LINCOLN, RI – Rich Berberian, Jr., PGA (Vesper CC) carded a 2-under, 70 today at Kirkbrae CC, to take a 7-stroke lead into the final round of the 103rd NEPGA Section Championship. The final round will be held on Thursday, September 7th at Kirkbrae CC with tee times starting at 8:00am. Berberian coasted in round one, coming into today at 10-under and is now 12-under overall (129).
Berberian made birdies on hole 5 and 9 to make the turn at 2-under. He traded a birdie on the par-3 15th hole with a bogey on 18 to finish out the round at 2-under overall.
Eric Barlow, PGA (Winchester CC) held onto his second place spot on the leaderboard, shooting 1-under today to move to 5-under, 136, overall. Barlow started the day strong with a birdie on the opening par-4 at Kirkbrae CC. After a bogey on the 5th hole, Barlow birdied holes 6 and 8 to make the turn at 2-under. He added birdies on 10 and 12, but a double-bogey on 13 and a bogey on 15 put him at 1-under overall to clinch the second place spot heading into the final round.
Rounding out the top three at the end of round 2 is Bob Bruso, PGA (Blackstone National GC) at 4-under, 137. Bruso came into round two tied for 10th place after shooting 1-under, 68 in his opening round at Agawam Hunt on Tuesday. He shot an impressive 3-under, 69 at Kirkbrae CC today to climb up the leaderboard into solo 3rd place.
Seul-Ki Hawley, PGA (Winchester Country Club), captured her first NEPGA Section Women’s Championship on Wednesday at Kirkbrae Country Club. She finished with a final score of 6-over, 147. Hawley came into the second round at 4-over, after shooting a 73, at Agawam Hunt Club on Tuesday. She tallied twelve pars and one birdie for a final first round score of 73. She finished the second round at Kirkbrae CC with a score of 2-over, 74. Hawley had an amazing front nine, netting seven pars and headed into the back nine at 2-over. She earned her first NEPGA Section Women’s Championship with a total score of 6-over, 147.
“Today we were at a new golf course and my mentality was to try to figure things out on the course today, it was a brand new day,” said Hawley. “It was a close match yesterday… so early on I knew I had to make sure I played steady golf”.
The NEPGA Professionals who finished within the top 60 scores will continue play in the final round on Thursday at Kirkbrae Country Club to determine who will come out on top as the 103nd NEPGA Section Champion.
A tremendous thank you goes out to Director of Golf and COO at Kirkbrae Country Club, Mike Bradshaw, PGA and the entire Kirkbrae Country Club and Head Golf Professional at Agawam Hunt, Lou Rivers, PGA and the entire Agawam Hunt staff for serving as hosts of the Championship.
The 103nd Section Championship is presented by Club Car, Rolex, Mohegan Sun, Avidia Bank, Golf Channel, Nike, the PGA TOUR, Corebridge Financial, Titleist, Taylormade, Callaway, Gallagher, and Footjoy.