Alex Knoll, winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional
Championship last summer, and Brian Bergstol, the runnerup in last summer’s
Pennsylvania Open, proved to be a formidable four-ball partnership as they
teamed up for a 7-under-par 63 Monday at Burlington Country Club in Westampton,
N.J. to claim a one-shot victory in the Philadelphia Section PGA’s rescheduled
Spring Pro-Pro Championship.
On the strength of a spectacular course-record 8-under 62 at
the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale in the opening round, Knoll, who plays
out of the Glen Brook Golf Club pro shop, won the Philadelphia Section’s
marquee event on his way to the Section’s 2019 Omega Player of the Year honor.
Bergstol, an assistant pro at the Shawnee Inn & Golf
Resort, battled right to the finish before settling for second in the
Pennsylvania Open at Waynesborough Country Club.
Knoll should have been representing the Philadelphia Section
in the PGA Professional Championship at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa
in Austin, Texas earlier this spring, but was denied that opportunity due to
the coronavirus pandemic.
The top 20 club pros at the National Club Pro earn a ticket
to the PGA Championship, which has been rescheduled from last month until August
– funny, after moving to the spring from its traditional August date for the
first time in forever last year, the PGA returns to August – at Harding Park in
San Francisco.
Thought I saw something somewhere that the PGA plans to
pluck some club pros off a list that ranks club pros around the country and I
thought I saw Knoll on that list, but we’ll see.
Knoll and Bergstol were chased home by three pretty strong
pairs that finished in a tie for second, a shot behind the winners at 6-under
64.
Heading that trio was a pair of the Section’s outstanding
senior players, Bucknell Golf Club’s Brian Kelly and John Pillar, the director
of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs.
Kelly should have been representing the Philadelphia Section
in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores in
Benton, Mich. over the Memorial Day weekend after he finished in a tie for 22nd
place in last fall’s Senior PGA Professional Championship at Omni Barton Creek
in Austin, but the PGA Tour Champions major championship was cancelled by the
coronavirus pandemic.
Pillar is the reigning winner of the Philadelphia Senior PGA
Professional Championship, which he captured last summer at Applebrook Golf
Club.
Also at 6-under were the talented pair of Andrew Turner, who
is hanging his shingle at French Creek Golf Club this year, and Mike Little of
Lookaway Golf Club and the Delaware duo of Zac Oakley of Bidermann Golf Club
and Michael Tobiason of Deerfield.
Heading a group of four teams tied for fifth place at
4-under 66 was the home team of Michael Mack, who has been at Burlington
Country Club forever, and Don Allen.
Also landing at 4-under were the Indian Spring Country Club
pair of Bob Hennefer and Curtis Kirkpatrick, the Harrisburg-area tandem of
Dustin Wallis of Dustin Wallis Golf and Stephen Swartz of West Shore Country
Club and the Regents’ Glen Country Club duo of Andrew Geesey and Anthony
Schweppe.
Two of the Section’s top players, Applebrook head pro Dave
McNabb and Merion Golf Club head of instruction Mark Sheftic, headed a group of
nine teams tied for ninth place at 3-under 67.
McNabb lost in a playoff in the 2017 PGA Professional
Championship at the Sunriver Resort in Oregon and Sheftic has qualified for the
PGA Championship three times out of the PGA Professional Championship.
Rolling Green Golf Club’s Fred Heller created a little
excitement when his tee shot at the 126-yard 10th hole at Burlington
found the bottom of the cup for his fourth career hole-in-one.
The Philadelphia Section PGA pros and the staff wore “JR”
lapel pins to pay tribute to their colleague, Philmont Country Club director of
golf Justin Riegel, who lost his life in a tragic accident caused by a falling
tree at the Lower Moreland club last week.
The Spring Pro-Pro, which was postponed from earlier this
spring by the pandemic, was supported by AHEAD USA, All Star Pro Golf, Hath
CBD, Trinity Flowers and the PGA Tour.
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