Tobiason edges Hertzog by a shot to claim victory in Pro-Am For Wishes at Penn Oaks

   Mike Tobiason of Deerfield has played in a U.S. Open, but before this week he had never won an event on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit.

   It just proves, as Tobiason would point out after finally breaking through in the Pro-Am For Wishes at Penn Oaks Golf Club Monday, how high the talent level is in the Section.

   Tobiason shared the lead with Alex Knoll, the talented assistant pro at Bethlehem Golf Club, after Sunday’s Pro-Am round, each carding a 4-under 67 at the par-71 Penn Oaks layout, where Chester County meets Delaware County on Route 202 south of West Chester.

   Tobiason eagled the par-5 third hole and had four birdies to offset two bogeys in his sparkling opening round.

   He got off to a strong start again in Monday’s final round when he once again made eagle at the third. He had two birdies and two bogeys the rest of the way in a 2-under 69 that gave him a 6-under 136 total that was one shot better than a hard-charging Terry Hertzog, the veteran head pro at The Country Club of York.

   Hertzog, who will defend his Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship title in just more than two weeks at Concord Country Club and Whitford Country Club, trailed the co-leaders by one after an opening-round 68.

   He opened his second round with four straight birdies, but cooled off a little after that for a 2-under 69 that left him a shot behind Tobiason at 5-under 137.

   “It is truly an honor to win with all of the competition in this Section,” Tobiason told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “These professionals in this Section have game, to win out here you have to go low. I’ve played in the Pro-Am for Wishes for the past three years. It is a privilege to be in the winning circle finally.”

   Radley Run Country Club assistant pro Brett Melton, the Section’s reigning Omega Player of the Year, finished alone in third at 3-under 139 after adding a 1-under 70 to his opening round of 2-under 69. Melton had the best finish among the five Philadelphia Section pros who played all four rounds of the PGA Professional Championship at the Bayonet and Black Horse Courses on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula earlier this summer.

   Steve Swartz of Out Door Country Club finished alone in fourth at 2-under 140. He opened with a 3-under 68 before finishing up with a 1-over 72.

   Knoll couldn’t maintain his momentum from that opening-round 67 and carded a 4-over 75 in the final round to finish fifth at even-par 142. Chris Krueger, the head of instruction at Kings Creek Country Club, was a shot behind Knoll in sixth at 1-over 143 after adding an even-par 71 to his opening round of 1-over 72.

   Five players, led by The ACE Club’s Billy Stewart, winner of the Philadelphia Open earlier this summer, shared seventh place at 2-over 144. Stewart opened with a 1-under 70 before adding a 3-over 74 in the final round.

   Two of the Section’s outstanding group of senior standouts, Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster, and Dave Quinn, out of the Philmont Country Club pro shop, were also in the group at 144. Forster had a pair of 72s while Quinn backed off from a 3-under 68 in the opening round with a 5-over 76.

   Rounding out the quintet at 144 were Sunnybrook Golf Club assistant pro Andrew Turner, who played in the final group after opening with a 68, but like Quinn, struggled to a 76 in the final round, and Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel, who matched par in the final round with a 71 after opening up with a 73.

   Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, coming off a victory in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship at White Manor Country Club, headed a group of four players tied for 12^th at 3-over 145. McNabb added a 73 to his opening-round 72.

   Also in the group tied for 12^th at 145 were The Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort’s talented assistant pro Brian Bergstol, who matched par in the final round with a 71 after opening with a 74, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro Dave Pagett, who added a 72 to his opening-round 73, and Mahoning Valley Country Club’s Mike Furey, who opened with a 72 before finishing up with a 73.

Delaware 1 edges Penn State to claim title in PGA Junior League Philadelpha Section Championship

   Several of the players who have dominated the 12-and-under nine-hole division of the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour the last couple of summers were key contributors to a Delaware 1 team that captured the PGA Junior League Philadelphia Section Championship last Saturday at Cedarbrook Country Club.

   PGA Junior League is for 13-and-under youngsters playing in trios in a scramble format with three three-hole segments for a total of nine holes. It is a fast, fun format and some of the distance penalties involved in a strict application of the Rules of Golf are waived to keep it that way.

   Eight teams earned their way to Cedarbrook via qualifiers at Newark Country Club and LedgeRock Golf Club Aug. 6.

   The quarterfinals Saturday morning pitted North Philadelphia vs. Jersey Shore, Huntingdon Valley Country Club vs. Delaware 1, Lancaster 1 vs. York 2 and Flourtown vs. Penn State on Cedarbrook’s back nine.

   Delaware 1 took on Jersey Shore and Penn State battled Lancaster 1 in the semifinals on Cedarbrook’s front nine. Michael Maslanka, playing out of Rock Manor Golf Club, punctuated Delaware 1’s victory with a hole-in-one, his 9-iron at the 120-yard ninth hole at Cedarbrook ending up in the bottom of the cup.

   Delaware 1, under PGA captain Dave Seeman, edged Penn State, under PGA captain Steve Wager, 7-5, to advance to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Sept. 15 and 16 back at LedgeRock.

   It appears Seeman is involved with the junior golf program at Hartefeld National, which is not in Delaware, but you can see the First State from some of the higher elevations of the course in New Garden Township, Chester County.

   Five of the members of the Delaware 1 team came through Seeman’s junior program at Hartefeld National, including Win Thomas, Nicholas Gross, Adrian Jordan, Matthew Normand and Henry Stone.

   Thomas’ rise through the Junior Tour ranks has been nothing short of meteoric. Gross dominated the nine-holers this summer and Normand was the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Leader among the nine-holers for the 2016-’17 campaign.

   Maslanka is joined on the roster by another Rock Manor entry, Zac Antao. Rounding out the Delaware 1 team are Wilmington Country Club’s Jack Homer, who has had some strong Junior Tour showings this summer, and Jax Puskar of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club.

   The winner of the Mid-Atlantic Regional at LedgeRock will advance to the PGA Junior League Championship, presented by National Car Rental, Nov. 16 to 19 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   The Royce Brook All-Stars have dominated the Mid-Atlantic Regional, winning it four straight times. Last year Royce Brook reached the final at Grayhawk before falling to a team from Georgia.

   Anthony Latham, the PGA Director of Junior Development at Royce Brook Golf Club in north-central New Jersey, has been the PGA captain of the Royce Brook All-Stars. Like Philadelphia champion Delaware 1, last year’s Royce Brook All-Stars featured several Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour standouts, including Joshua Ryan, who made it to the PIAA Class AAA Championship as a freshman representing Norristown High last fall.

   It will be interesting to see if the Royce Brook All-Stars are at LedgeRock for the Mid-Atlantic Regional, although Ryan and several of the other standouts from last year’s team are no longer eligible.

Wilson knocks off Knapp in final to capture U.S. Senior Amateur title at Eugene

   It doesn’t happen very often at a USGA championship that a player who earns all or a share of medalist honors in qualifying takes it all the way home.

   But Jeff Wilson of Fairfield, Calif. did exactly that in this week’s U.S. Senior Amateur Championship, carrying the solid play that earned him co-medalist honors into match play and all the way to the gold medal.

   The 55-year-old Wilson, a perennial contender in USGA events dating back to his days as a junior in the late 1970s, finally earned that elusive first title Thursday, defeating defending champion Sean Knapp, the longtime western Pennsylvania amateur standout, 2 and 1, at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.

   Wilson became the first medalist or co-medalist to win the U.S. Senior Amateur crown in 31 years. When he fired a 2-under 70 to catch first-round leader Greg Condon of Monte Vista, Colo. for a share of medalist honors at 5-under 139, Wilson became the first player in USGA history to have been a qualifying medalist in the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Mid-Amateur and the U.S. Senior Amateur.

   Wilson might stand alone with that distinction for quite some time.

   Wilson, who owns a car dealership, beat the best Pennsylvania has to offer in capturing the title. He knocked off Reading’s Chip Lutz, the 2015 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, 2 and 1 in the semifinals before defeating Knapp, who, much like Wilson, finally ended a USGA drought of his own in winning the U.S. Senior Amateur crown at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis a year ago in his 40^th USGA start.

   Wilson won the match by taking three straight holes on the back nine to turn a 1-down deficit into a 2-up advantage.

   Wilson had grabbed an early lead by winning the first hole with a birdie and the fourth with a par. But Knapp battled back by winning the sixth with a par, the eighth with a birdie and the ninth with a par to take a 1-up advantage to the back nine of the 6,801-yard, par-72 Eugene layout.

   Wilson squared the match by winning the 10^th hole with a birdie, but Knapp restored his 1-up advantage by taking the 11^th with a birdie.

   That’s when Wilson went off. He nearly reached the par-5 13^th in two and won that hole with a birdie,  took the 14^th hole with a par and the 15^th with a birdie and was suddenly 2-up.

   It looked like Knapp might cut his deficit in half when his approach to the par-5 16^th left him four feet for birdie. Wilson had again nearly reached the green in two, but he chose to putt from off the green rather than chip it and left himself a nine-foot birdie putt. But he got the putt to fall and the birdie gave him a crucial half. A half at the 17^th hole closed out Knapp.

   “I think Sean said it best, it’s really hard to win one of these things,” Wilson told the USGA website. “First, you’ve got to get over yourself and then you have to beat the guy playing with you. And it’s difficult.

   “I always thought I was good enough to be a USGA champion, but I never put the work in. And that shows up when the matches are on the line. This year, I put the work in.”

   Knapp began the month by winning the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Senior Amateur title at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Militia Hill Course. Then it was off to northern California’s Monterey Peninsula, where he was probably disappointed with his rounds of 76 at the Pebble Beach Golf Links and 82 at the Spyglass Hill Golf Course and missed match play in the U.S. Amateur.

   But it was all perfect preparation for his title defense at Eugene this week. Knapp’s loss to Wilson was his first in U.S. Senior Amateur competition after 11 straight wins. Just as he had a year ago, Knapp credited his match-play success to all the experience he gained battling his Pittsburgh friend and rival Nathan Smith, the four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion.

   Look for Knapp to show up raring to give it another shot a year from now at the Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C.