Last week, Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel was trying to negotiate the notoriously slick greens at Oakmont Country Club, site of nine U.S. Opens, while playing in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 104th Open Championship.
Bensel held his own, matching par with a 71 in the opening round and finishing in a tie for 22nd place in a loaded field of pros and amateurs from all over the state at 9-over 222.
When Bensel got to Concord Country Club for Monday’s rescheduled Delaware Valley Open stop on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit, the putting surfaces there seemed almost benign in comparison.
The result was a scintillating 9-under-par 61, a shot off the course record at the par-70 Concord layout, and a five-shot victory in the Haverford Trust points standings event.
“After playing Oakmont Country Club in the Pennsylvania Open last week, my putter was freed up playing Concord today,” Bensel, one of the most talented players in the Philly Section these days, told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “I felt I could be more aggressive and I made some putts.”
After making birdies at the second, fifth and sixth holes, Bensel ripped off three straight birdies at nine, 10 and 11 to get it to 6-under. After five straight pars, Bensel birdied the 17th hole and then finished with a flourish, making an eagle at the gettable – at least for a player of Bensel’s caliber – par-5 18th at Concord.
Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, Spring-Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz and Paris Price out of the pro shop at the Country Club of York shared second place as each carded a sparkling 4-under 66.
In addition to winning the Senior division honors in the Delaware Valley Open, McNabb grabbed the lead in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship with his 66.
In a bit of creative scheduling brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, the opening round of the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship was held concurrently with the Delaware Valley Open.
I’ll round up the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship, which concluded Tuesday at Concord, in a separate post, but, suffice it to say, there was a little added urgency for the considerably talented group of senior pros of which the Philadelphia Section can boast.
Deerwood Country Club head pro Greg Farrow, both a Senior and Super Senior performer, finished alone in fifth place in the overall scoring with a 3-under 67.
John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club of Woodloch Springs, opened his defense of the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship he won a year ago at Applebrook with a 2-under 68 that headed a group of four players tied for sixth place in the Delaware Valley Open field.
Joining Pillar at 2-under were Lookaway Golf Club head pro Mike Little, Michael VanDerLaan of Sunnybrook Golf Club and Stephen Swartz of West Shore Country Club.
Four more senior pros were among the group of nine players tied for 10th place at 1-under 69, led by Mike Moses, the head pro at Concord.
The other senior standouts at 1-under included Terry Hertzog of Merion Golf Club (I’ll have to check my sources to see if there’s been a changing of the guard in the pro shop in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township), John Cooper of Green Valley Country Club, and Radnor Valley Country Club head pro George Forster, who has been one of the top senior club pros in the country for more than a decade.
Also at 1-under was Bensel’s fellow Overbrook assistant pro, Ashley Grier, the Philadelphia Section’s top female player.
Rounding out the large group at 69 were Gregory Mathias of Tavistock Country Club, Brandon Kuzmich out of pro shop at Merion, Anthony Napoletano of GolfTec in Malvern and Bidermann Golf Club assistant pro Braden Shattuck.
Shattuck, a PIAA qualifier as a senior at Sun Valley in 2011, had a little local knowledge working for him as he spent some time at Concord working in Moses’ pro shop for a few years before heading to Delaware and Bidermann this year.
Farrow’s 3-under 67 made him the runnerup to McNabb in the Senior scoring for the Delaware Valley Open and gave him the top spot in the Super Senior division, two shots clear of Forster.
Pillar finished in third place in the Senior division followed by a four-way tie for fourth among Hertzog, Cooper, Forster and Moses. I’ll be back with a separate post on what was obviously a tight chase for the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional crown as well as the berths out of the Philadelphia Section to the 32nd Senior PGA Professional Championship, which will tee off Oct. 15 at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The Senior PGA Professional Championship is supported by The Golf Channel and John Deere.
Bensel topped the field of assistant pros competing in the concurrent Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) event in the Delaware Valley Open.
The 66 registered by the Country Club of York’s Price enabled him to earn runnerup honors, VanDerLaan was in third place with his 68 and Grier, Mathias and Shattuck finished in a tie for fourth.
Pillar’s son Alex, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a senior at Lake Wallenpaupack in 2018, finished at the top of the amateur leaderboard with a 1-under 69, a shot short in the battle for low-Pillar. Alex Pillar is a sophomore on the Newberry College golf team in South Carolina.
Justin Elwell of Scotland Run Golf Club and Jon Ross of Glen Mills finished in a tie for second place, each posting a 1-over 71.
The Delaware Valley Open was supported by Jock Jolly & Son, Inc., Golf Pride, Kevin McCellan Golf Sales, Jani-King, the PGA Tour, Scott Hutchinson and Conrad JJ Radcliffe, Esq.
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