Brian Bergstol, the talented assistant pro at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, is on a big-time roll.
Bergstol capped a pretty impressive eight-day run last Monday as he fired a sparkling 3-under-par 68 over a French Creek Golf Club layout in East Nantmeal Township in northwestern Chester County that he was seeing for the first time to capture the title in the TaylorMade Classic, a Philadelphia Section PGA Rolex Player of the Year points event.
A week earlier, May 10th, he teamed with Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel to capture the Philadelphia Section PGA’s Spring Pro-Pro Championship at West Shore Country Club.
Two days after that, May 12th, he fired a 1-under 70 at the Steel Club in Hellertown to earn medalist honors in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local U.S. Open qualifier. Bergstol will get to tee it up in “Golf’s Longest Day,” a U.S. Open sectional qualifier June 7.
Bergstol, who starred collegiately at Moravian, will get a shot to play in the U.S. Open, which tees off June 17 at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, Calif. Bergstol, not long after turning professional, earned his way into the National Open the last time it was played at Torrey Pines in 2008.
At French Creek, a well-regarded early design effort by Gil Hanse, Bergstol birdied the first hole, but bogeyed the second. After making a birdie at the eighth hole, Bergstol fell back to even-par with a bogey at the 10th. But Bergstol then ripped off three birdies in a four-hole stretch at the 11th, 12th and 14th holes before grinding out four pars to finish out his round.
Hugo Mazzalupi, playing out of the Patriots Glen National Golf Club pro shop, headed a group of three players tied for second place, a shot behind Bergstol at 2-under 69. Mazzalupi was coming off a strong showing in last month’s PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., where he survived two cuts and played all four rounds.
Joining Mazzalupi at 2-under were Mark Sheftic, who looks like he might be hanging his shingle at Lookaway Golf Club after many years as the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, and Parks Price of the Country Club of York. Sheftic and Price also played in the PGA Professional Championship, Sheftic failing to survive the 36-hole cut and Price surviving the 36-hole cut, but failing to survive the 54-hole cut.
Two players who were both in with a shot to qualify for the PGA Championship with a top-20 finish in the National Club Pro – the old-school moniker for the PGA Professional Championship – Overbrook’s Bensel and Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club, finished in a tie for fifth place in the TaylorMade Classic, each posting a 1-under 70.
Bensel finished in a tie for 55th place and Oakley in a tie for 40th at the PGA Golf Club.
A couple of the Philadelphia Section’s talented senior players, Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb and Dave Quinn, who plays out of the Laurel Creek Country Club pro shop, were among a group of four players who matched par at French Creek with 71s and were tied for seventh place.
McNabb and Quinn, as well as John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, will represent the Philadelphia Section in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a PGA Tour Champions major which tees off Thursday at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Pillar was a dominant four-shot winner in the inaugural Pennsylvania Senior Open, which wrapped up May 10th at Lehigh Country Club, another event I just never got to in what has been a blizzard of golf this month.
Joining McNabb and Quinn in the tie for seventh place at French Creek were Deerfield’s Mike Tobiason, winner of the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship last summer at St. Davids Golf Club, and Bidermann assistant pro Braden Shattuck, a guy whose high school career at Sun Valley I chronicled during my days at the Delaware County Daily Tines.
Andrew Turner, playing out of the Berkshire Country Club pro shop, headed a group of five players tied for 11th place at 1-over 72. Turner was also part of the Philly Section contingent at last month’s PGA Professional Championship, although he failed to survive the 36-hole cut.
Joining Turner at 1-over were Billy Stewart, an instructor at the newly rebranded Union League Liberty Hill, Casey O’Reilly of Sandy Run Country Club, Steve Swartz of West Shore Country Club and Kyle Early of Waynesborough Country Club.
Mazzalupi topped the Senior Division with his 2-under 69 with McNabb and Quinn sharing runnerup honors with their even-par 71s.
Bergstol’s 3-under 68 also gave him a victory in the concurrent Philadelphia Assistants Organization (PAO) event at French Creek. Oakley and Bensel finished in a tie for second place with their 1-under 70s and Tobiason and Shattuck shared fourth with their even-par 71s.
Don DeAngelis, playing out of the Spring Ford Country Club pro shop, finished atop the Super Senior Division (age 60 and older) leaderboard by matching par with a 71.
Wilmington Country Club’s Bob Lennon was the runnerup with a 2-over 73 and Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club took third place with a 5-over 76.
In addition to the event’s title sponsor, the TaylorMade Golf Company, the TaylorMade Classic was supported by Kevin McClellan Golf Sales, Ohana Farm LLC, Jani-King and Rolex.
No comments:
Post a Comment