Kiawah Island – A Charleston Gem- Spring Golf at the Shore
- Valley of the Sun – Arizona
- RESULTS:
- Philly PGA
- PPGS
- GAP/Anthracite Golf Association
Read the full version of Golf Pennsylvania – Golf Northeast Spring 2021 News
KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Moved to October 8 – 11
By MIKE KERN
As many if not most had anticipated happening, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship that was scheduled to be held at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square from June 25-28 has been moved due to the ongoing uncertainty over the Coronavirus pandemic.
This, needless to say, is hardly the first golf tournament that has been forced to deal with this global crisis.
The new dates are Oct. 8-11. Provided, of course, that it is safe and responsible to do so by that time. We can only hope that our everyday lives are back to some sort of normalcy by then.
“In this unique and unsettling time, it became evident that finding new dates … was a prudent choice for the LPGA players, the local community, Aronimink membership and our staff,” said PGA of
America President Suzy Whaley. “Throughout the process of making this decision, we appreciated the support we received from our friends at KPMG and the LPGA. Collectively, we remain resolute in our commitment to this Championship as well as helping future generations of women to be more successful on and off the course.”
This event is one of the LPGA’s five majors.
“The PGA of America will work closely with public health officials at the national, state and county levels throughout championship week,” the PGA said in a statement. “The health and safety of spectators, volunteers, rules officials and staff remains the top priority.”
And no one will know for some time whether or not fans — or how many — will be allowed on the grounds. This whole thing is a fluid situation. And everyone is just trying to make the best of it.
This Championship, the second-oldest on the LPGA Tour, was played from 1994-2004 at DuPont
Country Club in Wilmington, Del., with McDonald’s as the title sponsor.
KPMG, a global accounting firm, took over that role five years ago.
The LPGA has targeted July 15th to restart its season at the Dow Great Lakes Invitational in Michigan. The PGA Tour is hoping to begin a month earlier, in Texas, but without fans for the first four events.
The ShopRite Classic, a fixture at the South Jersey Shore, will be the LPGA’s third tournament back, from July 31-Aug. 2 at Seaview just across the bay from Atlantic City. It was originally scheduled for its traditional date of the last week in May.
The U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, which was supposed to be hosted by Philadelphia Cricket Club in mid May, was cancelled. Here’s hoping they can get it back here at some point in the future, since it’s such a wonderful venue.
The men’s PGA Championship, in case you forgot, is also coming to Aronimink in 2026.
Brooks Koepka Captures Second Consecutive PGA of America Player of the Year Award
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Golfing in the footsteps of Legends
By Sean Fawcett
If you’re looking for a great little golfing getaway where you can get to play in the very footsteps of some of the game’s greatest champions, try teeing it up and shooting for the flags at The Poconos golf courses of Shawnee-on-the-Delaware, Wolf Hollow and Great Bear Golf Club.
A fantastic, and famous, place to do things like hiking, camping, boating and river rafting, The Eastern Pennsylvania region right on, and along, the beautiful Delaware River, Shawnee, Wolf Hollow(also known as Water Gap Golf Club) and Jack Nicklaus’ Great Bear GC provide players and golf enthusiasts from near and far and around the world with some of the very best golf in some of the most scenic and idyllic settings that any golfer of any age and would be sure to enjoy and remember and want to go back and play again and again and again.
Perhaps the most picturesque course in the whole, and legendary, Delaware River and Water Gap Region is the iconic Shawnee-on-the-Delaware. Host of the 1938 PGA Championship won by Paul Runyan over Sam Snead, Shawnee opened in 1911 with the first 18 holes of its now 27 designed by World Golf Hall of Fame architect A.W. Tillinghast, architect of Winged Foot and Baltusrol. Shawnee’s undulating greens and lush fairways and the historic Shawnee Inn was, many say, the very place where the idea of a professional golf tour, the PGA, were originally planned. A totally unique and wonderful island golf course, and the first course designed by Tillinghast, resort owner CC Worthington hosted a professional tournament in 1911 which then after became The Shawnee Open which became one of the first events after the PGA was formally founded. Two-time defending US Open Champion John J. McDermott from Philadelphia and Atlantic City Country Club, America’s first native-born US Open champion, won the Shawnee Open in 1913. Band leader Fred Waring, a world-famous entertainer, purchased the Buckwood Inn in 1943 and renamed it The Shawnee Inn. Waring brought in celebrities to vacation at and perform like Bob Hope and Lucille Ball and the game’s best players to play and compete at including a young Arnold Palmer who, as it would turn out would meet his first, and long-time, wife Winnie Walzer, whose family were members of Shawnee, at the club. Adding to the already incredible legacy at Shawnee, Palmer’s fellow Hall of Famer, and multiple US Open champion Hale Irwin, won the 1967 NCAA Championship held at Shawnee.
Shawnee offers many great Stay-and-Play packages including overnight accommodations, a full breakfast and 18 holes of golf on Shawnee Inn’s 27 hole golf course year-round.
Shawnee’s downriver neighbor, located just a short walk from the Appalachian Trail and just a few miles off Route 80, the mountainous Water Gap Golf Club, or Wolf Hollow, is another great place to play some great golf where some of golf’s greatest players ever to play also played. Walking the fairways of Wolf Hollow, opened nearly a hundred years ago(1922), you can almost feel the spirit of maybe the game’s greatest, and most entertaining, professionals, Walter Hagan. Hagan, third all-time in major championship wins to only Jack Nicklaus’ 18 and Tiger Woods’ 15, won the 1927 Eastern Open, one the professional tour’s top stops in the PGA’s early days of
the 1920’s which Water Gap Golf Club hosted from 1926 to 1928. Players today get to test their mettle, and accuracy, as they shoot for the short, and postage-stamped, 120 yard par 3 4th hole which Hagen, winner of 11 major championship tournaments, nearly threw away his ’27 Eastern Open triumph by over-shooting the green and then taking an almost inconceivable 11 on. Playing from an elevated tee to an elevated green with nearly 50 foot drops over and to the left, precision is the name of the game at the tricky little 4th, nick-named Hagen’s Folly ever since, is a shot-makers dream.
“Hagen is one of the biggest legends of our game,” said Wolf Hollow head PGA professional Bill Lee. “ It’s amazing that he played here and won here.”
Known for its hilly terrain, classic old-school style greens and resort clubhouse, Wolf Hollow is a must-play golf course for golfers who like to be challenged and love golf and its history.
And if history and great golf is your pleasure, then playing Great Bear Golf Club, designed by the game’s greatest major champion, and maybe the greatest player who ever lived, Jack Nicklaus, is a terrific treat, as well. One of The Golden Bear’s favorite designs, Great Bear GC integrates three lakes, several streams, and wetlands, with bridges and rolling terrain that is fun-to-play for golfers of all abilities. Playing a shade under 5,000yards from the front tees, and only about 6,100 to 6,500 from the middle tees(blue and gold), Great Bear Golf Club is a fun and player friendly track that’s ideal for any golfer of any ability. Rated a Top 8 Best Golf Course in Pennsylvania by GOLFWEEK magazine, and a Top 100 Women Friendly course in the country by GOLF FOR WOMEN magazine, with onvenient and affordable Stay-and-Play packages, Great Bear Golf Club, located in Stroudsburg, Pa, is, without-a-doubt, a great golf destination for everyone.10en Friendly Courses in the Country – Golf for GolfLink.com
“Only one golf course architect could do justice to the natural beauty at Great Bear Golf Club – the one known worldwide as The Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus. His 18-hole championship design demonstrates why he’s been considered the master of his game for decades. Nicklaus has taken the natural advantages of the site and worked harmoniously with them to create a course that, besides it’s play, is an experience in itself. Integrating the three lakes, several streams, wetlands, small bridges and rolling terrain, Nicklaus has created a course that presents itself differently to golfers of varying skill. For the experienced player, the course offers interesting challenges and pro tees that will bring out your strongest game. Yet it’s also designed to be a course with the ultimate in playability, ensuring enjoyable round after round, revealing its intricacies and craftsmanship the more you play it. Great Bear is destined to be one of the Golden Bear’s great ones.”
There are dozens of terrific, and maybe more famous, golfing meccas around the country to go and play, but if you want to play some of the most scenic, and serene, golf where legends like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Walter Hagen played, then the Delaware Water Gap Region in Eastern Pennsylvania is a place the place for you.
By Sean Fawcett
Symetra Tour Winner Min Lee – Golf Pennsylvania
By MIKE KERN
So, what’s the best thing you ever got for your birthday?
Well, whatever it was, it’s sure hard to top the gift that Min Lee gave to herself on June 2 at Raven’s Claw Golf Club in Pottstown.
As she was playing the 10th hole in the final round of the second annual 54-hold LPGA Symetra Tour’s Valley Forge Classic, the clock was striking midnight back home in her native Chinese Taipei. Which meant she had just turned 24 years old. And a few hours later, Lee was the champion after defeating Esther Lee on the first hole of a playoff.
“For the last couple of years, my experiences when I’ve played tournaments my birthday week … haven’t been very successful,” the winner said after taking the $18,750 first-place prize from the total $120,000 purse. “So it’s a great week for me. I think this kind of breaks that little record.”
Lee closed with a 5-under par 66 to finish at 15-under 198. She had missed a 6-foot birdie putt on 18 that would have ended things in regulation. On the first extra hole, back on 18, Lee needed only to two-putt from 12 feet for a par to secure the victory after her opponent found a greenside bunker on her approach and left herself a 20-footer coming out of the sand that she failed to convert.
It was Lee’s first win in the United States since her rookie season of 2014. She won twice last year in Asia.
After she three-putted for bogey at the 15th, Esther moved into a tie with a 12-foot bird at the next hole.
“I played a lot of good golf this week so that’s good news going forward,” said Esther, a four-time All-American from California. “A lot of positives come out of this.”
Perrine Delacour of France birdied three of the last four for a 67 to tie for thrd with Jenny Coleman, who finished fourth here in 2018 and played in the final group. She closed with a 68. Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece, had seven birds on the last day for a 65 that moved her from 53rd to 15th.
Brittany Benvenuto of Langhorne, a Symetra regular, had a 74 for a 213. New Hope’s Kellie Edelblut closed with a 72 for 215.
But the moment belonged to Lee, whose mother (Tsui Fen Chung) followed her the entire way.
“I didn’t really expect anything,” said Lee, who carded four straight birdies in the middle of her third round. “Low expectations gives me a lot of good things. It’s definitely a lot of pressure. I’m not saying I’m not nervous, but obviously I am. I just believe that if I keep trying to do what I want to do, what I need to do, everything right will come with it. So I’m just waiting for that … I just followed what the golf gods give me.”
She said she didn’t look at any leaderboards until the 18th.
“Obviously I could see it (then),” Lee explained. “I want it when everybody plays really good but I play better (by) a little bit. I hope everybody enjoyed watching golf this week. I hope they have different golf shots this week after they watch us.
“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence that I’m able to do this, because I’ve been down for a long time so I don’t know. I’m just confirming I’m going in the right direction, so I’m just going to keep it going on this path.”
Maybe it’s one of those kind of presents that can continue giving.
Lexi Thompson Wins Shoprite Classic – Golf Pennsylvania
This is where it had all began for Lexi Thompson. So maybe it was only fitting that nine years later, she was able to do something special that made her celebrated journey come full circle.
In 2010, Thompson made her professional debut on a sponsor’s exemption at the LPGA’s Shop Rite Classic. She was all of 15, with nothing but great things being predicted for her. On June 9 on the Donald Ross Bay Course at the Seaview Resort, she lifted a trophy for the seventh straight season by eagling the par-5 18th hole to earn a one-shot win over Jeongeun Lee6.
The week before at the Women’s U.S. Open, Lexi had finished runnerup behind Lee.
“It means the world to me to get this win here,” said Thompson, whose 11th career LPGA victory was worth $262,500, moving her over $1 million in 2019 earnings. “(That first appearance) was a great week memory-wise. But obviously there was a lot to learn.”
There always is. And the great ones always do.
One of the top-ranked Americans, she came back from a two-stroke deficit over the last three holes. She birdied 16, parred the short par 3 17th and then made a 20-footer for 3 to close it out. Lee6, the 36-hole leader, needed an eagle to tie but could only manage a bird. In windy conditions, Thompson ended with a 4-under par 67 for a 201 total. Lee6 had a third-round 70.
Thompson had three-putted 15 from just off the green for a bogey. But Lee6 bogeyed the 13th, 14th and 15th. Both birdied 16. Thompson, playing two groups ahead, had 190 yards to the green from a fluffy lie in the left rough on the home hole. She went with a pitching wedge, which she said is her “135 “ club. Not this time. Her ball rolled on and the rest was up to her putter, which cooperated.
“I got chills, like my hair on my arms was sticking up once I made the putt,” she said.
From the fairway, Lee6 saw her second shot kick right before finding the putting surface. But she had left herself some 45 feet, and the attempt slide by.
“It’s (still) amazing,” Lee6 acknowledged, through her interpreter/manager. “I’m pretty satisfied with finishing in second place.”
Of course after you’ve won a U.S. Open, you should be.
But Thompson now had her moment, to go with the ones from 2010.
“I didn’t play great the first year I was here,” she recalled. “Haven’t had too many successes here, honestly. I knew I was playing well coming into this event … Now (there’s) 2019 (too). There were huge crowds, even starting Friday. Us players, we really want to see that. The more people the better. I really thrive off people cheering and just feeling good. Even if I struggled early they were just picking me up, saying, ‘You’ve got this, come on, you can come back.’ Just to hear that support, it does help you out tremendously.
“I just really tried to find the positives. It’s a crazy game, and it can happen.”
And it’s indeed happened for her. Which can only be good for the sport, especially in this country.
“What role do I see (for myself)?” Thompson said. “Well, coming in I just really wanted to grow the game in general, just leave it in a better place than when I started. I love seeing little kids out there supporting the game and just following us. They don’t know how you’re playing. I could shoot 6-over and they’re like, ‘Great playing,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh no.’ But they’re so cute, and it’s just like they make the sport.
“If it wasn’t for the fans, the game wouldn’t be the same. It’s through the fans that I made it through adversity a couple of years ago (as her mom Judy battled cancer), and that I’m still chugging along and just looking at the positives in everything. I want to see little kids picking up a club at a younger age, and I think that’s what’s great about so many of the golf programs that are coming up now. I think it’s a great opportunity for these kids to learn a lot about themselves. It’s just a great game.”
Especially when you can pull one out the way that she did at the South Jersey shore. But maybe she was simply destined to do stuff like that. And at her tender age, the best could still be very much in front of her. Now wouldn’t that be something.
“I knew that I needed to work on my game, and what I needed to improve on,” she recalled. “I think that’s what we kind of learn every day we tee it up. I’ve definitely been through a lot. But a lot of (other) people have. The support team that I have around me, they’ve helped me so much just get through everything. Seeing my mom’s attitude in life has opened my eyes. It’s not that bad. It’s made me proud. The determination I’ve put into it, just to see it pay off means so much.
“I just want to show people that you can get through anything life throws at you. You just have to keep pushing through it. Just keep going and not give up, because if you do life will get at you and you’ll go downhill. Obviously we’re all human. We have emotions. We feel sad, depressed. But you have to be strong enough. I think that’s the most important thing.”
Spoken like a true champion. On the course and anywhere else the road might take her.
