PGA pros return to Ballyowen for Pro-Am charity tournament

| 29 Sep 2011 | 08:54

Hardyston - The PGA Tour Saturday Series Pro-Am returned to the Ballyowen Golf Course. Two PGA Tour golf pros used the 2006 PGA Tour Saturday Series Pro-Am as a warm up for the PGA Championship. Jeff Brehaut, who has played in 17 2006 PGA Tour events, made 8 cuts and had a best finish 3rd earning over $3 million in his career, and Jay Delsing, who has played in 3 2006 events, made the cut once, with best finishes of 2nd and 3rd also earning over $3 million in his career were the PGA Tour pros teaming up with local golfers for this year’s event. The PGA Tour Saturday Series Pro-Am pairs amateur participants with PGA Tour professionals to compete for the local championship. The 18-hole competition is made up of two amateur teams partnered with the PGA Tour Pros in a “total net birdies” point format. The Saturday Series has been part of the PGA Tour for 9 years and has gained a reputation with the pros for being fun and relaxing competition in which they share their knowledge of the game with their amateur playing partners. This year’s amateur golfers competed against over 100 other golfers in a variety of Crystal Springs Golf Resort events to qualify to play in the PGA Tour Saturday Series event. The qualifies included Hamburg’s Tom Gowrie, Patrick Egan who resides in Parsippany, Jim Miller a West Caldwell resident and Dave Cobb who’s home town is Morristown, teamed up with PGA Tour Pro Jay Delsing to make up the Blue Team. PGA Pro Jeff Brehaut joined local amateurs Mike Vedral from Hamburg, Joe Stefavell also of Hamburg, Dale Kelly who resides in Vernon and Chidambaram Krishnamoorthy a Denville native as the Red Team. The PGA Tour Saturday Pro-AM was created by PGA Tour veteran Gary Hallberg, and has become a favorite of amateurs for several reasons. The Tournament field is limited to a maximum of 88 amateurs and 22 PGA Tour pros to create a more intimate atmosphere and increase pace-of-play. PGA Tour players are involved in all of the day’s activities and each amateur team gets to play nine holes each with two different professionals, not just one. Proceeds from the PGA Tour Saturday Series Pro-Am benefits charities across North America. Hallberg Golf Productions, which owns the Saturday Series Pro-Am, has committed 25 percent of its profits to The First Tee, which is dedicated to introducing the sport of golf to children of all economic backgrounds. Fort he second year in a row the Red Team emerged as the Saturday Pro-Am Series winner. Their reward will be the opportunity to defend their win against another team later in the season. The PGA Tour Saturdays PGA Tour Pro-Am Series at Ballyowen was photographed by Golf Event Photos. The photographs of the event can be viewed by visiting the Golf Event Photos web site at www.golfeventphotos.com. To learn more about the PGA Tour Saturday Pro-Am Series the Ballyowen Golf Club visit their web sites at www.saturdayseries.com, and the Crystal Springs Golf Resort at www.crystalgolfresort.com. (Article and photos provided by Dr. John T. Whiting).