Brian Bergstol, the talented pro who works out of the pro shop at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, offset three bogeys with seven birdies as he fired a 4-under-par 68 on the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Thursday that left him alone in fourth place following the first round of the 45th National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship.
After opening with a birdie at the first hole and giving that shot right back with a bogey at the second, the 36-year-old Bergstol rattled off four straight birdies at six, seven, eight and nine to get it to 4-under by the end of the outgoing nine at the Wanamaker Course.
Bogeys at the 12th and 14th holes dropped Bergstol back to 2-under, but he bounced back with back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 to get it in at 4-under.
Bergstol’s 68 left him three shots behind Scott Ford, an assistant pro at the Glen Oaks Club in Old Westbury, N.Y. who opened with a scintillating 7-under 65 that featured seven birdies and nary a bogey. There will be a cut following Friday’s second round.
The top assistant pros from around the country are battling for a top prize of $12,000 out of a total purse of $150,000 in the NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship, which is supported by Srixon, Cleveland Golf, XXIO and ASICS.
Bergstol headed a contingent of five players from the Philadelphia Section PGA who earned their tickets to the PGA Golf Club out of the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship, which was held at Cedarbrook Country Club in August.
Bidermann Golf Club instructor Zac Oakley, recently crowned the 2021 Haverford Trust Rolex Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section, was in a large group of 13 players tied for 10th place as Oakley posted a solid 2-under 70.
Sunnybrook Golf Club assistant pro Brett Walker, winner of the 100th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Aronimink Golf Club and Applebrook Golf Club, was among the group tied for 72nd place as he registered a 3-over 75.
Walker, winner of the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship at Cedarbrook, has had some big moments at the PGA Golf Club in 2021.
He won the PGA Stroke Play Championship in the winter in a playoff with Omar Uresti after a strong finish at the PGA Golf Club’s Ryder Course. Walker’s 2-under 70 at the Wanamaker Course on the final day of the PGA Professional Championship in April left him in a tie for eighth place and earned him a ticket to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course on the South Carolina coast.
Mike Tobiason, who plays out of the Deerfield Golf Club pro shop, was a shot behind Walker with a 4-over 76 that left him among the group tied for 85th place.
Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Ashley Grier, the 2020 Women’s PGA Player of the Year, struggled a little in the opening round with a 78 that left her in the group tied for 105th place.
Grier was the only player out of the Philadelphia Section to survive the cut in the NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship a year ago and finished in a tie for 34th place. Grier finished in fifth place in the LPGA Professional National Championship at the Kingsmill Resort’s River Course in Williamsburg, Va., which earned her a spot in next spring’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, which will be played at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. It will mark the fifth time that Grier has teed it up in the KPMG Women’s PGA, a major championship on the LPGA Tour.
The 52-year-old Ford, the grandson of World Golf Hall of Famer Doug Ford, winner of the 1955 PGA Championship and the Masters champion in 1957, rattled off birdies at the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth holes to jump-start his round.
Ford dropped a six-footer for birdie at the fifth hole, converted a 12-foot birdie try at six, knocked it to two feet seven for a tap-in birdie and closed out the run by making a 10-foot birdie putt at eight.
Back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th holes got him to 6-under for the round. At the 212-yard, par-3 17th hole, Ford faced a 50-footer from the fringe. Just hoping to two-putt for par, Ford saw a birdie bomb find the bottom of the cup to cap his scorching tour of the Wanamaker Course.
Jin Chung of Lawrenceville, Ga., the runnerup in the NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship a year ago, shared second place with Paul Apyan of Hixson, Tenn., each carding a 5-under 67.
Chung, an instructor in the Georgia Section PGA, offset a pair of bogeys with seven birdies while Apyan, an instructor in the Tennessee Section PGA, had five birdies and, like Ford, navigated the tough Wanamaker Course without a bogey on his scorecard.
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