Anybody who’s ever been around a golf course a lot in the
summer knows that a lot of the hard work is being done by the assistant pros.
They are often there from dawn to dusk six days a week, and
yes, sometimes seven if there’s an outing or a tournament to run, making sure
that the golfers are having the best possible experience they can have at that
particular assistant pro’s golf course.
So it’s nice to see some of the assistants get a day “out of
the office” with their bosses at last week’s Philadelphia Section PGA Pro-Assistant
Pro Championship held at the Stockton Seaview Resort’s Bay and Pines courses in
Galloway Township, N.J.
Two teams shared top honors at the 6,330-yard, par-71 Bay
Course, home to the ShopRite LPGA Classic each year, as David Clark and Matt
Episcopo of Pine Valley Golf Club and Paul Viola and Alex Knoll of Bethlehem
Golf Club each carded a 6-under 65 in the better-ball-of-partners event.
Knoll is having a really good year on the golf course,
including representing the Philadelphia Section in the PGA Professional
Championship in June at the Bayonet and Back Horse Courses on northern
California’s Monterey Peninsula, where he survived two cuts and played all four
rounds.
Clark and assistant pro David Sandberg were one of four
teams that finished tied for third at 5-under 66. Also in the group tied for
third were the Berkshire Country Club duo of Tom Michaels and Blake Scheider,
the Indian Springs Country Club pair of Bob Hennefer and Curtis Kirkpatrick and
the Radley Run Country Club tandem of John Kellogg and Shawn Hall.
Six teams ended up in a tie for seventh at 4-under 67,
including Berkshire’s Michaels and Ben Bewley, Indian Springs’ Hennefer and
Brett Fernandes, two teams captained by Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club
head pro Bob Fritz, one with Andrew Diesel and one with Tom Fenstermacher, Eric
Schultz and Andrew Turner from the Sunnybrook Golf Club pro shop and Eric
Kennedy and Matthew Cocco of Overbrook Golf Club.
Kennedy teamed with three more of his assistants to account for
half the six teams tied for 13th at 3-under 68, including Trevor Bensel,
David Zimmaro and Ashley Grier, who represented the Philadelphia Section PGA at
the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship earlier this summer at Kemper Lakes Golf Club
in suburban Chicago.
Also in the group at 3-under 68 were another Berkshire entry
of Michaels and Kyler Harvey, another Manufacturers team comprised of Fritz and
Ben Schlesman and the Shawnee Resort & Spa tandem of Alexander McCann and
Chris Filing.
The LedgeRock Golf Club pair of Tony Perla and Tim Beegle
topped the field at the 6,420-yard, par-71 Pines Course with a 6-under 65.
Perla and Beegle edged the Tavistock Country Club tandem of
Pat Butkus and Greg Mathias, who has been one of the hottest golfers on the
Philadelphia Section PGA circuit this summer, by a shot as Butkus and Mathias
posted a 5-under 66.
Perla and another of his LedgeRock assistants, Tyler
Schemick, were one of three groups that finished tied for third at 4-under 67.
Another entry from the Tavistock pro shop, Butkus and Brad Sanders, and the
North Hills Country Club duo of Shawn Matthews and Kerry Fitzpatrick were the
other two groups tied for third at 4-under 67.
Joe Kogelman and a couple of his guys from the GolfTEC shop
in Moorestown, N.J., Jonathan Trauner and Robert Carbone, accounted for two of
the teams tied for sixth at 3-under 68. Joining them at that figure were The
Peninsula pair of Donald DeMasters and Jesse Williams and the Saucon Valley
Country Club tandem of Charlie Schuyler and Chris Duckett.
Kogelman and another member of his GolfTEC Moorestown crew,
Francis Diodato, and Schuyler and another of his Saucon Valley assistants, Doug
Sutter, were among four teams that finished tied for 10th at 2-under
69.
Also landing at 2-under 69 were the Philadelphia Country
Club pair of Scott Reilly and Andrew Zimmerman and the Bidermann Golf Club
tandem of Anthony Malizia and Michael Caldwell.
Saucon Valley head pro Schuyler captained four more teams
that were part of a nine-team logjam tied for 14th at 1-under 70.
Schuyler joined with Ryan McLean, Mike Wood, Joe Doughty and Nick Concutelli as
each pair came in at 1-under.
North Hills’ Matthews and two more of his assistants, John
Boyd and Jack Connelly – and I’m guessing that that is the Jack Connelly, past president of the PGA of America – were also
in the group tied for 14th. Blue Bell Country Club head pro Joey
Pohle got two teams in at 1-under 70, one with Rick Pohle and another with
Tyler Yearley.
Rounding out the group tied for 14th at 1-under
70 was the Lancaster Country Club pair of Rick Gibson and Mark Vogle.
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