Hey, at least you
could play golf somewhere Thursday and I’m sure all the assistant pros from the
Northeast were happy they were in Florida when they heard about the nightmare
commutes their friends and family back home were experiencing as our worst year
of weather ever continued with a little week-before-Thanksgiving snowstorm.
Chester Valley Golf Club assistant pro Zachary Kempa headed
a group of five Philadelphia Section PGA pros competing in the 42nd National
Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship with a 1-over-par 73 in
Thursday’s opening round at PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie,
Fla.
Kempa, who captured the Philadelphia Assistant PGA
Championship in the summer with a brilliant 8-under 63 in the second round at
Laurel Creek Country Club, is tied for 39th and seven shots out of
the lead held by Kenny Pigman, an assistant pro at Goose Creek Golf Club in
Mira Loma, Calif. who fired a 6-under 66.
The Assistant PGA Professional Championship is also
supported by Srixon, Cleveland Golf, XXIO, GolfAdvisor.com and John Deere.
Kempa teed off on No. 10 at the Wanamaker Course and toured
the back nine with birdies at 10 and 11 and no bogeys for a 2-under 34. Bogeys
at three, five and six on the outgoing nine left him at 1-over.
Billy Stewart, an assistant pro at The ACE Club, is a shot
behind Kempa after posting a roller-coaster round of 2-over 74 that left him in
the group tied for 54th.
Stewart, the Philadelphia Section’s 2018 Omega Player of the
Year, birdied the first hole, made bogey at the second and fourth holes,
birdied the fifth and bogeyed the ninth to make the turn at 1-over 37. He got
back to even-par with a birdie at the 12th before bogeys at 14 and
15 dropped him back to 2-over.
Stewart, who captured the Philadelphia PGA Professional
Championship at Concord Country Club in September, came on strong in the final
round to finish tied for fifth in his first trip to the Assistant PGA
Professional Championship a year ago at the Wanamaker Course.
The field will be cut to the low 70 and ties following
Friday’s second round. Kempa and Stewart are the only Philadelphia Section
players inside the projected cut line after Thursday’s opening round.
But the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Rusty Harbold and
Waynesborough Country Club’s Zac Oakley both landed on 4-over 76 and are in the
group tied for 75th, so both are very much in with a chance to stick
around for the weekend.
It was a rough day for Brian Bergstol of the Shawnee Inn and
Golf Resort, who carded an 80 and is in the group tied for 113th.
Bergstol had been playing some good golf late in the Philadelphia Section
schedule, including a sizzling 8-under 64 on his home course that gave him a
runaway victory in the Shawnee Open.
The 30-year-old Pigman, the 2014 Assistant PGA Professional Championship runnerup, had a
couple of runs of three straight birdies as he grabbed a two shot lead after
the opening round.
His opening tee shot on the 10th hole got stuck
in a palm tree and all he could do was whack it out. But he got up and down for
a bogey. Then he got rolling.
Pigman, playing in the Assistant PGA Professional
Championship for the fourth time, followed up the bogey with birdies at 11, 12
and 13. A birdie at the 16th left him at 3-under heading for the
front nine. He again ripped off three straight birdies at the first, second and
third holes and added another at the seventh to get it to 7-under before making
a bogey at the eighth.
Heading a group of six players tied for second at 4-under 68
is Josh Rackley, an assistant pro at Tam O’Shanter Golf Club in Glen Head, N.Y.
Rackley was one of the top players in the Philadelphia Section during his time
at Gulph Mills Golf Club.
Rackley was the low pro in the 2015 Philadelphia Open at the
Philadelphia Cricket Club when he was the runnerup to Brandon Matthews, the
former Temple standout who is playing professionally on the Web.com Tour these
days.
Also in the group at 4-under 68 is three-time winner Frank Bensel
of Century Country Club in Jupiter, Fla. Bensel won the Assistant PGA
Professional Championship in 2010, ’11 and ’13.
Rounding out the group at 4-under 68 were Anthony Casolino
of Scarsdale Golf Club in Hartsdale, N.Y., Colin Van Es of Providence Golf Club
in Davenport, Fla., who was making his first appearance in the Assistant PGA
Professional Championship, Steven Delmar of Columbia Country Club in Chevy
Chase, Md. and Matthew Belizze of Southward Ho Country Club in Bay Shore, N.Y.
The top assistant pros from around the country are playing
for a top prize of $12,000 out of a total purse of $150,000. The winner earns a
berth in next spring’s PGA Professional Championship, which tees off April 28
at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C.
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