RIVERSIDE, Iowa – The Iowa PGA Professional Championship presented by Cadillac, Club Car, and Omega finished 36 holes of the 54 holes Monday afternoon at Amana Colonies Club. This tournament offers a handful of exemptions into PGA Tour qualifier events, PGA Tour events and PGA of America events.
In the Open Division, Brown Deer’s Sean McCarty holds a one-stroke lead over Dustin Toner from Servicelink. McCarty carded a 2-under-par 142 after two rounds. McCarty made the most of the second round by making a push for the top spot on the leaderboard. Toner shot 1-over par 73 to stay in contention. Chad Proehl and Jeff Schmid finished tied for third despite Proehl leading the field after the first round.
In the Senior Division, Proehl (+1), Schmid (+1) and Curt Schnell are tied for first. Schnell sits at 1-over par for the Open Division as well. Schnell put on an impressive display in his second round of action firing a 2-under-par 70 following his three-over-par 75 earlier this morning. They all lead the rest of the pack by two strokes with Judd Gibb (+3) right behind them.
In the Super Senior Division, Schnell (+1) holds the lead by 12 strokes with Harvest Point’s Jeff Smith in second. Smith is 12-over-par heading into the second day of action. EK Golf’s Jim Henry improved during his second round to claim third carding a 6-over-par 78 to finish the day.
The Iowa PGA also crowned its Inaugural Women’s Professional Champion. Sarah Bidney from the Wakonda Club in Des Moines carded a 7-over-par round to claim the title. Sarah defeated Sherry Newsome of Indian Creek Country Club by 1-stroke. Congratulations Sarah!
“We are honored to host the Iowa PGA Professional Championship”, Amana Colonies Golf Club PGA Professional, Stephen Kahler said. “We’ve done a lot of work to the facility over the past three years. We are really excited to showcase the changes we’ve made in such a prestigious event.”
The Iowa PGA would like to thank Kahler and his staff at Amana Colonies Golf Club for their wonderful hospitality and support in hosting this event.
What’s On The Line Tomorrow:
The top-5 finishers at this tournament will earn exemption into the 53rd PGA Professional National Championship at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas, April 26-29, 2020. The Top-20 finishers from the PGA Professional National Championship earn exemptions into the 102nd PGA Championship on May 11-17, 2020 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, California, for the first time in course history.
In addition to exemption into the 2020 PGA Professional National Championship, the winner of the Iowa PGA Professional Championship earns an exemption into the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run. Darin Fisher represented the Iowa PGA Section in the 2019 John Deere Classic a few weeks ago. Additionally, second and third place finishers earn exemptions into the John Deere Classic Open Qualifier next year.
For more information and schedule updates, fans can follow the Iowa PGA on Facebook (facebook.com/IowaPGASection) and Twitter (@iowapga). Fans can also get a behind the scenes look on Instagram (@iowapga).