The Philadelphia Section PGA wrapped up its schedule of Omega
Player of Year points events with its Match Play Championship, which concluded
Wednesday at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club.
Wednesday’s final pitted the last two Omega Player of the
Year winners while the identity of this year’s Omega Player of the Year was
solidified by the results of the week.
Michael Little, the Lookaway Golf Club pro and 2016 Omega
Player of the Year, defeated Radley Run Country Club assistant pro Brett
Melton, the 2017 Omega Player of the Year, 2-up to capture the title.
Melton reached the final by defeating Billy Stewart, an
assistant pro at The ACE Club, 2-up in the semifinals. Melton was one of the two
players Stewart defeated in a four-hole aggregate playoff to capture the
Philadelphia Open title at St. Davids Golf Club in July.
By reaching the semifinals, though, Billy the Kid clinched
the Omega Player of the Year award for 2018. It’s been a strong last four
months or so for Stewart, a Malvern Prep and Saint Joseph’s University product.
He followed up his Philadelphia Open victory by winning the Philadelphia PGA Professional
Championship last month at Concord Country Club.
Little faced an equally formidable opponent in Wednesday
morning’s semifinals as he claimed a 3 and 1 victory over Spring-Ford Country
Club head pro Rich Steinmetz to reach the title match.
Little jumped out to 4-up lead over Melton with just five
holes to play in the final, but Melton put up quite a fight. Melton won the 15th,
16th and 17th holes to cut Little’s lead to just 1-up
heading to the 18th tee.
But needing to win the hole just to send the match to extra
holes, Melton three-putted and Little had the win.
In Tuesday afternoon’s quarterfinals, Little reached the
semifinals with a 4 and 2 victory over Chester Valley Golf Club assistant pro
Zachary Kempa, the winner of the National Car Rental Philadelphia Assistant PGA
Professional Championship in the summer. Kempa grabbed that title with an
impressive 8-under 63 in the final round at Laurel Creek Country Club.
Kempa had pulled out a second-round victory Monday afternoon
over a tough opponent in Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Merion Golf
Club, in 19 holes.
Melton reached the semifinals with a 4 and 3 victory over
Waynesborough Country Club assistant pro Zac Oakley, who has been playing solid
golf throughout 2018. Oakley dismantled Stu Ingraham, an instructor at the M
Golf Range in Newtown Square and the Section’s eight-time reigning Robert
“Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, 8 and 7, in Tuesday morning's round of 16.
Most of Ingraham’s fellow senior standouts in the Section
were teeing it up in this week’s Senior PGA Professional Championship at the
PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. For some reason, probably some kind of
scheduling conflict or a minor injury, Ingraham did not tee it up in the
Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship, the qualifier for the
national Senior Club Pro.
Ingraham battled Stewart to the finish in the Philadelphia
PGA Professional Championship at Concord.
Stewart, Kempa and Oakley will head the Philadelphia Section
contingent in next month’s National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional
Championship at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Stewart finished in a tie for fifth in that event last year.
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