Breaking a course record anywhere is always a nice
accomplishment. But there’s breaking the course record and then there’s
breaking the 78-year-old course record held by Sam Snead by two shots.
That’s what Alex Knoll of Glen Brook Golf Club did Tuesday
in the opening round of the 98th Philadelphia PGA Professional
Championship.
Knoll, with a remarkable 6-under par burst over a seven-hole
stretch on the back nine, fired a sizzling 8-under-par 62 at the Union League
Golf Club at Torresdale, the Donald Ross classic that was known as
Torresdale-Frankford before the Union League took over the course a few years
ago. Snead had established the course record with a 64 in 19 and 41. Somewhere,
Slammin’ Sammy probably isn’t happy about it, either.
The tidbit about the course record came from a Philadelphia
Section PGA tweet. If you don’t follow the Philadelphia Section PGA on Twitter,
you probably should.
The 54-hole event is also being contested at Riverton
Country Club across the Delaware River in New Jersey. But other than Knoll’s
round, the par-70 Torresdale layout played the tougher of the two courses. Of
the top 18 players on the leaderboard, 16 of them played Riverton Tuesday.
Everybody switches courses for Wednesday’s second round.
There’s a cut after 36 holes and pretty sure the slimmed-down field plays just
Torresdale in Thursday’s final round.
The top finishers in the Philadelphia PGA Professional
Championship will earn a ticket to next spring’s PGA Professional Championship,
which will be played at the Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas.
Knoll was the top finisher among the Philadelphia Section
PGA contingent at last spring’s PGA Professional Championship, finishing in a
tie for 33rd at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C. Knoll, however, missed out
on a ticket to the PGA Championship, which goes to the top finishers in the
National Club Pro.
Knoll will hold a five-shot lead as he heads for Riverton
for Round 2 Wednesday. He probably left a lot of talented Philadelphia Section
PGA pros trying to figure out how he manhandled a course that played so tough
for everybody else.
I’m not positive Knoll started on No. 1, but he had a
relatively quiet front nine with birdies at the second and fourth holes.
Starting with an eagle at the 10th hole, Knoll
really got it going. He birdied the 12th and 13th holes
and then went back-to-back again at 15 and 16. There’s your 6-under burst in a
seven-hole stretch. Knoll actually made a bogey at the 17th hole
before making a birdie at the last for a remarkable 30 on Torresdale’s incoming
nine.
A couple of the Philadelphia Section’s veterans, Stu
Ingraham, an instructor at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square, and Spring Ford
Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz, were joined by Dave Fields, the head pro
at Brookside Country Club in Macungie, in a tie for second as all three
registered a 3-under 68 at the par-71 Riverton layout.
Ingraham has played in 31 PGA of America national events and
has reached the PGA Championship six times via the National Club Pro. Steinmetz
has played in the PGA Championship at least twice and it might be three times.
Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club, coming off a victory in
last week’s TaylorMade Classic at Laurel Creek Country Club, fired a 2-under 69
at Riverton and headed a group of four players tied for fifth.
Joining Kelly at 2-under – and they all carded 69s at
Riverton – were Dustin Wallis of Dustin Wallis Golf, Brendon Post, an assistant
coach and director of player development for the Delaware program, and John
Ambrose of Chester Valley Golf Club.
Defending champion Billy Stewart, an instructor at The ACE
Club, headed a group of five more players tied for ninth at 1-under and, again,
all five players carded a 70 at Riverton.
Also posting a 70 at Riverton was John Pillar, the director
of golf at the Country Club of Woodloch Springs who captured the Philadelphia
Senior PGA Professional Championship last month at Applebrook Golf Club.
Rounding out the group at 1-under were John Bierkan, the
head of instruction at Aronimink Golf Club, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head
pro Dave Padgett and Pat Butkus out of the Tavistock Country Club pro shop.
The next best score at Torresdale behind Knoll’s 62 was an
even-par 70 carded by Rusty Harbold, an assistant pro at Philadelphia Cricket
Club. That left Harbold tied with four other players, all of whom posted a 71
at Riverton, at even-par.
Radnor Valley Country Club’s ageless head pro, 63-year-old
George Forster, was one of the players at even-par after carding a 71 at
Riverton. Forster won the biggest prize offered in a PGA of America Section
event, the $100,000 top prize in the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic, when
he captured the title earlier this month at Sunnybrook Golf Club.
Kelly, Pillar and Forster will represent the Philadelphia
Section in next month’s Senior PGA Professional Championship at the Omni Barton
Creek Resort.
Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel, who
captured last month’s National Car Rental Philadelphia Assistant PGA
Professional Championship at Chester Valley Club, also matched par at Riverton
to join the fivesome tied for 14th place.
Rounding out the group tied for 14th at even-par
were Chris Krueger of Kings Creek Country Club and Ron Pine of Aronimink.
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