Match Play Championship Down to the Final Four
Concordville, Pa. – The third and fourth rounds of the 2017 Match Play Championship were played on a near perfect fall day at beautiful Concord Country Club. After surviving the tournament’s first day, 16 players returned in hopes of continuing their success for a second consecutive day.
The morning highlights included the continued run of Mike Furey (Mahoning Valley Country Club) who upset the top overall seed Brett Melton (Radley Run Country Cub) 4&3 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in his career. That was the only upset in the morning matches as the remaining seven matches all went to the higher seeded player.
After grabbing a quick lunch, the remaining 8 players returned to the golf course for their quarterfinal matches. The first player to punch his ticket to the semifinals was Trevor Bensel (Huntingdon Valley Country Club), who as the 36th seed is the lowest remaining seed to advance. Bensel managed to advance after beating match play veteran Jakob Gerney (Trump National – Philadelphia) 4&3. The next player to join the semifinals was Brian Bergstol (Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort) who battled Ingraham to a 1-up victory which included both players making impressive birdies putts on their 18th hole. Next to join the semifinals was Andrew Turner (Sunnybrook Golf Club) who battled from three holes down to overtake Quinn and win the match 1-up. The final player to advance to the third day was Greg Farrow (Deerwood Country Club). Farrow battled Furey through four extra holes to ultimately win the match on the 22nd hole.
The third and final day of the Match Play Championship will be held Thursday, October 20. The final four players will get their semifinal matches underway at 9:00 AM with the championship match set to be played in the afternoon.
Despite not making it past today’s third round, Brett Melton still managed to earn enough points to secure his first Omega Player of the Year point’s title. Melton will be formally recognized for his performance at Monday’s Fall Meeting at Cedarbrook Country Club.
The Philadelphia PGA continues to thank the membership and staff of Concord Country Club for their support of the Match Play Championship. The Section also thanks our tournament sponsors Omega and the PGA Tour for supporting the Philadelphia PGA tournament program.