If you’re an assistant pro at a busy golf operation in the
middle of summer, the one thing that you often have trouble squeezing into your
schedule is practicing and playing the game that got you into the business in
the first place.
Brian Bergstol, the talented assistant at the Shawnee Inn
& Golf Resort, does most of his practicing right before he tees it up in a
Philadelphia Section PGA event and then tries to work himself into the round.
After a slow start in Friday’s Doylestown Open at Doylestown
Country Club, Bergstol got it going on his way to a 5-under-par 67. Bergstol was
caught by Benjamen Schlesman, an assistant pro at Manufacturers Golf &
Country Club who matched Bergstol’s 5-under 67 to force a playoff for the
title.
The two returned to the 18th tee and both were
just short of the green in two. It was Bergstol who was able to get it up and
down for a birdie that gave him the win. It was Bergstol’s first points win in
the Omega Player of the Year chase, which is presented by the Haverford Trust
Company. The Doylestown Open was the seventh points event of the year.
After starting slowly, Bergstol picked up his first birdie
of the day at the par-4 sixth hole then quickly added two more birdies in the
last three holes of the outgoing nine to make the turn at 3-under. He fell back
to 1-under with bogeys at the 10th and 12th holes, but
then ripped off birdies at the 13th, 14th and 15th
holes before closing with a birdie at the par-5 finishing hole to get in at
5-under.
“I haven’t been playing that well recently,” Bergstol told
the Philadelphia Section PGA website., “I have been very inconsistent with my
driver and the only time I have been able to practice is during events. Today I
was able to recover nicely from some of those poor drives and made some putts,
which helped a lot.”
Schlesman had eight birdies in his round, four on each side,
but he made a bogey on the front nine and two more on the incoming nine, which
left him in a tie with Bergstol. Still, it was a solid runnerup finish for Schlesman,
in his second season working in the Philadelphia Section.
Michael Little of Lookaway Golf Club, the current leader in
the Omega Player of the Year points race, had grabbed the early lead with a
4-under 68, but had to settle for a third-place finish. Little was the
Philadelphia Section’s Omega Player of the Year in 2016.
Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro Dave Pagett and
Nathalie Filler, an assistant pro at Philadelphia Cricket Club, shared fourth
place, each carding a 3-under 69.
Nine players – four of whom come out of the Overbrook Golf
Club pro shop – finished in a tie for sixth place at 2-under 70.
Eric Kennedy, the head pro at Overbrook, and three of his
assistants, Trevor Bensel, Ashley Grier and Matt Cocco, each landed on 70.
Bensel was coming off a victory in the GALV Lehigh Valley Open, defeating
Kennedy on the third hole of a playoff to take the title.
Alex Knoll of Blue Shamrock Golf Club was also in the group
at 2-under. Knoll had the best finish among the Philadelphia Section PGA contingent
that teed it up in the PGA Professional Championship at Belfair in Bluffton,
S.C. in the spring, ending up among the group tied for 33rd.
Rounding out the large group tied for sixth were Sunnybrook
Golf Club assistant pro Andrew Turner, Dave Quinn of Laurel Creek Country Club,
Greg Matthias of Tavistock Country Club and Travis Diebert of host Doylestown
Country Club.
The 2-under 70 by Laurel Creek’s Quinn gave him the top spot
in the senior division.
Greg Farrow, the head pro at Deerwood Country Club, matched
par with a 72 to claim the top spot in the super-senior division.
North Hills Country Club’s Jack Connelly, a past president
of the PGA of America, and Bill Sautter of Philadelphia Cricket Club shared
second place, each posting a 3-over 75.
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