Harbold fires 68 at Whitford, leads Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship field by a shot

   Rusty Harbold, out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, emerged with a 4-under-par 68 in a wild round at Whitford Country Club Wednesday to grab a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.

   The 54-hole championship, contested at Whitford and Concord Country Club the first two days, was originally scheduled to start Tuesday, but the remnants of Hurricane Florence dropped enough water on the two courses to prompt Philadelphia Section PGA officials to push back the start of their signature event.

   Round 2 will be held Thursday with players switching courses. The players who teed it up at the 6,655-yard, par-72 Whitford layout Wednesday will take on the 6,650-yard, par-71 Concord layout Thursday and vice versa. There will be a cut following Thursday’s second round with the survivors teeing it up in the final round Friday at Concord.

   The top 12 finishers advance to the PGA Professional Championship, presented by Club Car and OMEGA, at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C., which tees off April 28 of next year. The top 20 finishers at Belfair earn a ticket to the PGA Championship, which for the first time since the early 1970s, will not be the last major professional championship in 2019 as it will tee off May 16 at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y. on Long Island.

   So, in a very real way, the road that could lead to Bethpage Black began Wednesday at Whitford and Concord.

   Bob Henefer, the director of golf at Indian Spring Country Club, also fired a 68 Wednesday, but it was Concord, so at 3-under he trails Harbold by a shot. Henefer was the Philadelphia Section’s Golf Professional of the Year in 2017.

   Brett Melton, an assistant pro at Radley Run Country Club and the Section’s reigning OMEGA Player of the Year, heads a trio of players tied for third at 2-under after he carded a 69 at Concord.

   Melton headed a group of five players out of the Philadelphia Section who survived two cuts at the PGA Professional Championship and played four rounds at the Bayonet and Black Horse Resort on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula. Melton finished one shot out of a playoff for the final five berths to this year’s PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Mo., outside of St. Louis.

   Hugo Mazzalupi of Patriots Glen National Golf Club matched Melton’s 2-under 69 at Concord to join the group tied for third. Dave Quinn of Philmont Country Club, one of the Section’s top senior pros, reached 2-under with a 70 at Whitford.

   Eight more players – four with 71s at Whitford and four with 70s at Concord – are in a large group tied for sixth at 1-under, just four shots off Harbold’s lead.

   The first and 10^th tees are often utilized for big fields like this and I’m not really sure where Harbold started at Whitford, but it was a crazy round that featured nine birdies, five bogeys and just four pars.

   If Harbold did start on No. 1, then he ripped off four straight birdies from No. 9 through No. 12.

   Either way, the front deserves a little recap all its own. Harbold birdied the first, then bogeyed two and three, birdied the fourth, bogeyed the sixth, birdied the seventh, bogeyed the eighth and birdied the ninth. The lone par on the fifth must have seemed boring by comparison.

   It added up to an even-par 36 on the outgoing nine at Whitford, but again that might have been his finish.

   Harbold really got it going on the back nine as he ripped off three straight birdies at 10, 11 and 12, somehow strung together three straight pars at 13, 14 and 15, birdied 16, bogeyed 17 and birdied 18 for a 32 on Whitford’s incoming nine.

   Heading the eight-player logjam tied for sixth at 1-under is Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club who prevailed in a playoff that included Radley Run’s Melton for the Philadelphia Open title earlier this summer. Stewart carded a 70 at Concord.

   Matching Stewart’s 70 at Concord were Alex Knoll of Bethlehem Golf Club, Chris Krueger of Kings Creek Country Club and Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel.

   Merion Golf Club’s head of instruction Mark Sheftic, who has taken the PGA Professional Championship route to the PGA Championship three times in his career, headed the group of four players who reached 1-under by carding a 71 at Whitford.

   Matching Sheftic’s 71 at Whitford were Sunnybrook Golf Club assistant pro Andrew Turner, Brendon Post, an assistant coach and director of player development for the Delaware golf program, and Rob Shuey of Colonial Golf Club.

   Like Melton, Stewart, Knoll and Post each played four rounds in the PGA Professional Championship at Bayonet and Black Horse earlier this year.

   Eight more players – five with 72s at Whitford and three with 71s at Concord – are tied for 14^th at even par.

   Heading the group that matched par with a 72 at Whitford is Concord head pro Mike Moses. You’d have to like Moses’ chances to make the cut as heads for round 2 at a Concord course where he has been the head pro for 23 years.

   Also carding a 72 at Whitford was Stu Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square who has taken the PGA Professional Championship route to the PGA Championship six times in his remarkable career. Ingraham is the eight-time reigning Philadelphia Section PGA Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year.

   Three other players matched par with a 72 at Whitford, including Stonewall head pro Ryan Lagergren, Jaime Gylan of the Royal Manchester Golf Links and Jakob Gerney of Trump National Golf Philadelphia.

   Three more players joined the logjam tied for 14^th at even-par by carding a 71 at Concord, including Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club, Jeff  Fick of Chapel Hill Golf Club and Terry Hatch of Hidden Valley Golf Club.