Defending Senior PGA Championship winner Paul Broadhurst, second from left, was welcomed to Rochester and Oak Hill Country Club on Tuesday, March 28 by regional promoters and sports icons including, left to right, Buffalo Sabres mascot Sabretooth, Visit Rochester President Don Jeffries, Rochester Amerks General Manager Jody Gage and Rochester Red Wings General Manager Dan Mason. The occasion celebrated the two-month-to-go mark in preparation for the 2019 Senior PGA Championship, scheduled for May 21-26.
Although temperatures were cold and the golf course was quiet, Oak Hill Country Club hosted representatives from most of the Rochester area golfing community on Tuesday, March 26. The occasion was the official Media Day for the upcoming 2019 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, as well as the two-month-to-go mark until the Championship is set to begin.
The guest of honor was 53-year-old Paul Broadhurst – the native of Walsall, England who captured the Senior PGA Championship title a year ago at Harbor Shores, Michigan. Representatives from the local golfing community were also on hand to mark the occasion, as well as welcome Broadhurst in his first visit to Rochester. Top officials from the PGA of America, including PGA President Suzy Whaley and Communications Director Julius Mason, led the “welcoming committee,” along with Tournament General Chair Kevin Horey, from host Oak Hill Country Club and officials from the Western New York PGA Section and RDGA.
PGA Championship Director Bryan Karns also had a special surprise for Broadhurst and the assembled guests, as regional promoters and sports icons including Buffalo Sabres mascot Sabretooth, Visit Rochester President Don Jeffries, Rochester Amerks General Manager Jody Gage and Rochester Red Wings General Manager Dan Mason stopped by to welcome Broadhurst – and the PGA of America – to Rochester.
But that wasn’t the end of the festivities – another guest of honor, Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce President Robert Duffy, took Broadhurst on a whirlwind tour of Rochester that afternoon, including stops at the George Eastman House, the Susan B. Anthony House, Nick Tahou’s (for a Garbage Plate) and the Genesee Brew House, where Broadhurst hit an iron shot of the top of the local brewery into the High Falls Gorge.
The event served as a launch for the final preparations for the Senior PGA Championship – the longest-running 50-and-over professional championship, dating back to its origins 80 years ago. This will mark the second time that this championship has been held at Oak Hill, which previously hosted the 2008 Senior PGA Championship.
Between now and the week of May 21 to 26, Oak Hill, its course and grounds, will be transformed into a setting for one of golf’s major world-class championships, as it has done many times before – most recently for the 2013 PGA Championship, won by Jason Dufner.
One of the founding members of the Rochester District Golf Association, Oak Hill’s relationship with the PGA of America is deep and ongoing. The East Course has staged three previous PGA Championships (2013, 2003, 1980) and will do so again in 2023 for a record-tying fourth time. Oak Hill was also the site of the 31st Ryder Cup in 1995, which Europe captured with a stunning final-day comeback, 14½ to 13½.
Other major and premier championships conducted at Oak Hill include the 1998 U.S. Amateur, 1989 U.S. Open, 1984 U.S. Senior Open, 1968 U.S. Open, 1956 U.S. Open, and 1949 U.S. Amateur.
The RDGA is proud to partner with the PGA of America and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship to promote golf in the Rochester area, as well as junior golf and Grow The Game programs supported by both organizations. This year, the RDGA is offering a Junior Membership program, which includes adult tickets for the 2019 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship (with juniors age 18 and under free to attend with each adult).
CLICK HERE for more information about
the RDGA Junior Membership Program.
CLICK HERE for more information about
the 2019 Senior PGA Championship.
Comments are closed.