Shields holds on for Tri-State PGA win
McMURRAY — Kevin Shields was in the next-to-last group of the day Tuesday in the final round of the Tri-State PGA Section Championship at Valley Brook Country Club.
That also meant he got to the clubhouse before the group of leaders: Bob Ford, Tony Traci and Joe Boros.
Shields got there having posted a second consecutive 69, which had him at 6-under par and in the lead by a shot.
He had played well, but still had just a one-shot lead over dogged Tony Traci, the head professional at South Hills Country Club.
He was the first-round leader and added a stroke to that lead with a birdie on the fourth hole, but bogeys on the fifth and ninth holes.
That dropped him to three-under and apparently in a bad spot with Shields making three birdies in the first 10 holes to get to six-under.
But Traci made a couple birdies on the 14th and 16th holes and got back to five-under and by the time he set up to hit his second shot at the par four 18th, Shields was nervously sitting in a chair out of the sun.
Traci hit what he thought was a good shot, but the ball hit on the green short of the pin and spun back a bit and rolled back off a false front and barely stayed on the putting surface. He made a really good putt that came close to finding the cup, but just stayed out.
Shields let out a sigh of relief, knowing that the $5,000 first-place check and a trip to the 2016 PGA Professional National Championship, was his.
“I sure didn’t want him to get me again,” Shields said, referring to Traci’s one-shot victory over Shields earlier this year in the Tri-State Open at New Castle Country Club. “This event makes me more nervous than any other, and that includes playing in the Greenbrier Classic. This is the last section event that I really wanted to win. I wanted the Falling Rock Classic and I got that one and now this one.”
Traci hadn’t won this one, either, and his rounds of 68-71 kept him in it most of the way.
“I just wasn’t hitting it as good today, not by any means,” he said afterward. “I made a little run at the end, but it wasn’t quite enough. I won a big one earlier and if I’d have been able to get this one, it would have been awesome. But this season means to me that I’m right there and can win any event we have. Obviously Kevin played well today.”
Oakmont Country Club’s Bob Ford was a model of consistency in the final round, making 13 pars and one birdie in the first 14 holes. His ball-striking left him a bit in the final four holes as he made three bogeys in the last four holes.
He three-putted the 18th, which forced him into a playoff against former assistant John Aber of Allegheny Country Club for the final qualifying spot for the 2016 PGA Professional National Championship.
The playoff lasted two holes with Ford advancing.
Brian Dunaway, a Geibel High School graduate, followed up his 71 with a 77 to finish at 148.
Aaron Gizzi of Uniontown CC finished with rounds 76-77, Steve Kusenko of Mon Valley Country Club was 78-76, Brian Rogish of Nemacolin Woodlands was 82-80 and PGA professionals Tom Bummer 78-81 and Steve Superick finished 77-91.