Sunnybrook's Andrew Turner earns $100,000 payday on home course

As with many club pros who have a morning tee time in a Philadelphia Section PGA event, Andrew Turner completed his round Tuesday and returned to the golf shop at his club to do some work.

Turner's day would be far from ordinary, however. Work was at Sunnybrook Golf Club, site of the Haverford Trust Philadelphia PGA Classic, where he waited for play to finish to see if he would win the $100,000 first prize - the largest winning purse in any PGA of America section event in the nation.

There were some close calls, but Turner's score of 4-under-par 68 held up. The Sunnybrook assistant pro, who finished second last year, celebrated his victory by holding up an oversize check for quite a bit more than he won in the eight years he spent on the professional mini-tours.

"I think the biggest check I ever won before this was five or six thousand bucks," Turner said. "So this is a little jump.

"But waiting this year was better than last year. Last year, I shot a 69. I waited about 15 minutes and a 67 was posted and I went home. There was no stressing. I'd rather stress out all day and either lose or win than not stress out about it at all."

Turner, 33, had an up-and-down round of eight birdies and four bogeys. He actually went up to the 18th at 5 under but three-putted the last hole, lipping out on a six-foot par putt, and finished just after 12:30 p.m.

Several players in the afternoon groups threatened Turner's 4-under figure. Justin Riegel of French Creek got to 4 under through 12 holes but bogeyed four of his last six. Jakob Gerney of Trump National-Philadelphia birdied 11, 12, and 13 to get to 3 under but bogeyed No. 14 and carded a 70, good for second place.

Regents Glen's Steve Swartz and Bidermann's Michael Caldwell also got as close as 3 under and finished in a nine-way tie at 71.

Turner monitored the leader board most of the afternoon.

"The only thing that kind of kept me a little calm was that most of the guys got to 3 or 4 under through 12, and 13-14-15 are just such a tough stretch of golf holes," he said. "It's hard to go through there at better than par, so that kind of kept me a little less stressed.

"Then one of our members sent me a text saying that Steve had bogeyed 17 and I was like, 'OK, I guess I just won a golf tournament.' "

Originally from Lancaster, Turner played college golf at Liberty, turned pro, and played on mini-tours mostly up and down the East Coast. In a six-year span, he lived in Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida before settling in Honey Brook, Chester County.

After what he called "a pretty bad season" in 2014, Turner said, he decided to move to the club professional side. He worked at Whitford and moved to Sunnybrook, where he has worked for three months.

Now he, his wife, and their 5-month-old child have a little extra money.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "But I don't know if it'll really hit me until I see it in the bank account."

The Results

Andrew Turner, Sunnybrook . . . 33-35-68

Jakob Gerney, Trump Natl-Phila. . . 36-34-70

George Forster, Radnor Valley. . . 35-36-71

Corey McAlarney, Squires. . . 36-35-71

Dave Quinn, Philmont. . . 36-35-71

Stu Ingraham, M-Golf. . . 35-36-71

Hugh Matthis, Tavistock. . . 35-36-71

Greg Farrow, Deerwood. . . 35-36-71

Greg Matthias, Tavistock. . . 35-36-71

Steve Swartz, Regents Glen. . . 35-36-71

Michael Caldwell, Bidermann. . . 34-37-71

Chris Gray, Rehoboth Beach. . . 36-36-72

Orist Wells, Pitman. . . 37-35-72

Shawn Matthews, Huntingdon Val. . . 35-37-72

Kevin Kraft, Bumble Bee Hollow. . . 34-38-72

Justin Riegel, French Creek. . . 34-38-72

Curtis Kirkpatrick, Indian Springs. . . 36-36-72

Terry Hertzog, York. . . 35-37-72

Brian Kelly, Bucknell. . . 36-37-73

Jordan Gibbs, Gulph Mills. . . 36-37-73

Scott Reilly, Phila. Country. . . 38-35-73

Dave McNabb, Applebrook. . . 38-35-73

Mark Sheftic, Merion. . . 36-37-73

Sam Ambrose, Aronimink. . . 37-36-73

Zac Oakley, Heritage Shores. . . 38-35-73

Tony Perla, Phila. Cricket. . . 35-39-74

Cavan Birmingham, Moorestown 35-38-73

jjuliano@phillynews.com

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