Noah Firestone, an assistant pro at Galloway National Golf Club, made a par on the first hole of a playoff to defeat Eddie Perrino of the Eagle Rock Resort to capture the title in the Philadelphia Section PGA’s Jack Jolly & Son Championship Monday at Moselem Springs Golf Club in Fleetwood, Berks County.
Firestone, playing in the first group off, and Perrino, also part of the early wave, each posted a 3-under-par 67 and nobody else in the field was able to match or better that total.
Firestone was at even-par after making a birdie at the second hole and a bogey at eight when he rattled off three straight birdies at 10, 11 and 12 to get it to 3-under. He made his second bogey of the day at the 14th hole, but made a birdie at 17 to get it to the clubhouse in 3-under.
Perrino got it into red figures with back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth holes. His lone bogey of the day came at the 10th hole, but he got it to 3-under with birdies at 13 and 18 on his way to the house.
“It’s a great feeling to get my first win of the season,” Firestone told the Philadelphia Section PGA website.
Three of the Section’s top assistant pros, Mike Furey of Saucon Valley Country Club, Brian Bergstol of the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort and Trevor Bensel of Overbrook Golf Club, each posted a 1-under 69 to finish two shots behind the top two in a tie for third place.
Dave Quinn, one of the Section’s senior standouts, was alone in sixth place as he matched par with a 70.
Two instructors out of the Bidermann Golf Club pro shop, Zac Oakley and Braden Shattuck, headed a group of six players tied for seventh place as each signed for a 1-over 71.
Rounding out the group at 1-over were Andrew Turner of Berkshire Country Club, Brian Kelly of Bucknell Golf Club, Terry Hatch of Royal Oaks Golf Course and Jakob Gerney of Trump National Golf Club – Philadelphia.
Oakley left Moselem Springs with a nice piece of hardware as his 71 enabled him to complete a record-breaking 2021 season that earned him the F. Edward DeBaufre Trophy that goes to the Section pro with the lowest scoring average.
Oakley was hanging out at or near the top of Philadelphia Section leaderboards all season and his sparkling scoring average of 68.93 over 14 rounds was the best in the history of the DeBaufre Trophy, which dates back to 1964.
Oakley joined his father Pete Oakley, who won the DeBaufre Trophy in 1980, ’84, ’85 and ’99, as the only father-son duo on the trophy. Pete Oakley was a dominant player in the Philadelphia Section in the 1980s and surprised the golf world – at least the golf world outside the Philadelphia Section PGA – when he won the Senior Open Championship in 2004 at Royal Portrush, the classic layout in Northern Ireland.
Zac Oakley was the runnerup in the 100th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship earlier this month at Applebrook Golf Club and Aronimink Golf Club and will represent the Philadelphia Section in next spring’s PGA Professional Championship at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas.
Zac Oakley was in the hunt for a top-20 finish in last spring’s PGA Professional Championship, which was held at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The top-20 finishers in the PGA Professional Championship earn a ticket to the PGA Championship, one of the four professional major championships in men’s golf. Zac Oakley struggled a little in the final round, finishing in a tie for 40th place.
Perrino’s 67 did get him the top spot in the always competitive senior-division scoring at Moselem Springs. Quinn was the runnerup with his 70 and Kelly and Hatch finished in a tie for third place with their matching 71s.
Firestone also claimed the top spot in the Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) scoring with his 67. Furey, Bergstol and Bensel shared runnerup honors with their 70s.
Zac Oakley and Bergstol will represent the Philadelphia Section in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship, which tees off Nov. 11 at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. They earned their spot in that field when they finished in a tie for third place in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship last month at Cedarbrook Country Club.
The Philadelphia Section PGA website also noted that PGA Life Member J.R. Delich, at 80 years young, shot his age for the 321st time. A game for a lifetime indeed.
In addition to being supported by the title sponsor, the Jack Jolly & Son Championship was supported by Ohana Farm LLC, Jani-King and the PGA Tour.
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