Steinmetz, Pillar head Philadelphia Section contingent in opening round of PGA Professional Championship

    Rich Steinmetz, the veteran head pro at Spring-Ford Country Club, and John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, headed the Philadelphia Section PGA’s contingent at the PGA Professional Championship, which teed off Sunday at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   Steinmetz and Pillar, the reigning two-time winner of the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship, each carded a 1-under-par 70 over the 6,860-yard, par-71 Ryder Course at the PGA Golf Club. Pretty sure Steinmetz and Pillar will get a shot at the Wanamaker Course in Monday’s second round before the field is cut.

   The top 20 finishers in the PGA Professional Championship earn a spot in the PGA Championship, one of the four major championships in men’s professional golf, which will be played next month at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island on the South Carolina coast. Steinmetz has reached the PGA Championship at least twice in his career with a top-20 finish in the PGA Professional Championship.

   Parks Price, out of the Country Club of York pro shop, matched par with a 72 over the 7,088-yard, par-72 Wanamaker Course that left him among the group tied for 34^th place.

   Brett Walker, an assistant pro at Sunnybrook Golf Club, Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club and Andrew Turner, an assistant pro at French Creek Golf Club, each registered a 1-over 72 at the Ryder Course and were part of a large group of players tied for 59^th place.

   Tom Cooper was working out of the Pine Valley Golf Club pro shop when he was the runnerup in last September’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, held at the Country Club of York and Bent Creek Country Club in Lititz. It looks like Cooper has moved on to another job outside the Philly Section. He was also in the group tied for 59^th place, although his 1-over round was a 73 at the Wanamaker Course.

   Alex Knoll, an instructor at Glen Brook Golf Club, was a repeat winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Bent Creek. Knoll signed for a 2-over 73 at the Ryder Course that landed him among the group tied for 88^th place.

   The PGA Professional Championship was a victim of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The PGA of America filled out the normal group of club pros at the PGA Championship off a ranking of club pros around the country. Knoll represented the Philly Section at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, although he missed the cut.

   Overbrook Golf Club’s Trevor Bensel, one of the many talented assistant pros in the Philly Section, carded a 2-over 74 at the Wanamaker Course and joined Knoll in the large group tied for 88^th place.

   Hugo Mazzalupi, out of the Patriots Glen National Golf Club pro shop, posted a 3-over 74 at the Ryder Course and ended up in the group tied for 132^nd place.

   Lookaway Golf Club head pro Mike Little, the reigning Philadelphia Section Player of the Year, and another talented Overbrook assistant pro, Ashley Grier, the 2020 Omega Women’s PGA Player of the Year, a national award, landed among the group tied for 153^rd place at 4-over.

   Little, coming off a victory in the Philly Section’s first Rolex points tournament of the season, the Tournament Players Division Championship at Little Mill Country Club in Marlton, N.J. last Monday, carded at 75 at the Ryder Course. Grier posted a 76 at the Wanamaker Course, which measured 6,022 yards for the women.

   Grier is very familiar with the courses at the PGA Golf Club. She finished in a tie for 34^th place in last fall’s National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship and finished in third place in the PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship, both staged at the PGA Golf Club.

   That third-place finish in the PGA Women’s Stroke Play punched Grier’s ticket to the Women’s PGA Championship, a major on the LPGA Tour which tees off June 24 at the Atlanta Athletic Club. If you haven’t figured it out by now, Grier is one of the top female club pros in America.

   Two years ago, in the PGA Professional Championship held at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C., Grier and Joanna Coe, a Jersey Shore native who is an instructor at Baltimore Country Club, became the first two women to survive two cuts and play all four rounds in the event traditionally referred to as the National Club Pro.

   Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, struggled to a 7-over 78 at the Ryder Course and was among the group tied for 239^th place. Sheftic has advanced out of the PGA Professional Championship to the PGA Championship three times in his career.

   Rounding out the Philly Section contingent was Terry Hertzog, another instructor at Merion. Hertzog registered an 11-over 82 at the Ryder Course and was among the group tied for 295^th place.

   The PGA of America’s leaderboard doesn’t list club affiliations, but Frank Bensel Jr. was working out of the pro shop at the Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y. when he was the runnerup in the Senior PGA Professional Championship in 2019 at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas.

   A three-time winner of the NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship, Frank Bensel Jr. grabbed the lead following Sunday’s opening round at the PGA Golf Club with a sparkling 6-under 65 at the Ryder Course.

   Starting off the 10^th tee at the Ryder Course, Frank Bensel Jr. made birdies at the 11^th, 13^th and 17^th holes on the incoming nine. He then ran off three straight birdies at the fourth, fifth and sixth holes before his only stumble of the round, a bogey at the seventh dropped him to 5-under. A birdie at the eighth hole enabled Frank Bensel Jr. to get it back to 6-under.

   Four players posted a 4-under 67 at the Ryder Course and were tied for second place, two shots behind Frank Bensel Jr.

   One of them, Alex Beach, won this championship the last time it was contested in 2019 at Belfair. At the time he was working out of the pro shop at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. Beach added a victory in the 2019 NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship and it looks like he’s had some Korn Ferry Tour opportunities since then.

   Another past winner of this event, 2017 champion Omar Uresti, a PGA Life Member from Austin, Texas and former PGA Tour performer, also was part of the foursome at 4-under. Uresti became the fourth player to own victories in both the PGA Professional Championship and the Senior PGA Professional Championship when he cruised to a six-shot victory against the senior club pros last October at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course.

   Also in that group going 4-under at the Ryder Course was Ben Polland, who let a PGA Professional Championship win slip away in 2015 with a double bogey on the 72^nd hole on the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course. At the time, Polland was an assistant pro at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, N.Y. on Long Island.

   Polland was about as stand-up a guy in the post-round interview session of anyone I’ve ever seen in that situation, failing to close the deal on what would have been the biggest win of his fledgling professional career. If he was disappointed, and he had to be, he didn’t show it.

   Rounding out the foursome tied for second place was Tim Pearce, an assistant pro at Birmingham Country Club in Birmingham, Mich.