Wilmington, Del. – With perfect weather on Monday afternoon the Philadelphia PGA held their annual Connelly Cup – Head Professional Championship at Bidermann Golf Club. The Connelly Cup is named in honor of Jack Connelly a past President of both the Philadelphia PGA and the PGA of America. This year’s event brought together more than 50 of the Section’s Head Professionals.

It has been almost 10 years since a section event has taken place at Bidermann Golf Club which is a Dick Wilson designed course. The professionals were all looking forward to playing today’s course. The play was a shotgun allowing all players to start their rounds at the same time.  As the score cards started to come in, four players would top the leaderboard Michael Tobiason, Joey Pohle, Bob Hennefer, and George Frake, all shot an even par 72. The top spot would be determined by a four-way sudden death playoff on holes 1, 17, and 18.

All four of the head professionals bogied hole 1 and would go on to the next hole # 17. On 17 Michael Tobiason and George Frake missed their birdie putts,while Bob Hennefer and Joey Pohle would make theirs and would move on to hole 18. On hole 18 Pohle hit his ball into the bunker while Hennefer hit his left of the fairway. On Hennefer’s second shot hit the green and Pohle was just shy of the green. Hennefer missed his first putt and Pohle chipped to within 2 feet on his third shot. Hennefer missed his second putt as well while Pohle made his putt to win the tournament.

Special congratulations go out to Dave Fields (Brookside Country Club) who carded his first ever hole-in-one on hole 4. Fields used an 8-iron on the par 3, 160 yard hole to accomplish the feat.

The Philadelphia Section would like to thank Bidermann Golf Club staff for making today a very special event happen as well as our presenting sponsors Bushnell, Country Club Editions, Pukka and the PGA Tour. We would also like to thank our supporting sponsor Earth Networks who came out to the event this afternoon. The Philadelphia Section will be back to action this Friday June 30^th at Lancaster Country Club for A.B. Thorn Memorial Pro Am.

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Royersford, Pa. – On Tuesday, June 13, Spring Ford Country Club played host to the Jack Jolly / Golf Pride Championship, the season’s seventh point’s event in the race for the Omega Player of the Year presented by Haverford Trust. The Jack Jolly / Golf Pride Championship was played as an individual stroke play event and featured a field of 83 PGA Professionals which included 28 players from the Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) who were competing in the PAO event which was held in conjunction with today’s Championship. As a note some PAO members were competing in both of the day’s tournaments.

Players competing in today’s tournament had to deal with more than the challenging Spring Ford layout as temperatures crept into the mid-90s proving that summer is truly less than a week away. However, playing in the tournament’s first pairing, Brett Melton (Radley Run Country Club) showed that good scores were available in spite of the difficult conditions. Melton posted four birdies through 14 holes before adding a fifth on the par 4, 17^th but bogeys on holes 15, 16 and 18 dropped Melton to 2-under (70) for the day and he would be forced to watch the leaderboard.

Unfortunately, not far behind Melton, Jordan Gibbs (Gulph Mills Golf Club) would end the wait for Melton after just three groups, by finishing at 3-under (69). Gibbs carded one birdie on his outward nine to make the turn at 1-under but a bogey on the par 4, 10^th, his lone blemish on the day, quickly dropped him back to even par. Gibbs would post three additional birdies as he made his way back into the clubhouse to take the 1-shot lead. Needing to head back to work at Gulph Mills, Gibbs would also keep a close watch on the tournament leaderboard.

It looked as though Gibbs lead would hold as players came close but faded as they came down the stretch. However, one player who was up to the challenge was seasoned tournament veteran Stu Ingraham (M Golf Range). Fresh off of qualifying for the US Senior Open, Ingraham played a near perfect round of golf carding three birdies along the way to finish tied with Gibbs at 3-under (69). At the end of the day it came down to a sudden-death playoff between Ingraham and Gibbs. Gibbs went first hitting it far right, while Ingraham’s drive found the end of the fairway. Both Gibbs and Ingraham found the green with their second shot giving both a look at birdie. Putting first, Ingraham was able to make his 13’ putt forcing Gibbs to do the same with his 10 footer. Despite his best effort, Gibbs’ putt just missed giving Ingraham the win.

“This win means so much to me especially this year,” said Ingraham on his win. “I met Dennis McGugan in 1991 and he was always a great friend to me. To capture the title after we lost such a great person is something I will never forget.”

All was not lost for Gibbs as he did take home the top prize in the PAO Jack Jolly / Golf Pride Championship, his first PAO win of the 2017 season. Ingraham would also clinch a win in the senior division posting a 2-shot win over Dave Quinn (Philmont Country Club) who finished with a 1-under (71).

Special congratulations go out to Joe Kogelman (GolfTEC – Moorestown) who carded his first hole-in-one in tournament play. Kogelman used an 8-iron on the par 3, 170 yards long 14^th hole to accomplish the feat.

The Section would like to thank our tournament sponsors, Jack Jolly & Son and Golf Pride Grips who came out to today’s event. The Philadelphia PGA will return to action on Monday, June 26 at Biderman Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware for the Connelly Club / Head Pro Championship.

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Egg Harbor Township, N.J, – The 34 teams that gathered at Hidden Creek Golf Club for the National Car Rental AC Team Stableford Championship thought that June would bring summer weather, but instead, it turned out to be more like a chilly autumn afternoon. Despite the conditions, the sun decided to come out for the afternoon wave and all the competitors had an enjoyable day. All teams featured one PGA Professional and three amateurs and playing a stableford points system competing in both a Net and a Gross division.

In the Net Division the final pairing of the day Jonathan Trauner from GolfTEC Moorestown and his amateur partners Al Silvertri, Bob Davis, and Bernard Gmitter finished at top of the leaderboard with a score of 88 points beating out four teams with 86 points. Trauner eagled #8 followed with a birdie on #18. The Gross division was won by the team of John Kulhamer from Green Pond Country Club and his amateur partners Jason Wilson, Charlie Leon, and Tom Lusto with a score of 80 points. Kulhamer birdied back to back holes on 14 and 15.

The Philadelphia PGA would like to thank the tournament sponsors Golf Life Navigators and especially National Car Rental for bringing their mobile experience bus to the tournament and offering to re-grip the competitors’ clubs. Additionally, the Philadelphia PGA thanks the membership and staff of Hidden Creek Golf Club for their continued support. The next event on the Philly PGA schedule is this Tuesday, June 13^th, at Springford Country Club for the Jack Jolly/ Golf Pride Championship.

For more information, visit www.philadelphia.pga.com or follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Westampton, N.J. – The second and final round of the 32^nd Burlington Classic Pro-Am was played on Monday, June 5 at Burlington Country Club. After the opening round Pro-Am, all PGA Professionals, and the top three amateur participants returned to complete their 36-hole stroke play tournament.

“The Burlington Classic is a great celebration of the club, its membership and the PGA Professionals of the Philadelphia Section”, said John Hanuscin, Burlington Classic Tournament Chairman.

With inclement weather in the forecast, tee times for the second round were shifted to an 8:00 am shotgun to avoid the storms scheduled for the afternoon. Even though all players were on the course at the same time the tournament leaders were paired together to help make for an exciting finish with a dozen players within five shots of the lead.

After a very impressive opening round of 9-under par (61) Trevor Bensel (Huntingdon Valley Country Club) hoped to re-capture the magic of his opening round. However, Bensel managed only one birdie on his outward nine and didn’t fare much better on the back nine finding some trouble which ultimately dropped him from contention. Despite not finishing in the top spot Bensel did manage to secure a top 10 finish in his first tournament of the 2017 season with a tournament total of 3-under (137).

Making an early charge at the top spot was Indian Spring Golf Club Professional Curtis Kirkpatrick. After posting a 4-under (66) in Sunday’s round, Kirkpatrick quickly made waves in the second round. He carded five birdies through eight holes to take a share of the lead. Unfortunately, his second nine was not as successful and when his round was finished Kirkpatrick had dropped from the top spot but did secure his second top ten finish on the year with a two day total of 2-under (138).

Playing in the tournament’s final pairing Brian Bergstol (Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort) was able to keep an eye on exactly what was needed to secure a win at the 32^nd Burlington Classic. Bergstol who was two shots back of the leader after a first round 7-under (63) got off to a near-perfect start with birdies on three of his first four holes. After a pair of bogeys, Bergstol closed his outward nine with a fourth birdie to make the turn at 9-under with nine holes to play. While most players found trouble on Burlington’s back nine, Bergstol was able to keep his game in check playing his final nine holes at even par to finish the two-day event at 9-under (131) giving Bergstol a three-shot win over the field and his first Philadelphia PGA tournament win.

In the senior division, Stu Ingraham (M Golf Range) made a late surge with five birdies over his final six holes to finish with a 36-hole total of 6-under (134) to take home his third senior points win of the 2017 and a tie for second in the regular division.

Congratulations to amateur Travis Mazurek who was awarded the Marotto Medal as the tournament’s low amateur after a posting a two-day total of 18-over (158). The Marotto Medal is named in memory of longtime Burlington Country Club member Ron Marotto, who was instrumental in starting the Burlington Classic Pro-Am.

The Section would like to thank the membership and staff of Burlington Country Club as well as tournament sponsor Adidas golf. The next event on the Philadelphia PGA tournament calendar is the National Car Rental AC Team Stableford Championship at Hidden Creek on Thursday, June 8.

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