A Chronicle of the Philadelphia Section PGA and its Members by Peter C. Trenham 2000 to 2009 2000 Jack Connelly was elected president of the PGA of America and John DiMarco won the New Jersey Open 2001 Terry Hatch won the stroke play and the match play tournaments at the PGA winter activities in Port St. Lucie 2002 The Section hosted the PGA of America national meeting at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel in Philadelphia 2003 Jim Furyk won the U.S. Open, Greg Farrow won the N.J. Open, Tom Carter won 3 times on the Nationwide Tour 2004 Pete Oakley won the Senior British Open 2005 Will Reilly was the PGA of America’s “Junior Golf Leader” and Rich Steinmetz was on the PGA Cup Team 2006 Jim Furyk played on his fifth straight Ryder Cup Team, won the Vardon Trophy and two PGA Tour events 2007 In October the Philadelphia PGA and the Variety Club broke ground on the Variety Club’s 3-hole golf course 2008 Tom Carpus won the PGA of America’s Horton Smith Award and Hugh Reilly received the President Plaque 2009 Mark Sheftic finished second in the PGA Professional National Championship and played on the PGA Cup Team 2000 Jim Furyk won the Doral Open on the Doral Golf Resort’s Blue Course in the first week of March. The course nicknamed the “Blue Monster” had been toughened in 1996 by adding 27 bunkers, which most of the play- ers didn’t care for. In 1999 the course had been reworked to its original Dick Wilson design, but now most of the players thought the course was too easy. The scores were low and Furyk took advantage of the changes. He put together rounds of 65, 67, 68 and 65, which added up to a 23 under par 265. Franklin Langham finished second at 267 and Nick Price was third at 270. David Duval and Shigeki Maruyama tied for fourth with 271s. First prize was $540,000 and the total payout was $3,000,000. The spring meeting of the Philadelphia Section was held at the DuPont Country Club on the first Monday of April. An item of interest was that major league tournament golf was back in the Section for the first time since the U.S. Open was at the Merion Golf Club in 1971. The PGA Tour’s SEI Pennsylvania Classic was being held at the Waynesborough Country Club in September and the U.S. Senior Open was scheduled for Saucon Valley Country Club in late June. Also there were two PGA Tour Buy.com tournaments being played in the Section that year. The new Steamtown Classic was scheduled for the first week of June near Scranton and the Hershey Open was to be played in early July. The Masters Tournament was played in the first full week of April and ended on the second Sunday. There were 95 entries from the list of invitees. Vijay Singh began with a 72 and a 67, which put him in a tie for the lead with Ernie Els. Saturday brought blustery winds and Singh put together a two under par 70 to take a three-stroke lead into the final round. Singh (278) shot a steady 69 on Sunday to win by three strokes over Els (281). First prize was $828,000. David Duval and Loren Roberts tied for third at 282. Jim Furyk tied for 14th at 289 and won $80,500. Ted Tryba missed the cut. Furyk was invited to the tournament for having finished in the top sixteen in the 1999 Masters Tournament and Tryba was invited off having been in the top 30 money winners on the PGA Tour in 1999. The Senior PGA Championship was held at the PGA National Golf Club in the middle of April. The tourna- ment was interrupted seven times by lightening and rain for a total of nearly 18 hours. In the end the tournament 1 was reduced to three rounds and it still took five days to complete that. Doug Tewell led from wire to wire with three rounds in the sixties. Tewell (201) shot rounds of 68, 66 and 67 to win by seven strokes. Tom Kite, Hale Irwin, Larry Nelson and Dana Quigley tied for second with eight under par 208 totals. First prize from the $1,800,000 purse was $324,000. All five of the Philadelphia Section members in the tournament made the cut. Ed Dougherty and Jay Sigel, who were regulars on the PGA Senior Tour, tied for 12th at 214 and they each won $33,200. Aronimink Golf Club professional Jim Masserio tied for 17th at 215 and won $20,563. Ken Peyre- Ferry (223), who had left the Little Mill Country Club to pursue the PGA Senior Tour, finished tied for 54th win- ning $3,728. Pete Oakley (225), who was now a part-owner of a newly opened golf course called The Rookery, won $3,400 for a 66th place tie. Jack Eckenrode, who was the owner of the Growcraft Golf Center Driving Range, had to withdraw before the tournament started because of a bad back. Dougherty was exempt for having finished in the top 15 in the tournament the year before and being in the top 50 money winners on the PGA Senior Tour. Sigel was exempt for being in the top 50 money winners on the PGA Senior Tour. Masserio, Peyre-Ferry, Oakley and Eckenrode were exempt for finishing in the top 55 in the PGA Senior Club Professional Champion- ship. Waynesborough Country Club hosted the local qualifying for the U.S. Open on the third Thursday of May. Cavaliers Country Club professional Dave McNabb led the scoring with a one-over-par 72. There were four open spots. Amateurs Anthony Sarko (73) Dan Terleski (74) and Vince Covello (75) won the other three places in the sectional qualifying. There were 24 entered at Waynesborough. Local qualifying for the U.S. Open was held at the Bucknell Golf Club on the third Thursday of May. Brian Kelly, who was in his first year as the head professional at the Bucknell Golf Club and Mike Molino, the assistant at the Huntsville Golf Club, picked up the two available spots with one over par 71s. Joe Daley, a native of Chestnut Hill, returned to his home area for the U.S. Open local qualifying and earned the medalist honors. Qualifying was at the Philadelphia Country Club on the fourth Monday of May. There were 110 pros and amateurs competing for eight spots at the sectional qualifying two weeks later. Daley, who was play- ing the PGA’s Buy.com Tour, turned in a three under par 68 to lead the field. Amateur Robin McCool and South Carolina’s Tom Shaw tied for second with 69s. Another pro, Michael Christie, was next with a 70. Eagle Lodge Country Club assistant John Spina, Links Golf Club assistant Vince Ramagli, Radnor Valley Country Club pro- fessional George Forster, Sr. and Georgia amateur Jedd McLuen won the next four places but they had to go extra holes with two other players. Spina, Ramagli and Forster survived by making pars on the first extra hole. Local qualifying for the U.S. Open was at the Chambersburg Country Club on the fourth Monday of May. Lebanon’s Greg Lesher, who was playing the PGA Buy.com Tour, and amateur William Smith picked up the first two places with even par 73s. Ted Sheftic’s son Mark Sheftic, who was playing the professional golf mini tours, won the third and last spot with a three-over-par 76. The PGA Tour’s Buy.com Steamtown Classic qualifying for Philadelphia Section members was held at the Glenmaura National Golf Club on the fourth Tuesday of May. The PGA Tour had provided three places in the tournament for Section members. Torresdale-Frankford Country Club assistant Jim Jones was low with a two- under-par 69. The other two spots went to Indian Spring Golf Club professional David Quinn (72) and Overbrook Golf Club professional Stu Ingraham (73). On the last Tuesday of May Rick Osberg, who was now a part owner of the Kimberton Family Golf Driving Range, aced Sunnybrook Golf Club’s 15th hole on the way to winning the Rittenhouse Trust Golf Classic. Osberg completed the round in 69 strokes, which put him in at three-way tie with Stu Ingraham and Brian Kelly, who also posted three under par 69s. Osberg went on to win the first place check of $17,500 in a sudden-death playoff. David Quinn, George Forster, Sr. and St. Davids Golf Club assistant David Coates tied for fourth with 70s. There were 150 entries and the course measured 6,823 yards. The first prize was being increased $2,500 each year by the Rittenhouse Trust company. Open qualifying for the PGA Tour’s Steamtown Classic was at the Glen Oak Country Club on the fifth Tues- day of May. Because Memorial Day was on that Monday the course wasn’t available until the next day. There were 12 openings up for grabs. Mike Molino and the host professional Cleve Coldwater had sponsor exemptions. 2 The PGA Buy.com Tour’s first annual Steamtown Classic was played at the Glenmaura National Golf Club on the first four days of June. Ian Leggatt (276) shot a course record tying 65 in the last round. Three putts on the last green left him one stroke out of a tie for the top spot with Jeff Hart (72-70-65-68—275) who had tied the course record the day before.