Marblehead, Mass. – The New England PGA hosted the final round of the 104th NEPGA Section Championship on Thursday, September 5th at Tedesco Country Club. The 64 players who made the cut to the final round battled it out on the pristine fairways of Tedesco on the hunt to capture the Thomas Mahan Trophy. The contenders were also competing for 13 qualifying spots (not including Rich Berberian, Jr. who is exempt) into the 2025 PGA Professional Championship which will be held from April 27-30, 2025 at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, FL.
Ed Kirby, PGA (The Aquidneck Club) climbed the leaderboard through the final round to capture the 104th New England PGA Section Championship for the second time in his career. He also won the Thomas Mahan trophy in 2012.
“Both golf courses were in terrific shape, but very difficult,” said Kirby. “I told myself to have patience… I knew the scores wouldn’t be low so I needed to stick to my gameplan.” “If you’ve won the event before you have it in the back of your head that you can do it again. Thank you to the members and my club and my friends and family”.
Kirby entered the final round in the T6 spot at 3-over, before shooting 2-under to finish the three-day Championship at 1-over overall for the victory. He made the turn at even-par with one birdie on his scorecard. He carded two more birdies on the back nine, including the 368-yard, par-4 12th hole and 364-yard, par-4 14th hole.
Liam Friedman, PGA (Wollaston GC) and Boomer Erick, PGA (Boston Golf Club) both had their time at the top of the leaderboard today. Friedman was 2-under on the front nine and Erick was right on his heels at 1-under through nine. At this point, Kirby was holding on in the tie for third place at even-par. Friedman extended his lead with birdies on 10 and 13, but Erick stayed close behind as he moved to 2-under with a birdie on 13 as well.
Friedman posted a bogey on 16 and a double on 17 which dropped him to T2 on the leaderboard. Kirby carded two birdies on the back, both par-4’s, 12 and 14, to start his climb on the leaderboard. Erick had a double bogey on 15 which gave Kirby the 1-stroke lead heading up the 18th hole. Kirby and Erick both parred the final hole, and Kirby was crowned the 2024 NEPGA Section Champion.
Bob Bruso, PGA (Worcester CC) finished in fourth place at 3-over (215) on the week. Rich Berberian, Jr. (Vesper CC) rounded out the top five, finishing in solo 5th place at 4-over (216).
The 4th NEPGA Women’s Championship concluded on Wednesday with Seul-Ki Hawley , PGA (Winchester CC) capturing her second-straight title. She went on to compete in the third round of the Section Championship where she finished T6 and qualified for the PGA Professional Championship.
Berberian received an exemption into the PGA Professional National Championship which will be April 27-30, 2025 at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, FL. He will be joined by 13 other NEPGA Professionals who qualified today:
QUALIFIERS
1 Ed Kirby The Aquidneck Club 74-71-68–213 +1
T2 Liam Friedman Wollaston Golf Club 73-72-69–214 +2
T2 Boomer Erick Boston Golf Club 73-70-71–214 +2
4 Robert Bruso Worcester Country Club 76-68-71–215 +3
T5 Seul-Ki Hawley Winchester Country Club 74-72-72–218 +6
T5 David Jankowski Golf Garage VT 72-74-72–218 +6
T5 Greg Kelly Myopia Hunt Club 72-70-76–218 +6
T5 Jeff Martin Wollaston Golf Club 75-69-74–218 +6
9 Shawn Warren Old Marsh 79-69-71–219 +7
10 Joe Rocha Golf Country 80-70-70–220 +8
11 Matt Alwin Sakonnet Golf Club 73-76-72–221 +9
T12 Rick Karbowski Auburn Driving Range 74-76-72–222 +10
T12 Dan Venezio Portland Country Club 78-72-72–222 +10
ALTERNATES – IN ORDER
T12 Chip Johnson Hatherly Golf Club 75-74-73–222 +10
T12 James Burke Ponkapoag Golf Club – #2 Course 71-79-72–222 +10
T12 Andrew Stolze Club at New Seabury, The 71-79-72–222 +10
T17 Eric Higgins Webhannet Golf Club 74-79-70–223 +11
T17 Todd Scarafoni Bass Rocks Golf Club 78-71-74–223 +11
The Section is thrilled to announce that the 105th New England PGA Section Championship is set for September 2nd through September 4th and will be hosted by The Bay Club in Mattapoisett, Mass. and co-hosted by the Kittansett Club in Marion, Mass.
A tremendous thank you to Tedesco CC Head Golf Professional, Ryan Train, PGA, Ferncrof CC Head Golf Professional, Bill Cunningham, PGA, and the entire Tedesco and Ferncroft staff for serving as hosts of the 104th NEPGA Section Championship
The 104th Section Championship is supported both nationally & locally by Corebridge Financial, Rolex, Club Car, Golf Channel, Gallagher, Titleist/FootJoy, TaylorMade, Nike, Callaway, Mohegan Sun, Avidia Bank, Branded Bills, Superior Communications & the PGA Tour. Their commitment underscores the importance of this event in the golfing landscape.
