-year-old Pillar carded a final round of 1-over-par 73
on the Desert Mountain Club’s Cochise Course in Scottsdale, Ariz. to finish
tied for 49th at 6-over 294.
The cutoff to earn a ticket for a trip to The Golf Club at
Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich. next May was 3-over 291.
The 57-year-old Ingraham, playing in his 29th PGA
of America national event, had a final round of 3-over 75 to finish tied for 55th,
a shot behind Pillar at 7-over 295.
Ingraham opened up with a solid 2-under 70 on the Geronimo
Course at Desert Mountain, but never could quite solve the Cochise Course,
particularly the front nine.
The Philadelphia Section has been one of the top sections in
the country when it comes to senior talent. And the area’s senior players
certainly distinguished themselves this year with Applebrook Golf Club head pro
Dave McNabb falling in a playoff in the PGA Professional Championship at the
Sunriver Resort in Oregon against former PGA Tour pro Omar Uresti and Ingraham
playing the weekend and finishing tied for 49th in the U.S. Senior
Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass. Not sure how many club pros made
the cut in the U.S. Senior Open, but it couldn’t have been many.
McNabb made the 36-hole cut at Desert Mountain, but came up
short of the cutoff after 54 holes and didn’t play Sunday.
Gene Fieger, who dominated the Philadelphia Section as an
assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club in the 1990s, did earn a berth in the
Senior PGA Championship.
The 57-year-old assistant pro at The Club Pelican Bay in
Naples, Fla., carded a 1-over 73 in Sunday’s final round to finish tied for 32nd
at 3-over 291. Fieger won this event in 2013.
Another player in that group that made the cut for the
Senior PGA Championship was longtime western Pennsylvania club pro Roy
Vucinich, who shot his age when he carded a 2-under 70 in Saturday’s third
round. Vucinich carded a final-round 73 to join Fieger in the group at 3-over
291.
I found a couple of other interesting names while scanning
the final results.
Joe Daley, the Plymouth-Whitemarsh product who won the 2012
Constellation Senior Players Championship at Fox Chapel Golf Club, earned a
trip to Harbor Shores as he finished tied for 26th at 2-over 290.
I talked to Daley for a story in Joe Burkhardt’s Tri-State Golfer ahead of last year’s
Senior Players at Philadelphia Cricket Club, where Daley had caddied as a
youngster. He didn’t have full-time PGA Tour Champions status at the time and
he was in the field at Desert Mountain as a Life Member. But he’ll be teeing it
up in the first PGA Tour Champions major of 2018.
Daley, who turns 57 at the end of this month, opened up with
a solid 3-under 69 at the Geronimo Course, added a 1-under 71 at the Cochise
Course in Friday’s second round and went 76-74 over the weekend to earn a
ticket to Harbor Shores. He was listed as a Life Member.
Also noticed Charlie Bolling in the group tied for 55th
at 295 that included Ingraham. Bolling was a hotshot young amateur in this area
who played, if I recall correctly, out of Gulph Mills Golf Club. Bolling also
was listed as a Life Member and residing in Glen Cove, N.Y. on Long Island.
He was very much in the hunt for a PGA Senior Championship
berth before carding a final round of 4-over 76.
The Senior PGA Professional Championship title went, for the
second time in four years, to 54-year-old Frank Esposito, a teaching pro at Forsgate
Country Club in Monroe Township, N.J.
Esposito had a one-shot lead heading into final round and
patiently nursed that lead while making pars on the first 10 holes before
pulling away for a five-shot victory.
The final margin of victory was inflated a little by
Esposito’s chip-in for eagle at the par-5 finishing hole. It capped a 4-under
68 that enabled him to finish at 12-under 276 and lift the Leo Fraser Trophy
for the second time. Esposito, who won the title in 2014, collected the top
prize of $21,500 out of a total purse of $300,000.
Jim Schuman, who resides in Scottsdale, was the runnerup as
he posted a final round of 2-under 70 for a 7-under 281 total. Schuman spends
most of the year working in the pro shop at Blue Mound Golf & Country Club
in Wauwatosh, Wis.
No comments:
Post a Comment