Kempa heads Philadelphia Section contingent with 73 in opening round of Assistant PGA Professional Championship

   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 42^nd 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 39^th 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 54^th.

   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 12^th 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 75^th, 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 113^th. 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 10^th 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 16^th 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.