Rusty Harbold, playing out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club
pro shop, headed the Philadelphia Section PGA contingent in the opening round
of the 43rd National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional
Championship, which teed off Thursday at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course
in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The 37-year-old Harbold carded a 2-over-par 74 over the
Wanamaker Course layout and is among the group tied for 39th place.
The field for the Assistant PGA Professional Championship, which is supported
by Srixon/Cleveland Golf/XXIO, Golf Advisor and John Deere, will be cut to the
low 70 and ties following Friday’s second round.
Harbold was one of two players who shared low Philly Section
honors last year at the PGA Golf Club as he finished in a tie for 30th
place at 4-over 292. He got off to a tough start Thursday, making a double
bogey at the first hole.
Harbold made a birdie at the fourth hole and a bogey at the
seventh hole to make the turn at 2-over. A birdie at the 12th hole
and a bogey at the 17th hole left Harbold at 2-over.
The lead after the opening round belongs to Zach Johnson and
no, not that Zach Johnson. This Zach Johnson works at the Davis Rock Golf
Course outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. and he opened with a sparkling 5-under
67 to take a one-shot lead over Matt Rachey, an assistant coach at Minnesota,
where he was a standout player.
The 36-year-old Johnson started on the back nine at the
Wanamaker Course and proceeded to light up the incoming nine with birdies at
the 10th, 12th, 15th and 16th holes
for a 4-under 32. Following the birdie at 16, Johnson rattled off nine straight
pars before a birdie at the eighth hole got him to 5-under for the round.
Alex Beach, the Westchester Country Club assistant who
captured the PGA Professional Championship last spring at Belfair in Bluffton,
S.C., headed a group of three players tied for third place, each posting a
3-under 69 that was a shot behind Rachey. Beach was joined at 3-under by Pat
Steffes out of Burlingame Country Club in Hillsborough, Calif. and Colin Van
Es, a former Seton Hall standout who works at Providence Golf Club in
Davenport, Fla.
Among the group tied for sixth place at 2-under 70 was Tony
Perla, who is working out of the Canoe Brook Country Club pro shop in Summit,
N.J. Perla worked in the pro shop at the Cricket Club and, I believe, was
briefly the head pro at LedgeRock Golf Club.
In doing some Google searches for this post, I noticed that Perla’s
dad, Tony Perla Jr., died at age 75 in September. I remember Tony Perla Jr.
when he briefly worked in the pro shop at Merion Golf Club, pretty sure his
stint there coincided with the 1971 U.S. Open. I remember him as a nice guy and
a very good player with a powerful golf swing.
Looks like Tony Perla is doing his dad proud in the golf
business.
Also from the Philadelphia Section, Chris Filling, out of
the pro shop at Seaview, was among the group tied for 51st place at
3-over 75. Mike Furey, out of the pro shop at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort,
was a shot behind Filling in the group tied for 64th place with a
4-over 76. Lookaway Golf Club’s Mike Little was another shot behind Furey in
the group tied for 77th place at 5-over 77.
It was a disappointing day for Overbrook Golf Club’s Trevor
Bensel, who captured the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship,
hosted by Dick Smith Sr., at Chester Valley Golf Club with a 6-under 134 in
August. Bensel struggled to an 81 Thursday and was among the group tied for 121st
place.
Also in the group tied for 39th place at 2-over
74 along with Harbold was Josh Rackley, the former Gulph Mills Golf Club
assistant pro who moved on to Tam O’Shanter Country Club in Glen Head, N.Y. on
Long Island. Rackley finished third in last year’s Assistant PGA Professional
Championship.
Rackley, who turned 30 earlier this month, was the runnerup
to Temple’s Brandon Matthews, but claimed the low-pro prize in the 2015
Philadelphia Open at the Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course. Rackley also hit
the jackpot earlier in 2015 when he captured the Haverford Philadelphia PGA
Championship in a playoff at Sunnybrook Golf Club and its whopping $100,000
first-place check, the biggest prize offered in any Section tournament in the
country.
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