Knoll, Bergstol team up to take Spring Pro-Pro Championship at Burlington

   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 22^nd 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 10^th 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.