2024 Middle Atlantic PGA Professional Championship
Bill Fedder won the 2024 MAPGA Professional Championship at Hermitage Country Club (Manakin Course) after shooting a total score of seven under (209) and winning a 2-hole playoff over Steve Delmar (Columbia CC).
After opening with a first round 67 (-5), he co-led with Delmar. “I didn’t really make any mistakes, so it was a fun day,” Fedder said after round one. “I’ll come back tomorrow and hopefully it’s a good day.”
Fedder shot 73 in round 2, and he said the wind made the course play tougher for him.
“It played a lot more difficult, the wind was swirling and was changing directions, and the amount of wind we were getting was going up and down, so it made it really challenging,” said Fedder. “It was a grind. (Tomorrow) we’ll just hopefully make some putts and see what happens.”
In round three, Fedder took the lead after a birdie on the par-four 13th hole. However, he followed up his birdie with back-to-back bogeys.
“Honestly, I kind of thought I had knocked myself out of it after I made two bogeys on 14 and 15,” Fedder said. He then chipped in for birdie on the par-five 16th and finished his final round by narrowly missing what would have been a winning birdie putt on 18.
“I had probably an 18 footer for birdie and kind of felt like that might matter. I didn’t know it was to potentially win outright, but I made par there,” Fedder said.
Fedder finished tied with Delmar at -7, one ahead of 2nd round leader Larkin Gross (Westwood CC). Gross shot a course record 63 at Hermitage in Tuesday’s second round. Fedder & Delmar went into a sudden death playoff to determine the winner.
“I honestly didn’t even expect to be in the playoff,” Fedder said. “It was kind of like a renewed chance, and I felt really good.”
Both Fedder and Delmar hit the fairway on their tee shots, but from there, Delmar’s approach shot hit the green while Fedder hit his approach into the hazard on the right side of the green.
Fedder wedged out of the hazard but was still chipping from the rough for his fourth shot while Delmar had left himself with a short putt for par. Fedder pulled the flag, and he confidently chipped in for par to tie the first playoff hole.
“Yeah, that’s one of the strongest parts of my game, and anytime that I’m that close I’m thinking about making it, and I had to because Steve was probably 30 feet away in two and I figured he would make par. So, I just got lucky it worked out,” Fedder said.
Fedder won the playoff with a two-putt par on the second playoff hole. This was Fedder’s first win in an MAPGA major.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am to win this tournament. It’s a tournament that’s at the top of my list to play in every year, and I prepare for it harder than any other. So, it means a lot to get it done,” Fedder said.
This event was also the qualifying event for the National PGA Professional Championship presented by Club Car, Corebridge Financial & Rolex, to be held April 27-30, 2025 at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, FL. The event is supported by Callaway, Gallagher, GOLF Channel, Nike, PGA TOUR, TaylorMade & Titleist/ FootJoy.
The players who advanced are:
Bill Fedder (The Club at Glenmore) 67-73-69–209
Steve Delmar (Columbia Country Club) 67-72-70–209
Greg Piecyznski (George Mason University) 71-73-69–213
Alex Hoffman (Columbia Country Club) 74-70-69–213
Jim Estes (Jim Estes Golf) 71-73-70–214
Ashley Grier (Yinglings Golf Center) 73-73-69–215
Rupe Taylor (Virginia Beach National Golf Club) 70-75-70–215
Bryan Jackson (Hermitage Country Club) 71-72-72–215
John O’Leary (Trump National Golf Club) 68-74-74–216
Three other players in the field were exempt from qualifying but will also be in the field.
Larkin Gross (Westwood Country Club) 75-63-72–210
David Hutsell (Baltimore Country Club) 73-74-68–215
Josh Speight (The Club at Viniterra) 77-71-71–219