Trevor Bensel, playing out of the Sandy Run Country Club pro shop, grabbed the lead following the opening round of the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship Thursday with a sparkling 6-under-par 66 at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Bensel, who has been among the Philadelphia Section PGA’s most talented players for a while now, put together an efficient six-birdie, no-bogey round to take a one-shot lead over Mike Ballo Jr. of Westchester Country Club in the Assistant PGA Professional Championship, which is supported by Srixon, Cleveland Golf and Asics.
Bensel made birdies at the second and fifth holes to make the turn at the Wanamaker Course at 2-under before really getting it going on the incoming nine, ripping off birdies at 13, 15, 16 and 17 to finish at 6-under.
Bensel earned his spot in the field for the Assistant PGA Professional Championship when he finished in a tie for second place in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship in July at Rolling Green Golf Club.
I feel like a quick look at the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship is in order since I never got around to posting on it at the time. It’s an event that’s been a staple in this blog, but there was just so much golf going on in the middle of the summer, I just couldn’t get to it all. But as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, there’s no such thing as too much golf.
The winner that day at Rolling Green, the William Flynn gem in Springfield, Delaware County, was Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club who finished with a 5-under 137 total in the one-day, 36-hole shootout.
Oakley was very much in the mix following Thursday’s opening round as he ripped off three straight birdies on the Wanamaker Course’s front nine, Oakley’s last nine of his round, to join the group tied for eighth place with a 2-under 70.
Even before he teed it up in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship, Oakley had already earned his spot in the field of the Assistant PGA Professional Championship because he had finished in a tie for fourth place in this event a year ago at the Wanamaker Course.
Oakley made a bogey at the 11th hole and then patiently recorded 12 straight pars before birdies at the sixth, seventh, and eighth holes got him to 2-under.
Oakley backed up his victory in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship by capturing the title in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which was shortened to 36 holes by rain in September at the Country Club of Scranton and Elmhurst Country Club.
Oakley will head the group of club pros who will represent the Philadelphia Section in the PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco at the new PGA of America headquarters in Texas in April. Bensel will also be in that group as he finished in a tie for sixth place in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.
Also in the mix at the Wanamaker Course is Brian Bergstol, an instructor at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort who was in the group tied for 12th place after tallying a 1-under 71.
Like Oakley, Bergstol had earned his spot in the field for the Assistant PGA Professional Championship by finishing second in this event a year ago, Bergstol’s second straight runnerup finish in Port St. Lucie. The guy knows his way around the Wanamaker Course layout.
It was already a good year for Bergstol when he claimed the biggest prize offered in any PGA Section tournament in America, the $150,000 jackpot that goes to the winner of the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic the day after Memorial Day at Sunnybrook Golf Club.
A trio of players was a shot behind Ballo in a tie for third place at 4-under 68, including Matt Dubrowski of Atlantic Golf Club, Preston Cole of the Quail Hollow Club and Taylor Davis of Timuquana Country Club.
Rusty Harbold, who works out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, recorded a solid 1-over 73 that left him in the group tied for 29th place.
The pro shop at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club was well-represented at the Wanamaker Course as assistant pros Alex Willey and Rob Wolfers were both in the field.
Willey registered a 4-over 76 that left him in the group tied for 60th place while Wolfers was a shot behind his colleague at Mannys in the group tied for 72nd place at 5-over 77.
Another Philadelphia Section representative, Parks Price, an instructor at the Country Club of York, was also in the group along with Wolfers tied for 72nd place with a 77.
Ashley Grier, who was the leading lady in the Philadelphia Section when she was Bensel’s colleague in the Overbrook Golf Club pro shop, landed in the group tied for 53rd place with a 3-over 75. Grier works at the Yinglings Golf Center in Hagerstown, Md. and was representing the Middle Atlantic Section.
Pretty sure there will be a cut following Friday’s second round.
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