Philadelphia Pa. –On a rainy Monday morning nearly 75 Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professionals converged on the newly renovated Union League Golf Club at Torresdale for the National Car Rental Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship. With weather threatening the tournament, all competitors did their best to battle both the difficult course and the rainy conditions as they tried to play their way into this November’s 41^st National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship to be at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla, November 9-12, 2017.

Quickly as the scorecards came in Brian Bergstol (Bangor, Pa.) would go to the top of the leaderboard with a score of -2 under par 68. Bergstol carded one birdie on the first hole, then, added three more birdies on the back nine. With only two bogies the whole day in nasty weather conditions Bergstol did better than everyone and ended  the day with the title of champion.

“My caddie asked me if he wanted him to come out today, and I told him no because it didn’t make sense in this weather, I usually complain to him in weather like today but because he wasn’t there I just kept playing, and I guess that worked in my favor today,” Brian Bergstol stated.

Billy Stewart (Devon, Pa.) the only other player under par, fell one shot short with a -1 under par 69. Stewart had back to back birdies on holes one and two followed by another birdie on hole 5.

By winning Bregstol qualified for the 41^th National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship, Nov. 9-12, at PGA Golf Club (Wanamaker Course) in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The facility will be hosting its twenty-second consecutive Assistant PGA Professional Championship.

“Mission accomplished,” said Bergstol when asked how it feels to qualify for this year’s Assistant PGA Professional Championship. “I wouldn’t say I played the best that I could have and I would have loved to play this course again in better weather conditions; I was only in the rough once which helped in these conditions; although I would have loved to play 36 today I’m happy with how the day turned out.”

Bergstol and Stewart will be joined at November’s Championship by fellow Assistants Jakob Gerney (Sewell, N.J.) who finished with an even par (70), as well as Andrew Turner (Honey Brook, Pa.), and Jordan Gibbs (Philadelphia, Pa.) who posted a score of 1-over (71).

The Philadelphia PGA would like to thank the membership and staff of The Union League at Torresdale as well as tournament sponsor National Car Rental, and our presenting sponsors Srixon, Cleveland Golf, XXIO, Golf Advisor, John Deere, and PGA Tour. The next event of the Philadelphia PGA calendar is the Pro-Junior Championship at Concord Country Club this Thursday August 10.

Qualifiers: 5  Alternates: 4

QUALIFIERS
 1   Brian Bergstol     Shawnee Inn and GR         34-34--68 -2  
 2   Billy Stewart      ACE Club                   33-36--69 -1  
 3   Jakob Gerney       Trump National GC- Philly  33-37--70 E   
 T4  Andrew Turner      Sunnybrook GC              34-37--71 +1  
 T4  Jordan Gibbs       Gulph Mills GC             35-36--71 +1  


ALTERNATES - IN ORDER
 T4  Greg Matthias      Tavistock CC               35-36--71 +1  
 7   Rusty Harbold      Philadelphia Cricket Club  35-37--72 +2  
 T8  Mike Furey         Mahoning Valley CC         37-36--73 +3  
 T8  James Hoke         The Union League GC        36-37--73 +3  


DID NOT QUALIFY
 10  Tony Perla         Philadelphia Cricket Club  35-36--71 +1  
 11  Ashley Grier       Overbrook GC               38-35--73 +3  
 T12 David Henry        Huntingdon Valley CC       38-36--74 +4  
 T12 Shawn Matthews     Huntingdon Valley CC       36-38--74 +4  
 T12 Michael Little     Lookaway GC                35-39--74 +4  
 T12 Jordan Shuey       West Shore CC              38-36--74 +4  
 T12 Brett Melton       Radley Run CC              33-41--74 +4  
 T12 Matt Episcopo      Pine Valley GC             37-37--74 +4  
 T18 Robby Bruns        Merion GC                  38-37--75 +5  
 T18 Pat Butkus         Overbrook GC               38-37--75 +5  
 T18 Sean Szerencsits   Southmoore GC              36-39--75 +5  
 T18 Isaac Bickel       Sunnybrook GC              37-38--75 +5  
 T22 Michael Caldwell   Bidermann GC               39-37--76 +6  
 T22 Rick LeBeau        Gulph Mills GC             36-40--76 +6  
 T22 Kevin Kraft        Bumble Bee Hollow          36-40--76 +6  
 T22 Carson Solien      Aronimink GC               41-35--76 +6  
 T22 Corey McAlarney    Squires GC                 38-38--76 +6  
 T22 Zac Oakley         Heritage Shores GC         36-40--76 +6  
 T22 Jeff Herb          Waynesborough CC           38-38--76 +6  
 T22 Sam Ambrose        Aronimink GC               38-38--76 +6  
 T30 Andrew Geesey      Meadia Heights GC          39-38--77 +7  
 T30 Chris Duckett      Saucon Valley CC           38-39--77 +7  
 T30 Kevin Nicholson    White Manor CC             40-37--77 +7  
 T30 Chris Wright       Llanerch CC                36-41--77 +7  
 T30 Jesse Hackett      Kennett Square G & CC      38-39--77 +7  
 T35 Matthew Hillier    Pine Valley GC             38-40--78 +8  
 T35 Andrew Hill        Manufacturers GCC          40-38--78 +8  
 T35 Alex Knoll         Bethlehem GC               37-41--78 +8  
 T35 Dan Marz           Huntingdon Valley CC       34-44--78 +8  
 T39 Jim Parella        Blue Bell CC               39-40--79 +9  
 T39 Brendan White      Trenton CC                 40-39--79 +9  
 T39 Brad Sanders       Tavistock CC               39-40--79 +9  
 T39 Tyler Franks       Merion GC                  39-40--79 +9  
 T39 Kevin Fairchild    Greate Bay GC              38-41--79 +9  
 T44 Gary Mackay        Trump National GC- Philly  38-42--80 +10 
 T44 Aaron Hartman      Philadelphia Cricket Club  41-39--80 +10 
 T44 Andrew Pierson     Camden County GA           41-39--80 +10 
 T44 Kevin Rossi        Lookaway GC                37-43--80 +10 
 T44 David Sandberg     Pine Valley GC             41-39--80 +10 
 T44 Vincent Kabaso     Cleveland Golf             35-45--80 +10 
 T50 Steve Frederick    Lehigh CC                  40-41--81 +11 
 T50 Matt Brown         Whitemarsh Valley CC       38-43--81 +11 
 T50 Trevor Bensel      Huntingdon Valley CC       40-41--81 +11 
 T53 Christian Castelli Philadelphia CC            40-42--82 +12 
 T53 Sean Furman        Atlantic City CC           42-40--82 +12 
 T53 Brian Dionisio     Aronimink GC               43-39--82 +12 
 T53 Tyler Canaday      The Springhaven Club       42-40--82 +12 
 T57 Jacob Hoffer       The Union League GC        41-42--83 +13 
 T57 Brandon Kuzmich    Merion GC                  42-41--83 +13 
 T57 Jason Howard       Tavistock CC               41-42--83 +13 
 T57 Ryan McLean        Saucon Valley CC           41-42--83 +13 
 T57 Peter Clarke       Manufacturers GCC          41-42--83 +13 
 T57 Sean Schwarze      GolfTEC - Lehigh Valley    42-41--83 +13 
 T63 Branden Allen      Sunnybrook GC              43-41--84 +14 
 T63 Evan Mitchell      Spring Mill CC             41-43--84 +14 
 65  Tony Shields       ACE Club                   46-39--85 +15 
 T66 Matthew Walbert    Saucon Valley CC           43-43--86 +16 
 T66 Joe Shapley        Indian Springs GC          41-45--86 +16 
 T66 Andrew Heffernan   St. Davids GC              41-45--86 +16 
 69  Greg Wingate       Merion GC                  42-46--88 +18 
 70  Ron Pine           Whitemarsh Valley CC       42-51--93 +23