It was a little over a year ago when Stu Ingraham, the head
of instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, said he had surprised
himself a little by how well he had played in 2016 at age 56.
After finishing second in the Philadelphia Section PGA Championship
at Philadelphia Cricket Club that day, Ingraham admitted he keeps waiting for
what he figures is an inevitable decline in his ability to play the game he
loves at a high level.
Well, it didn’t happen in 2017 at age 57 either. Ingraham
picked up his eighth consecutive Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year
Award at last week’s Philadelphia Section PGA Fall Meeting at Cedarbrook Country
Club. Maybe more remarkably, he was the runnerup to Radley Run Country Club
assistant pro Brett Melton in the Omega Player of the Year points standings.
The highlight of Ingraham’s year had to be his trip to the
U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass. Ingraham has played in
29 national PGA of America events, but this was his first start ever in a USGA
event.
Because of a weather delay, Ingraham had to return to the
course Saturday morning for his final three holes. When he arrived at the
448-yard, par-4 ninth hole at Salem, Ingraham needed birdie to make the cut on
the number. He got it.
Ingraham finished tied for 49th at 6-over 286
against the best over-50 players on the planet.
Ingraham’s only win on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit
came in the Jack Jolly/Golf Pride Championship.
He was a multiple winner in the senior division at Section
events, giving him a commanding advantage over Player of the Year runnerup Dave
Quinn, the assistant pro at Philmont Country Club who captured the Philadelphia
Senior PGA Professional Championship at Radnor Valley Country Club.
Quinn was also third behind Melton and Ingraham in the Omega
Player of the Year points race. So not only has Ingraham won the “Skee” Riegel
Senior Player of the Year Award eight straight years, he’s done it in a Section
that might have the deepest stable of senior talent of any in the country.
It was a Philadelphia Section senior pro, Applebrook Golf
Club head pro Dave McNabb, who lost in a playoff to former PGA Tour
professional Omar Uresti in the PGA Professional Championship at the Sunriver
Resort in Oregon. That earned him a trip to the PGA Championship at the Quail
Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. McNabb also joined Ingraham in the field for the
U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club, although he failed to make the cut.
Third in the “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year race
was John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs.
Pillar played in the PGA Professional Championship at Sunriver and was in the
field along with Ingraham and McNabb in the U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country
Club.
Melton, in his first year in the Section, claimed victories
in the Pro-Am for Wishes and in the Shawnee Open. He won the DeBaufre Scoring
Average title with a remarkable 69.44 average, which is why he was always on
the leaderboard at Philadelphia Section PGA events.
The Howard “Ike” Turner Most Improved Player award went to Michael
Caldwell, who works in the Bidermanm Golf Club pro shop. Caldwell finished 40th
in the Omega points standings after dropping his scoring average by a whopping
three shots.
The Comeback Player of the Year award went to Billy Stewart,
the former Malvern Prep and Saint Joseph’s University standout who is an
assistant pro at The ACE Club.
After an impressive win in the Pennsylvania Open at Rolling
Green Golf Club in 2015, Stewart shut it down in 2016 after having surgery.
Pretty sure it was a shoulder, but I’m not positive. Billy the Kid finished 12th
in the Omega points standings.
Stewart will be part of an impressive group of players who
will represent the Section in next week’s 41st National Car Rental Assistant
PGA Professional Championship, which will be held at the PGA Golf Club in Port
St. Lucie, Fla.
Heading the group is Brian Bergstol, an assistant pro at the
Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort who won the Section’s Assistant PGA Professional
Championship at the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale layout in August.
Also headed for the PGA Golf Club are Jakob Gerney of Trump
National Golf Club of Philadelphia, Andrew Turner of Sunnybrook Golf Club,
winner of a $100,000 jackpot by taking the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic
on his home course in May, and Jordan Gibbs of Gulph Mills Golf Club.
By the way, the Section pros who gathered for the Fall
Meeting at Cedarbrook hit the links afterward for the Fall Meeting Foursomes
and Ingraham teamed with Jason Calhoun, the head coach of the men’s golf team
at Penn, in the select drive/alternate shot format and won it with a 4-under
68.
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