Two of the Philadelphia Section PGA’s top senior players, Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz, a senior “rookie,” and Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb punched their tickets to next spring’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship with strong showings in the Senior PGA Professional Championship, which wrapped up Sunday in some rough weather at the Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.
Both Steinmetz and McNabb have made multiple trips to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, via the PGA Professional Championship before they turned 50. McNabb had actually just turned 50 when he was the runnerup in the 2017 PGA Professional Championship and played in the PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. later that summer.
Steinmetz, teeing it up in his first Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship at Medford Lakes Country Club in June, captured the title and headed the Philadelphia Section contingent at Twin Warriors and Santa Ana Golf Club.
For McNabb, the Senior PGA Professional Championship is becoming old hat. This is the third straight year that the 56-year-old McNabb has earned a trip to the Senior PGA Championship, a major on the PGA Tour Champions, and fifth time overall.
In addition to his appearance in the Senior PGA Professional Championship in the spring at the Harbor Shores Resort in Benton Harbor, Mich., McNabb also earned a spot in the field for the U.S. Senior Open, played at the Old Course at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, a Philadelphia Section member course.
Steinmetz was consistent all week in New Mexico. After carding a 1-under 71 in Thursday’s opening round at Santa Ana Golf Club, Steinmetz was comfortably inside the 36-hole cut with a 1-under 71 in Friday’s second round at Twin Warriors. Both the Santa Ana and Twin Warriors courses played to a par of 72.
Steinmetz came back with another 1-under 71 at Twin Warriors in Saturday’s third round that left him in a tie for 22nd place heading into Sunday’s final round. The top 35 finishers in the Senior PGA Professional Championship advanced to the Senior PGA Championship, which tees off May 25, 2023 at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas.
The weather turned nasty for Sunday’s final round with rain, gusty winds and colder temperatures adding up to what eventual champion Matt Schalk, the director of golf at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie, Colo., called the toughest conditions he’s ever played in.
Steinmetz closed with a 5-over 77 at Twin Warriors, but didn’t lose much ground on the leaderboard as he finished in a tie for 24th place with a 2-over 290 total.
After opening with a 1-over 73 at Twin Warriors, McNabb, the Philadelphia Section’s two-time reigning Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, made his move with a 3-under 69 at Santa Ana. A 3-over 75 in Saturday’s third round at Twin Warriors, though, left McNabb in the group tied for 47th place at 1-over 217.
McNabb, however, seemed to thrive in the difficult conditions at Twin Warriors for Sunday’s final round as his hard-fought 2-over 74, one of the better rounds of the day, vaulted him into a tie for 26th place and assured that he would be in the field for the Senior PGA Championship for the third straight time next spring.
Kevin Shields, the head of instruction at The Club at Nevillewood and winner of the Pennsylvania Senior Open at Valley Brook Country Club in May, struggled to a 6-over 78 in Sunday’s final round, but finished in a tie for 17th place with a 1-over 289 total, also earning a spot in the field next spring at Fields Ranch East.
The only other Philadelphia Section representative to survive two cuts and play four rounds in New Mexico was Brendon Post, the associate head coach and director of player development for both the men’s women’s golf programs at the University of Delaware.
Post joined McNabb in the group tied for 47th place through three rounds at 1-over after he carded a 2-over 74 at Twin Warriors in Friday’s second round after matching par with a 72 in the opening round at Santa Ana and then registering a solid 1-under 71 back at Twin Warriors in Saturday’s third round.
Like most of the field, Post struggled to an 81 in Sunday’s final round at Twin Warriors to land in a tie for 56th place with a 10-over 298 total.
Schalk had surged into contention with a sparkling 7-under 65 Saturday at Twin Warriors that left him a three-way tie for second place, a shot behind 54-hole leader Alan Sorensen, the general manager of Buena Vista Golf Course in Taft, Calif.
With the tough conditions, Schalk figured a 4-over 76 might get him the title. He did that one better, posting a 3-over 75 that gave him a 10-under 278 total that was two shots better than runnerup Steve Schneiter, an assistant pro at Schneiter’s Pebblebrook in Sandy, Utah.
Schalk made four bogeys in his first six holes in Sunday’s final round before righting the ship with a birdie at the seventh hole. He added a birdie at the 12th hole and saved par six times on his way to having his named inscribed on the Leo Fraser Trophy and collecting the top prize of $26,000.
Schneiter had grabbed a three-shot lead after 36 holes as he opened with a 7-under 65 at Twin Warriors before adding a 6-under 66 at Santa Ana. He matched par with a 72 in Saturday’s third round before closing with a 77 at Twin Warriors that enabled him to claim runnerup honors with an 8-under 280 total.
Sorensen had taken the 54-hole lead on the strength of a sizzling 6-under 66 in Saturday’s third round at Twin Warriors. He struggled to a 79 in the final round to fall back into a four-way tie for third place at 7-under 281, a shot behind Schneiter.
Joining Sorensen at 7-under were Alan Morin, an assistant pro at The Club At Ibis in West Palm Beach, Fla., Cameron Doan, the director of golf at Preston Trail Golf Club in Dallas, and Todd Bailey, the head pro at Lake Forest Yacht & Country Club in Daphne, Ala.
Morin and Doan each closed with a solid 2-over 74 while Bailey climbed up the leaderboard by matching par with a 72.
Brian Kelly, who plays out of Bucknell Golf Club, survived the 36-hole cut as he added a 2-under 70 at Twin Warriors in Friday’s second round to his opening round of 2-over 74 at Santa Ana. But a 6-over 78 at Twin Warriors in Saturday’s third round left him outside the cut line for the final 18 holes with a 6-over 222 total.
The 36-hole cut fell at 2-over 146 and a couple of members of the Philadelphia contingent failed to survive it.
Terry Hertzog rebounded from an opening round of 6-over 78 at Twin Warriors with a 1-under 71 at Santa Ana. Eddie Perrino, playing out of the Country Club of York pro shop, also struggled in the opening round at Twin Warriors, carding an 83, before adding a 1-over 73 at Santa Ana.
Interesting name popped up on the leaderboard, that of Reading native Emlyn Aubrey, who starred scholastically at Governor Mifflin and collegiately at LSU. Looks like he’s coaching the men’s and women’s teams at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, La.
Aubrey matched par in the opening round with a 72 at Santa Ana before adding a 76 in the second round at Twin Warriors, which left him two shots shy of the cut line.
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