To hear Stu Ingraham, the 59-year-old instructor at the M
Golf Range & Learning Center in Newtown Square, tell it, he was just
feeling it.
Ingraham fired an efficient 5-under-par 65 over the Coore
Crenshaw Cliffside Course at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin,
Texas and was part of a three-way tie for third place Thursday after the
opening round of the 31st Senior PGA Professional Championship,
supported by The Golf Channel and John Deere.
Ingraham, playing in his 38th PGA of America
championship (I’ve been shorting him six in some of my recent posts) made
birdies at the first, seventh, ninth, 12th and 14th holes
with nary a bogey on his card over the par-70 Cliffside Course.
“I think golf’s about knowledge, relaxation and feel,”
Ingraham, playing in his ninth Senior PGA Professional Championship, told the
PGA of America website. “And I had it today. I had to feel, I had to flow.
Something about today, I had a neat feel. I wasn’t ever close to a bogey.”
Ingraham was the first alternate out of the Philadelphia
Senior PGA Professional Championship at Applebrook Golf Club in August. But he
got in and he’s making the most of the opportunity.
Ingraham will play his second round Friday at the par-72
Fazio Foothills Course and looks like a pretty good bet to survive the cut to
the low 90 and ties. There will be another cut to the low 70 and ties following
the third round.
The top 35 finishers will earn a berth in next May’s
KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich. The
Senior PGA, a major on the PGA Tour Champions, is the oldest national senior professional
event. It was staged long before the advent of the PGA Tour Champions in the
early 1980s.
The lead following the opening round of the Senior PGA
Professional Championship belongs to Met Section veteran Frank Bensel Jr., an
assistant pro at Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y. and a three-time winner
of the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship.
Bensel fired a wild 7-under 65 at the Foothills Course to
take a one-shot lead over John Aber, the head pro at Allegheny Country Club in
Sewickley, Pa. Aber’s 6-under 64 was the best score of the day at the Cliffside
Course.
Bensel, starting on the back nine at the Foothills Course,
opened his round with bogeys at the 10th and 11th holes.
After seeming to right the ship with a birdie at the 12th hole,
Bensel made another bogey at the 13th hole.
But then he drilled a 4-iron to 12 feet at the par-5 15th
hole and made the putt for eagle. Boom, even-par. And then he drew a 6-iron at
the par-3 17th hole and the ball found the bottom of the cup for a
hole-in-one and his second eagle in a three-hole span. Boom, 2-under.
Bensel proceeded to birdie five of his last six holes, the
fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth, on the Foothills Course’s outgoing nine
to get it to 7-under.
Joining Ingraham at 3-under were Jeff Whitfield of The
Quarry at Crystal Springs Golf Club in Maryland Heights, Mo. and Gus Ulrich Jr.
of Pinewilds Country Club in Pinehurst in North Carolina, both of whom carded a
5-under 67 at the Foothills Course.
Another member of the contingent representing the
Philadelphia Section PGA, the Country Club of York’s Terry Hertzog, also got
off to a good start with a 3-under 69 at the Foothills Course. That left him in
the group tied for 13th place.
Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club and Dave Quinn of Laurel
Creek Country Club each posted a 1-under 71 at the Foothills Course and both
are among the group tied for 39th place. Kelly earned a trip to last
spring’s Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course in
Pittsford, N.Y. as an alternate out of last year’s Senior PGA Professional
Championship at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
George Forster, the 63-years young head pro at Radnor Valley
Country Club, carded an even-par 72 at the Foothills Course that left him in
the group tied for 57th place. Forster hit the jackpot when he won
the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic and its $100,000 top prize the day after
Labor Day at Sunnybrook Golf Club.
Eddie Perrino of the Eagle Lodge Resort carded a 74 at the
Foothills Course and Bob Lennon of Wilmington Country Club posted a 72 at the
Cliffside Course and both are among a group of players tied for 107th
place at 2-under.
It was a tough day for John Pillar, the director of golf at
the Country Club at Woodloch Springs and the winner of the Philadelphia Senior
PGA Professional Championship at Applebrook. Pillar signed for a 6-over 78 at
the Foothills Course that left him among the group tied for 210th
place.
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