The 2019 National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship gets underway on Thursday, November 14th. The 72 hole tournament will feature 132 assistant professionals from throughout the 41 PGA sections. At stake will be a total purse of $150,000, $12,000 of which will go to the champion. Before the champion gets their hands on the champion’s trophy, they will have to navigate the 36 hole cut, when the field is trimmed to the low 70 players and ties.
Representing the Wisconsin PGA will be Andy Hansen of the University Club of Milwaukee. The former UW-Parkside golfer earned his spot in the event by winning the Wisconsin Assistant PGA Professional Championship back in mid-July at Old Hickory GC. This year’s appearance will be Hansen’s second, as he also qualified for the event in 2017 when he won his first Wisconsin Championship.
Even though Hansen will be the only active Wisconsin PGA assistant in the field, he will see several familiar faces at PGA Golf Club. Also teeing it up will be three other Wisconsin natives, Neal Grusczynski (Northern Ohio Section), Pat Steffes (Northern California Section) and Adam Steinhofer (Illinois Section).
Grusczynski earned his spot in the field through his play at Old Hickory. He finished second in the Wisconsin Championship before starting his new role as head coach of the Ohio University men’s golf team. As for Steffes he is presently an A-8 PGA member employed at Burlingame Country Club, while Steinhofer is an A-8 PGA member working at Ridgemoor Country Club.
