Agostini on Golf: 2 locals in hunt at Pro National

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The PGA Professional National Championship is called the premier event for the sport's grassroots heroes.

The field is filled by club pros and teachers from throughout the country. They run their respective golf clubs, stock the shelves of their pro shops, book tee times and improve their members' swings, among many other tasks.

If the PGA Tour is Hollywood in the game's hierarchy, the club pros are positively Main Street.

Ron Agostini,
Bee Sports Columnist

Their jewel tournament, the 42nd PGA Pro National, concludes today in New Mexico, and two blue- collar stewards of the game with Modesto ties are in contention.

Marina's Eric Lippert, a former teammate of Matt Bettencourt's at Beyer High in the early 1990s, is tied for sixth. Mitch Lowe, the director of instruction at Del Rio Country Club for the last 7½ years, is tied for 28th.

These are nice progress reports, but the potential reward sparkles. The top 20 scorers after today's final round qualify for the PGA Championship, the year's fourth and final major, Aug. 13-16 at Hazeltine near Minneapolis.

"I'm an instructor now. Tour golf is no longer a goal, but playing in a major would be a thrill," Lowe said. "The top 20 would be great but I'm hoping to get into the top 10."

Lowe, 42, slogged for many years on golf's various mini-tours. He's been good enough to twice be named Northern California Player of the Year (2000 and '05), but not good enough to reach the game's big time.

No matter. Lowe can golf his ball whether he's trying to cure his customer's snap-hook or closing out a match on the 18th. He advanced to the PGA Pro National by placing in the top six of the Northern California Section Stroke Play last year.

Better still, Lowe took advantage of his chance Tuesday by negotiating Santa Fe Golf Club — one of the two Albuquerque area courses used for the tournament — in 67 Monday.

Lowe followed up the 67 with an even par 71 Tuesday at Twin Warriors, a one-bogey, one-birdie affair that he termed uneventful. His 75-67-71 — 213 leaves him eight strokes behind leader Mark Sheftic, assistant pro at historic Merion in Ardmore, Pa.

"I've hit the ball and putted pretty well," Lowe said. "After the 67, I thought I possibly had a chance to win this thing."

Just getting there — it's his second PGA Pro National — is no mean feat. He's one of 87 who made the cut from a field of 312.

Meanwhile, Lippert (73-71-65 — 209) leapfrogged 60 players Tuesday with his 65, the day's best round. He trails Sheftic by only four and is one of 13 players within five shots, which should assure him some air time in today's telecast on the Golf Channel.

Lippert, a Modesto native who's begun his seventh year as assistant head pro at Del Monte in Monterey, found momentum after he survived the cut on the number (even par 144).

"I started on 10 and made a good putt to save par. That helped me," he told pga.com. "I got some help before I left from Laird Small (director of instruction at Pebble Beach) on a couple of swing tips and have been trying to implement them. They paid off pretty well."

THE SHAG BAG — Diablo's Geoff Gonzalez, the 2009 California State Amateur champion, became the first Bay Area player to win since Patrick Nagle of Pacifica in 2003. Gonzalez, 21, a Cal Poly senior, used his experience to rally from a 2-down deficit with seven holes left to defeat Turlock High graduate Sam Smith in the semifinals. In the final, Gonzalez rallied from behind to stop 46-year-old former PGA Tour pro Jeff Wilson of Fairfield. ...Beyer grad Matt Bettencourt is pulling more from his game than statistics indicate. He's ranked 168th in driving accuracy, 130th in putting average and 146th in scoring average. The result: 97th on the Tour money list with $539,290. How, you ask? A tie for fifth at the Memorial and a tie for 10th at the U.S. Open have covered for a slow start. So far, he's on schedule to retain his card.

HOLES-IN-ONE — Bryan Simpson, Modesto, 183-yard ninth at Dryden Park, 7-wood....Jim Chaudhary, Modesto, 138-yard eighth at Creekside, 9-iron. ...Mark Musselman, Turlock, 138-yard fourth at Stevinson Ranch, gap wedge. ...Eric Magnan, Gilroy, 135-yard eighth at Modesto Municipal, 8-iron.

Bee sports writer Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or 578-2302.