Applebrook's McNabb tied for 16th with 69 after opening round of Senior PGA Professional Championship

   Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, winner of the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship, opened the Senior PGA Professional Championship, supported by GolfAdvisor.com and  John Deere, Thursday with a 3-under-par 69 at the PGA Golf Club’s Ryder Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   That left McNabb, a runnerup in the 2017 PGA Professional Championship in Sunriver, Ore., in a tie for 16^th in a field of the top senior club professionals from all around the country. The top 35 finishers at this week’s Senior PGA Professional Championship will earn a ticket to the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship next May at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y.

   The player who beat McNabb in a playoff to capture the PGA Professional Championship at Sunriver, Omar Uresti, a former PGA Tour pro from Austin, Texas, is one of three players tied for the lead after the opening round after he fired an 8-under 64 at the Ryder Club.

   The two other co-leaders, Bob Sowards, an instructor at Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club in Powell, Ohio, and Dan Olsen of Quail Creek Country Club in in Robinson, Ill., also reached 8-under with 64s at the Ryder Course.

   McNabb headed up an eight-man contingent of Philadelphia Section pros in the field at the PGA Golf Club.

   Pretty sure the 51-year-old McNabb, who has qualified for the PGA Championship three times out of the PGA Professional Championship, started on No. 1 Thursday and got off to a shaky start with a bogey at the first and a double bogey at the second.

   But McNabb proceeded to birdie seven of the next 12 holes to get to 4-under before making a bogey at the last to fall back to 3-under.

   Philmont Country Club’s Dave Quinn and John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, were both among the group tied for 34^th at 2-under. Quinn’s 70 came at the Wanamaker Course while Pillar recorded his 70 at the Ryder Course.

   Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster, who is playing in this championship for, I believe, the 13^th straight time, and Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club are among the group tied for 54^th at 1-under. Forster’s 71 came at the Wanamaker Course while Kelly posted a 71 at the Ryder Course.

   Also in that group tied for 54^th at 1-under is Gene Fieger, an instructor at Club Pelican Bay in Naples, Fla. who once dominated the Philadelphia Section when he was an assistant pro at Overbrook Golf Club in the 1990s. Fieger’s 71 came at the Ryder Course.

   Concord Country Club head pro Mike Moses and John Allen out of the Huntingdon Valley Country Club pro shop are among the group tied for 199^th at 5-over 77. Both played at the Wanamaker Course Thursday.

   John Appleget, an instructor at The Shore Club in Cape May Court House, N.J., is in the group tied for 218^th after he carded a 6-over 78 at the Wanamaker Course.

   The field will switch courses for Round 2 Friday and the field will be cut after 36 holes. The final 36 holes will be played at the Wanamaker Course. There will be a second cut following Saturday’s third round.

   Sowards had eight birdies and no bogeys while Uresti ad Olsen each featured nine birdies against a lone bogey on their cards.

   Three players are tied for fourth, three shots behind the top three, at 5-under.

   Rich Morton of Rock Creek Golf & Country Club in Jacksonville, N.C. and Stuart Smith of Somersett Golf and Country Club in Reno, Nev. got to 5-under by each carding a 67 at the Wanamaker Course. Mike San Filippo, a two-time winner of this championship from Hobe Sound, Fla., posted a 67 at the Ryder Course.