Darien’s Brian Gaffney leads all club pros through Round 1 at the PGA Championship.
Advertisement
Gaffney went to bed on Thursday night, 1-under par for this championship and in a tie for 24th.
“Hopefully, my kids someday down the road will see some of these articles and be proud of me”, Gaffney said after shooting a 1-over 73 in the second round.
A Midwestern storm moving east toward Lake Michigan disrupted the second round, Friday at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It will be completed Saturday.
Gaffney, the 44-year-old head pro at Quaker Ridge in Scarsdale, became the first club pro since 2011 to make the cut at the PGA Championship, which invites 20 of them into the field every year. He was not projected to make the cut, at 6-over through nine holes of play as of 6:10 p.m. Friday evening.
“That was huge on 14 because it was the first time in two [tournament] days and the three practice rounds that I’ve had a good lie in the rough, ” Gaffney said. On Friday, Gaffney had four birdies and five bogeys. Feeling pressure, Gaffney was just trying to get past his mistakes.
Mack said Gaffney approached the weekend not wanting to wear out. And as fellow New York area PGA member Rob Labritz put it earlier in the week, Gaffney’ll be the lone club pro remaining getting the superstar treatment as a competitor.
Advertisement
When he returns to his day job, he’s going to parlay his experiences into an important lesson. “When we got to the 18th hole, which was my ninth, I saw lightning a couple times and it was getting pretty dark even though it was 4:30 in the afternoon”.
