Shawnee’s Bergstol Wins Doylestown Open on the First Playoff Hole
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – As the calendar turned to August, the Philadelphia PGA once again returned to Doylestown Country Club for the annual Doylestown Open. The one-day stroke-play tournament featured more than 90 Philadelphia PGA Professionals and served as the seventh event in the race for the Omega Player of the Year presented by the Haverford Trust Company.
Early in the day, current Philadelphia PGA Omega Player of the Year points leader Michael Little (Lookaway Golf Club) got things going after posting an impressive 4-under (68). Little posted back to back birdies on his front nine to make the turn at 2-under. As he made his way back to the clubhouse, Little added an eagle on the par-5 14th hole as well as another birdie on the short par-4 16th to reach 5-under. However, an untimely bogey on the par-5 18th hole dropped Little back to 4-under and in the end that proved to be a costly stroke.
As play continued, word started to spread that there was a player on the course who was having an impressive round. Brian Bergstol (Shawnee Inn & Resort) got off to a flat start but was able to turn things around on the par-4 6th hole carding his first birdie of the day. Bergstol added two additional birdies over his next three holes to make the turn at 3-under. After a couple of bogeys on holes 10 and 12, Bergstol was able to right the ship and posted three consecutive birdies on holes 13-15 before adding a final birdie on the par-5 18th hole to finish with a 5-under (67) and take over the clubhouse lead.
“I haven’t been playing on that well recently,” commented Bergstol on his round. “I have been very inconsistent with my driver and the only time I have been able to practice is during events. Today I was able to recover nicely from some of those poor drives and made some putts which helped a lot.”
Playing a couple hours after Bergstol, a second player was able to get to the 5-under (67) mark. Ben Schlesman (Manufacturers Golf & Country Club) is in his second year as an Assistant Professional in the Philadelphia Section. Like Bergstol, Schlesman played his outward nine in 3-under par after posting four birdies and one bogey. As he played the inward nine, Schlesman added four additional birdies but paired with two more bogeys Schlesman also finished at 5-under (67). Schlesman’s eight birdies were the most of any player in the field.
With no other players able to match or pass Bergstol and Schlesman, the pair headed back to the 18th hole for a sudden death playoff, the second consecutive Philadelphia PGA points event to be settled this way. Both players missed the fairway with their tee shots, although both managed to put themselves in a good position after their second shots came up just short of the par-5 green. In the end, Bergstol was able to get up and down for birdie giving him the edge over Schlesman as well as his first points win of the 2019 season.
“It always feels great to get a win,” said Bergstol. “I hope I can continue to build off of this round, especially with some big events coming up Assistants Championship and the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic. I want to thank everyone at Doylestown Country Club for hosting us today.”
A familiar name took home the top spot in the tournament’s senior division. Dave Quinn (Laurel Creek Country Club) managed to overcome a bogey on the first hole, his only blemish of the day, to finish the tournament at 2-under (70), one shot ahead of a trio of competitors giving him his fourth senior win of the 2019 season. Finishing just behind Quinn were Dave McNabb (Applebrook Golf Club), John Pillar (Country Club of Woodloch Springs), and Don Allan (Burlington Country Club).
The Section would like to thank the membership and staff of Doylestown Country Club for their support of this event as well as tournament sponsor Jani-King and the PGA Tour.
