Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Ashley Grier, the Philadelphia Section PGA’s top female player, fell out of contention in the 44th National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship with a 4-over-par 76 Friday at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course, but easily survived the 36-hole cut.
The 36-year-old Grier was just three shots out of the lead following an opening round of 2-under 70 Thursday, but couldn’t get anything going in the second round. Grier wasn’t terrible as her scorecard included four bogeys, but she couldn’t find a birdie on the Wanamaker Course and her 4-over 76 dropped back into the group tied for 37th place at 2-over 146.
Grier was the only member of the Philadelphia Section’s contingent of five players to survive the 36-hole cut.
Grier is one of just three women in the field and lost her position as low lady as 32-year-old Brittany Kelly, playing out of Woodland Country Club in Carmel, Ind., added a 2-under 70 to her opening-round 72 and joined the group tied for 12th place at 2-under 142.
The NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship is supported by Srixon, Cleveland Golf, XXIO, Asics and John Deere.
Gunner Wiebe, the son of two-time PGA Tour winner and 2013 winner of The Senior Open Championship Mark Wiebe, grabbed the lead at the halfway mark of the Assistant PGA Professional Championship by firing a 5-under 67 that left him atop the leaderboard at 7-under 137.
The 31-year-old Wiebe, an assistant pro at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, started off the 10th tee and quickly got it to 3-under for his round with a birdie at the 13th and a hole-out for an eagle 2 at the 15th. Wiebe stumbled momentarily with a bogey at the first hole, but rattled off birdies at two, six and seven to get it to 5-under for the day.
Defending champion Alex Beach, an assistant at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., surged up the leaderboard with a sizzling 7-under 65 that left him a shot behind Wiebe in a tie for second place at 6-under 138.
The 31-year-old Beach, who also claimed a victory in the PGA Professional Championship in the spring of 2019 at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C., started off the 10th tee and blistered the incoming nine at the Wanamaker Course with a 6-under 30. Beach made birdies at the 10th, 12th, 13th and 15th holes and then made an eagle at the par-5 16th and was 6-under for his first seven holes.
Beach dropped a shot with a bogey at the 17th hole, but got it right back with a birdie at the 18th. Beach cooled off a little on the front nine as he made a birdie at the seventh before finishing up with a bogey at the ninth hole. He had opened with a 1-over 73 Thursday.
Joining Beach in the tie for second at 6-under was Greg Koch, a 35-year-old assistant at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Grande Lakes, Fla. Koch added a 4-under 68 to his opening-round 70.
The two players who shared the lead after matching 5-under 67s in the opening round, Aaron Purviance of Red Ledges in Heber City, Utah and Jin Chung, an instructor at the Chateau Elan Golf Club in Braselton, Ga., were two of the three players tied for fourth place at 5-under 139.
The 24-year-old Purviance and the 32-year-old Chung both matched par with 72s to remain very much in contention, just two shots behind the pace-setting Wiebe.
Purviance and Chung were joined at 5-under by Justin Bardgett, an assistant to Mike Small at Illinois, the dominant golf power in the Big Ten. The 33-year-old Bardgett added a 3-under 69 to his opening-round 70.
Mike Tobiason, an assistant at Deerfield Golf Club in Newark, Del. and winner of the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship at St. Davids Golf Club in August, and Steve Swartz, one of two representatives from the West Shore Country Club pro shop in the field, missed the cut by one shot. The cut fell at 6-over 150.
Tobiason had struggled to an 81 in the opening round, but bounced back with a 2-under 70 that left him at 151. Swartz improved from an opening-round 77 with a 2-over 74 to also land at 151.
Swartz’s colleague in the West Shore pro shop, Jordan Shuey, added an 80 to his opening-round 78 for a 156 total. Ross Seaman, playing out of the Manufacturers Golf & Country Club pro shop, had opened with a 3-over 75, but struggled to an 83 for a 158 total.
A recent Philadelphia Section pro, former LedgeRock Golf Club head pro Tony Perla, an assistant at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J., made the cut on the number as Perla added a 2-over 74 to his opening-round 76 for a 150 total that enabled him to stick around for the weekend in Port St. Lucie.
No comments:
Post a Comment