PGA Professional Dirk Schultz Wins the 2013 Middle Atlantic PGA Professional Championship

(Williamsburg, Va.) – Dirk Schultz, PGA Head Golf Professional at Beaver Creek Country Club in Hagerstown, Maryland, wins the 88th Middle Atlantic PGA Professional Championship presented by Club Car, Mercedes and OMEGA held at Colonial Williamsburg’s Golden Horseshoe Golf Club.  Schulz finished his third and final round on Golden Horseshoe’s Gold course with a 3-under par 68 to take his 54-hole total to 10-under par and win by one shot over Sean English, PGA Teaching Professional at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland.  For his win, Schultz receives a check for $10,000 and his name engraved on the MAPGA’s Tom Utterbeck trophy.  

Dirk Schultz

This is Schultz’ first MAPGA Professional Championship title and he said that he feels “just tickled to death to finally win.”  He started his first round of the tournament on the Gold course with a 5-under par 66 which was low for the Gold course that day.  This score put Schultz in a tie for second overall.  In round two, on the Green course, he continued to play steady; gaining two more shots on the field and taking the lead at 7-under par.  Shultz’ final round started much like his second round with two birdies and six pars on the front nine.  On the back nine, he carded birdies at holes #13 and #15 and each birdie putt was within 4 feet of the hole.  “I just stayed focused on making birdies and pars and not worrying about what other players were doing on the course,” said Shultz on his game plan for the day.  A person who called himself a “scoreboard watcher”, Schultz realized that keeping tabs on other players is not what he needs to do to win tournaments.

Sean English

For Schultz, it’s probably a good thing that he didn’t have a pulse on the field as fellow PGA Professional Sean English of Westminster, Md. really made a charge for the lead by shooting a new course record of 64 in his final round.  English started the day at 2-under par which placed him four groups ahead of the lead group.  His play on the front nine put him into a zone with an eagle on the par five, second hole and follow-up birdies on holes #3, #6 and #7.  The birdie on seven was especially impressive as the par 3 was dead into the wind and playing 206 yards.  On the back nine, English kept his bogey-free round going by adding two more birdies on holes #13 and #18.  “I was keeping an eye on the scoreboard throughout the round and knew that I had to keep making some more birdies to catch up with (Schultz),” said English on his focus. “Never, did I think about shooting the course record, so it’s a nice surprise.”

Schultz and English will join 13 other MAPGA Professionals next year in the 2014 PGA Professional National Championship (PNC) that will be played at The Dunes Golf and Beach Club and Grand Dunes Resort in Myrtle Beach, SC.  Out of this 15-person contingent, three are past champions of the PGA PNC – Wayne DeFrancesco of Woodmont Country Club (Rockville, Md.), David Hutsell of Elkridge Club (Baltimore, Md.), and Chip Sullivan of Hanging Rock Golf Club (Salem, Va.) – and have earned exemptions into next year’s PNC.

Below are final results of the top 18 players.  *denotes PNC qualifiers; **denotes exempt players

1 Dirk Schultz* 66-70-68--204 -10
2 Sean English* 67-74-64--205 -9
3 Adam Decker* 71-69-68--208 -6
4 Chip Sullivan** 69-72-69--210 -4
5 Jim Estes* 67-70-74--211 -3
T6 Rick Schuller* 72-69-71--212 -2
T6 Brendon Post* 68-71-73--212 -2
T8 John O'Leary* 73-71-70--214 E
T8 Jon Corliss* 74-70-70--214 E
T10 Pleasant Hughes* 71-71-73--215 +1
T10 Daniel Kinn* 68-71-76--215 +1
T12 Jody Rokisky* 72-68-76--216 +2
T12 Brice Busse* 69-70-77--216 +2
T14 David Hutsell** 69-77-71--217 +3
T14 Phil Bowers 69-76-72--217 +3
T14 Mike Gooden 73-71-73--217 +3
T14 Clark Sisson 70-72-75--217 +3
T14 Daniel Thore 69-72-76--217 +3
 
Held at Colonial Williamsburg’s Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, the MAPGA Professional Championship is the premier event of the MAPGA and is a 54-hole stroke play competition.  180 PGA Professionals from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C., and West Virginia are competing for a $60,000 purse and the Tom Utterbeck trophy.  For a fact sheet on the tournament, please click here.

Contact: NEOhioGolf@yahoo.com