Cully captures title in Philly Section Women's Championship; Austin Barbin the Philadelphia Players Championship winner

 

   Catching up on some Philadelphia Section PGA events, starting with a couple of the most recent …

   Jennifer Cully, the 57-year-old who is an instructor who works out of the Honeybrook Golf Club pro shop, got hot on the incoming nine at Green Valley Country Club Sept. 16^th as she matched par with a 71 to capture the title in the Philadelphia Section PGA Women’s Championship.

   Cully made bogeys at the first, sixth and 11^th holes and was 3-over when she started to get the putter working.

   Cully went back-to-back with birdies at the 12^th and 13^th holes and a birdie at 15 got her back to even for the round.

   Cully stumbled briefly with a bogey at the 16^th hole, but a birdie at 17 got her back to even-par for the day.

   “It was awesome, the best I have played in years,” Cully told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “I had a few three-putts (on the front nine), but I came alive on the back nine.”

   Solid effort by Megan Leineweber, the head pro at Stonewall, as she finished a shot behind Cully in second place with a 72.

   Brittany Weddell, playing on her home course at Green Valley, and Lauren Hickam, who works out of the pro shop at Gulph Mills Golf Club, shared third place, each ending up two shots behind Leineweber with a 3-over 74.

   Joanna Coe, the director of instruction at Merion Golf Club and the four-time reigning Philadelphia Section Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Women’s Player of the Year, finished alone in fifth place with a 4-over 75.

   Coe represented the Philly Section in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major championship on the LPGA Tour, in June at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

   Defending Philadelphia Section PGA Women’s champion Tessa Teachman, an instructor at Aronimink Golf Club, headed a trio of players tied for sixth place at 6-over 77.

   Teachman was joined at that figure by Alex Carr, Teachman’s colleague in the Aronimink pro shop, and Tori MacKinnon, who works out of the pro shot at Bidermann Golf Club.

   Rounding out the field was Wilmington Country Club’s Meghan Spero as she finished in ninth place with an 84.

   The Philadelphia Section PGA Women’s Championship was supported by the Valley Forge Tourism and Convention Board, KM Golf Sales/Kevin McClellan, 1^st and 10^th Tee Bars and the PGA Tour.

   Austin Barbin, playing out of the pro shop at the Barbin family-owned Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, finished with a rush, making three straight birdies at Lookaway Golf Club Monday to capture the title in the Philadelphia Players Championship with a 5-under-par 67.

   Presenting partners Scott and Karen Hutchinson, long-time supporters of the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit, have helped make the Philadelphia Players Championship one of the most lucrative events on the schedule. Austin Barbin earned $6,000 out of a total purse of $40,000.

   Coming off a solid college career at Liberty University, Austin Barbin capped his amateur career by winning the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club two summers ago.

   Austin Barbin and older brother Zach, the 2020 Philadelphia Amateur champion at Lancaster Country Club, have quickly established themselves as two of the Philadelphia Section’s rising young stars.

   After an early bogey at the second hole at Lookaway, Austin Barbin made birdies at the fourth, seventh and 12^th holes to get it to 2-under for his round.

   Austin Barbin then turned it on down the stretch with birdies at the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th holes to finish at 5-under, one shot better than Riley Wheeldon, the talented instructor in the Aronimink pro shop.

   “The last three holes, I looked at the leaderboard and I saw (Brian) Bergstol and Riley (Wheeldon) up at 5 (-under par) and I knew I had to get to five, so I just locked in,” Austin Barbin told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “Honestly, it was a blacking-out and zoning-in kind of deal.”

   Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, fell back to 3-under and headed a group of five players tied for third place with 69s, a shot behind Wheeldon’s 5-under 68.

   Bergstol was joined at 3-under by Waynesborough Country Club’s Kyle Early, Llanerch Country Club assistant pro Andrew Cornish, Whitford Country Club assistant pro Anthony Sebastianelli and DuPont Country Club’s Mike Caldwell.

   Terry Hatch, playing out of the Royal Oaks Golf Club pro shop, topped the Senior division with a 1-under 71.

   Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Sunnybrook Golf Club, and Jason Wilson of Bethlehem Golf Club finished in a tie for second place, each ending up a shot behind Hatch by matching par with a 72.

   In addition to presenting sponsors, the Hutchinsons, the Philadelphia Players Championship was also supported by golf apparel maker AndersonOrd.

   The summer-long Philadelphia PGA Match Play Championship concluded Sept. 1^st at Aronimink, where Brett Walker, playing out of the pro shop at Chester Valley Golf Club, defeated one of the Philadelphia Section’s top senior players in Laurel Creek Country Club’s Dave Quinn, 3 and 2.

   It was a return to the scene of one of Walker’s biggest victories as he captured the 100^th playing of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship in 2021 at Aronimink, the Donald Ross masterpiece in Newtown Square that played host to the PGA Championship in May.

   Walker got a win at the first hole of the final and never looked back, eventually building a 5-up lead through 11 holes.

   Earlier in the day, Walker advanced to the final with a 4 and 3 victory over Michael Little of Clubhouse 54 in a semifinal match.

   Quinn earned his spot in the final with a 4 and 3 victory over Whitford’s Sebastianelli in the other semifinal.

   Walker’s road to the semifinals at Aronimink included a 4 and 3 victory over Anthony Hoffman of the John F. Byrne Golf Course, a 2 and 1 decision over John Colbert of Newark Country Club, and a pair of 5 and 4 wins over Tom Michaels of Berkshire Country Club and Colton Yenser of LedgeRock Golf Club.

   The Philadelphia PGA Match Play Championship was supported by Rolex and the PGA Tour.

   The brothers Barbin, Zach and Austin, found themselves in five-way playoff for the title in the Jack Jolly & Son Championship, which was shortened to 17 holes of regulation play by some stormy weather Aug. 31^st at Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club, the William Flynn gem in Fort Washington.

   It was Zach Barbin who prevailed in the playoff to claim the victory after he and four other players, including younger brother Austin Barbin, each posted a 5-under 61 total.

   Rounding out the quintet tied at 5-under were Andy Hewitt of Cripple Creek Golf & Country Club, Trevor Bensel, the talented assistant pro at LuLu Country Club and Whitford’s Sebastianelli.

   Braden Shattuck, the director of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club and only a couple of weeks removed from his second straight victory in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, shared sixth place with the Shawnee Inn’s Bergstol, each ending up a shot out of the playoff at 4-under 62.

   Dave McNabb, the veteran head pro at Applebrook Golf Club, and Laurel Creek’s Quinn shared the top spot in the Senior division, each landing on 2-under 64.

   Manufacturers proved to be a nice tuneup for the Philadelphia Section PGA Women’s Championship a couple of weeks later at Green Valley as Merion’s Coe and Green Valley’s Weddell shared first place in the Women’s division, each tallying a 1-over 67.

   Stonewall’s Leineweber finished two shots behind Coe and Weddell in third place with a 3-over 69.

   Zach Barbin’s playoff victory for the overall Jack Jolly & Son Championship title also earned him a win in the concurrent Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) event over his younger brother Austin Barbin, Bensel and Sebastianelli.

   The Philadelphia Section’s talented group of seniors had the stage to themselves for the Skee Riegel Senior Open Sept. 10^th at Radnor Valley Country Club and Sheftic, the highly-regarded instructor at Sunnybrook, made a birdie at the 17^th hole to capture the title with a 4-under 66.

   Sheftic made a birdie at the first hole and a bogey at four before going off in the middle of his round with birdies at sixth, seven, 10 and 13 to get it to 4-under for the round. Sheftic dropped a shot with a bogey at the 15^th hole, but got it right back with his birdie at 17 that gave him a one-shot victory over Brendon Post, the head coach of the men’s golf team at Delaware.

   Hugo Mazzalupi of the Radnor Golf Foundation, Rich Steinmetz, the head pro at Spring Ford Country Club, Mark Chlebek, the head pro at the Steel Club, and Brian Kelly, a PGA Life Member who was the long-time head pro at Bucknell Golf Club, finished in a tie for third place, each matching par with a 70 to end up three shots behind Post.

   Mazzalupi will be part of the Philadelphia Section contingent headed for the Senior PGA Professional Championship, which tees off Oct. 22 at Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Grand Canyon, Ariz.

   Mazzalupi punched his ticket to Superstition Mountain by finishing in a tie for third place in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship in June at Bellewood Country Club.

   Greg Farrow, the long-time head pro at Deerwood Country Club, claimed top honors in the Super-Senior division with a 1-under 69.

   Wayne Phillips, a PGA Life Member who was the long-time head pro at Lehigh Country Club, was the runnerup among the super seniors as he matched par with a 70.