Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club, capped a
summer surge by capturing the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship for
the first time in his career, making birdies at the last two holes to edge Stu
Ingraham, the head of instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, in a
tight two-man battle down the stretch Friday at Concord Country Club.
Stewart and Ingraham will head an 11-man and one-woman
contingent out of the Philadelphia Section PGA to the PGA Professional
Championship, presented by Club Car and OMEGA, next spring at Belfair in
Bluffton, S.C.
It will be the 31st PGA of America national
championship appearance for the 58-year-old Ingraham and the fourth for the 34-year-old
Stewart, who will also represent the Philadelphia Section in the National Car
Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship in November at the PGA Golf
Club’s Wannamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The birdies at 17 and 18 gave Stewart, who starred
scholastically at Malvern Prep and collegiately at Saint Joseph’s University, a
1-under-par 70 over the 6,650-yard, par-71 Concord layout and a 54-hole total
of 7-under 207. The three-day event included a round at Whitford Country Club.
Ingraham, the Philadelphia Section’s eight-time reigning
Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, began the day trailing Stewart
by three shots. He carded a second straight 3-under 68 at Concord for a 6-under
208 total.
Brian Hollins, out of the Links Golf Club pro shop, closed
with the best round of the day, 5-under 66 to finish three shots behind Ingraham in third at 3-under
211. Merion Golf Club head of instruction Mark Sheftic posted a 1-under 70 to
finish a shot behind Hollins in fourth at 2-under 212 and Whitford head pro
Mike Ladden was the only other player to finish 54 holes under par as he carded
a 3-under 68 to end up a shot behind Sheftic in fifth at 1-under 213.
Stewart showed remarkable patience while making a bogey at
eight and 15 pars through 16 holes to stand at 5-under standing on the 17th
tee at Concord.
Ingraham, meanwhile, actually got a nose in front when he
made a birdie at the 12th, his fourth of the day, that got him to
6-under, a shot ahead of Stewart. A bogey at 16 dropped Ingraham back into a
tie with Stewart at 5-under and Stewart finally got his first birdie of the day
at the 17th hole to take a one-shot advantage to the par-5 18th.
Ingraham matched Stewart’s birdie at the last, but it left
him a shot short of forcing a playoff for the title. Three summers ago Ingraham
finished in a tie for second behind Stewart in the Pennsylvania Open at Rolling
Green Golf Club.
Earlier this summer, Stewart captured his first Philadelphia
Open title in a three-man playoff at St. Davids Golf Club. It was a title he
had competed for many times in his career, dating back to his amateur days, and
he admitted it was one he really coveted.
It was certainly the same for the Philadelphia PGA
Professional Championship. Nobody knows better than Stewart how deep the talent
runs in the Philadelphia Section and to capture its signature championship was
an important box to check on his to-do list.
There was a tournament within the tournament at Concord
Friday with the battle for the 12 tickets to Belfair next spring. The top 20
finishers in the PGA Professional Championship earn a berth in the PGA
Championship, which moves to the spring next year and will be played at
Bethpage State Park’s Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y. on Long Island.
Three of the Section’s veterans got in as defending champion
Terry Hertzog, the head pro at The Country Club of York, Spring-Ford Country
Club head pro Rich Steinmetz and Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George
Forster were among four players tied for sixth at even-par 214.
Hertzog, whose victory a year ago at Laurel Creek Country
Club was his third Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship win, fired a
1-under 70, Steinmetz, who has won this championship four times, matched par
with a 71 and the amazing Forster, at 62, fired a 1-under 70.
They were joined at even-par 214 by Philadelphia Cricket
Club assistant pro Rusty Harbold, who finished up with a 1-under 70.
Five players finished tied for 10th at 1-over
215, but only three tickets to Belfair remained. Pretty sure there was a
playoff, but what I do know is that the final three berths in the PGA
Professional Championship went to Alex Knoll of Bethlehem Golf Club, Mark
Anderson, Harbold’s colleague in the Cricket Club pro shop, and Overbrook Golf
Club assistant pro Ashley Grier, the Section’s top female player.
Knoll and Anderson each carded a 1-over 72 in the final
round while Grier posted a 2-over 73.
The first two alternates are Mike Little of Lookaway Golf
Club and Scott Reilly, the head pro at Philadelphia Country Club, both of whom
also finished at 1-over 215. Little matched par in the final round with a 71
while Reilly closed fast with a 3-under 68.
The other alternates were players who finished at 2-over 216, including Chris Krueger of Kings
Creek Golf Club, Tony Perla, the head
pro at LedgeRock Golf Club and Dave Quinn of Philmont Country Club. Krueger had
a final round of 1-over 72, Perla posted a 2-over 73 and Quinn signed for a
4-over 75.
Stewart, Ingraham, Sheftic, Hertzog, Steinmetz and Knoll
will be making return trips to the PGA Professional Championship, having
represented the Philadelphia Section at this year’s championship, which was
held at the Bayonet and Black Horse Courses on northern California’s Monterey
Peninsula.
Stewart and Knoll survived two cuts and played in all four
rounds at Bayonet and Black Horse.
Ingraham has advanced out of the PGA Professional Championship
to the PGA Championship six times in his amazing career, Sheftic has done it
three times and Steinmetz has made it twice.
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