Oakley gets past Bensel in final to claim victory in Philadelphia Section PGA Match Play Championship

   While I was running around to some of the big scholastic postseason events in October, the Philadelphia Section PGA was wrapping up its season-long Haverford Trust points events that determine the Omega Player of the Year.

   Two of the Section’s talented young pros, Zac Oakley, a teaching pro at Bidermann Golf Club, and Trevor Bensel, out of the Overbrook Golf Club pro shop, met in the final of the Match Play Championship, which was completed Oct. 23 at Lookaway Golf Club in Buckingham Township, Bucks County.

   Oakley grabbed a 4-up lead on the front nine and rolled to a 4 and 3 victory over Bensel, who won the National Car Rental Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship, hostrd by Dick Smith Sr., at Chester Valley Golf Club in August.

   Oakley, who was the low pro while finishing second to Jeff Osberg in the Philadelphia Open at Huntingdon Valley Country Club in July, won the first, fourth, seventh and eighth holes at Lookaway to take a 4-up lead on Bensel.

   Bensel fought back with a win at the 10^th hole to cut his deficit to 3-down, but Oakley answered right back by winning the 11^th hole to restore his 4-up advantage. And Oakley refused to let Bensel get back in the match as the pair halved the next four holes.

   Oakley had to go 20 holes to get past Dave McNabb, the head pro at Applebrook Golf Club and one of the Section’s top senior pros, in the semifinals. Bensel had a tough semifinal opponent in defending champion Michael Little, playing on his home course at Lookaway, and Bensel pulled out a 2 and 1 decision.

   Bensel and Little head the group of assistant pros who will represent the Philadelphia Section in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship, supported by Srixon, Cleveland Golf, XX10 and Golf Advisor, which tees off Nov. 14 at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   The week at Lookaway began with bracket play that determined the semifinalists.

   Oakley reached the semifinals by claiming a 5 and 4 victory over Brendon Post, an assistant coach and director of player development for both the men’s and women’s programs at Delaware, in the final of the Rininger Bracket.

   Just to get to the final of the Rininger Bracket, Oakley had to go 19 holes to knock off Billy Stewart, a teaching pro at The ACE Club and the Philadelphia Section’s 2018 Omega Player of the Year.

   McNabb reached the semifinals with a 3 and 1 victory over Alex Knoll of Glen Brook Golf Club in the final of the Omega Bracket.

   Even though Knoll lost that match, it does appear he will be crowned the Philadelphia Section’s 2019 Omega Player of the Year. Knoll captured the premier event on the Philadelphia Section calendar, the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which was played at the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale and Riverton Country Club in September.

   Knoll took control of the Section championship when he fired a brilliant 8-under 62 at the Union League Torresdale layout, a classic Donald Ross design, breaking a 78-year-old course record held by the legendary Sam Snead by two shots in the opening round.

   I have no official confirmation that Knoll is the Player of the Year, but it sure looks that way from the standings on the Philadelphia Section PGA’s website.

   Knoll will head the contingent of Philadelphia Section pros at next spring’s PGA Professional Championship, which will be held at the Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas. Knoll had the highest finish of any Philadelphia Section pro when he ended up in a tie for 33^rd place in last spring’s National Club Pro at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C.

   Bensel reached the semifinals at Lookaway with a 3 and 2 victory over Bryce Young of Bayside Resort Golf Club in the Radcliffe Bracket final.

   Little earned his spot in the semifinals with a 5 and 4 victory over Laurel Creek Country Club’s Dave Quinn, another of the Section’s talented stable of senior pros, in the Hutchinson Bracket final. Quinn outlasted John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs and the reigning Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional champion, 2 and 1, in the semifinals of the Hutchinson Bracket semifinals in a meeting of two of the Section’s top senior pros.

   Brian Bergstol, an assistant pro at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, captured the Shawnee Open on his home course for the second straight year Oct. 7 and 8.

   Bergstol added a sparkling 6-under 66 to his opening round of 5-under 67 for an 11-under 133 total that was four shots clear of the rest of the field.

   Oakley was the runnerup as he matched Bergstol’s opening-round 67, but couldn’t stick with Bergstol in the second round, carding a 2-under 70 for a 7-under 137 total.

   Lookaway’s Little was another four shots behind Oakley in third place at 3-under 141 after adding a 1-under 71 to his opening-round 70.

   Not sure if the numbers are final for the DeBaufre Scoring Average Award, but it looks like Oakley edged Bergstol.

   Quinn and Pillar shared the top senior honors in the Shawnee Open, each landing on even-par 144. Don DeAngelis of Spring-Ford Country Club topped the Super-Senior division with rounds of 72 and 74 for a 2-over 146 total.