Yenser shot a four-round total of 278, seven-under par, for the four-day event (July 29-Aug. 1).

Yenser led after the first round, firing a 64 on July 29. He then shot 70 for the second round to make the cut and finished the tournament with rounds of 72 and 72.

Last fall as a junior at Daniel Boone, he finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class 3A golf tourney at Penn State. He shot 138 in the state tournament to finish two strokes behind Fox Chapel’s Chase Kittsley, who will be a junior this fall.

Lunden Esterline of Andover, Kansas, a rising high school junior, won the Junior PGA Championship with a four-round total of 266 to win by six strokes.

Tiger Woods’ son, Charlie, finished tied for ninth place with a 276 total.

Kittsley also played in the tournament, but missed the cut, shooting rounds of 67 and 77.

Cornish’s record-breaking round of nine-under-par, 63 from Monday at Berkleigh Golf Club will stand at the winning score.

“Today really started out hot, holing out from 100 yards and then making two birdies. I wish we could have played more golf today, but it was still a good day,” said Cornish.

LuLu Country Club’s Trevor Bensel finished in third place at 7-under-par, followed by Laurel Creek Country Club’s Dave Quinn at 6-under-par, and Merion Golf Club’s Joanna Coe at 5-under.

Earlier this year, Moselem Springs Golf Club, in collaboration with Berkleigh Golf Club, announced the return of the Reading Open, an iconic professional tournament that was a regular PGA Tour stop in the 1940s and 1950s, previously held at storied venues such as Berkshire Country Club and Reading Country Club. With past champions including legends like Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, the tournament is being reimagined for a new generation of PGA of America Golf Professionals, while honoring its prestigious roots.

Quinn also was the victor in the Senior Division, defeating Applebrook Golf Club’s, Dave McNabb, by three strokes. John Pillar, Country Club at Woodloch Springs, finished in third place at 2-under-par. PGA Life Member, Rob Rohrbach, finished in fourth with an even-par 72.

There was a tie atop the Super Senior Division, with Wayne Phillips, Lehigh Country Club, and PGA Life Member Rob Shuey finishing at 2-under-par, two strokes better than Jack Brennan of Mountain View Country Club. Bill Sautter of The Philadelphia Cricket Club and Life Member Brian Leib tied for fourth place at one-over par, 73.

The Philadelphia PGA Section’s Central Counties Chapter hosted an event concurrently with the Lehigh Valley/Reading Open, and Glen Brook Golf Club’s Alex Knoll claimed first at 4-under-par. Brian Buskirk, Honeybrook Golf Club, finished in second place, two behind Knoll, followed by Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort’s Brian Bergstol at 1-under-par. Three players tied for fifth.

Twenty-three amateurs competed alongside the PGA professional field, with John Keba and Robert Linepensel finishing in a tie for first place at three-under par. James Boburka finished with a score of one-over-par, 73 to claim third place. The fourth place score of two-over-par was shot by both Brady Gallagher and Will Eberz.

Moselem Springs Golf Club and Berkleigh Golf Club are joining forces to sponsor the new Reading Open July 7-8 which will feature PGA professionals from clubs around the region.

The organizers are going back to the tournament’s original name of the Reading Open, which was played for five years at three different golf clubs in Berks County.

Among the winners in those tournaments were Ben Hogan and Sam Snead.

The tournament will be played at both Moselem Springs and Berkleigh with the final round at Moselem Springs on July 8.

“We’re thrilled to bring back an important piece of Pennsylvania golf history,” said Chris Walton, general manager of Moselem Springs Golf Club. “Our partnership with Berkleigh, the Philadelphia PGA Section and the Golf Association of Lehigh Valley sets the stage to envision and create a new future for the Reading Open.”

The first Reading Open was held in 1947 at Berkshire Country Club with Dutch Harrison shooting a 7-under par 277 to win by three strokes over South African Bobby Locke.

The tourney was back at Berkshire the next year, with Hogan shooting a 19-under  269 to win by one stroke over Fred Haas.

In 1949, the Reading Country Club hosted the event, which was won by Cary Middlecoff, who shot a 14-under 266 to beat Snead by one stroke.

The tournament returned to Berkshire the next year and Snead won with a 20-under 268 to win by eight strokes over Australia’s Jim Ferrier.

In its last year, Jim Turnesa shot a 4-under 280 at Berkleigh Golf Club to win by three strokes over Jack Burke Jr.

The tournament is a Philadelphia PGA Player of the Year event.

Keith Mitchell, who fired a 61 on Thursday to take the first-round lead, followed it up Friday with a solid 3-under-par 67 to keep the second-round lead at 12-under. He managed to navigate intermittent showers and wet conditions.

“Longer clubs into the par 4s,” Mitchell said. “Par 5s are still downwind. At least when I played them, they were downwind, so you could still get to them. A lot longer clubs into the holes that we were trying to take advantage of.”

Mitchell, who leads the field in stroke gained on his putting through two rounds, noted the improvement in his short game.

“I picked good targets today, so when I had some greens that I missed, I was trying to be below the hole or back into the grain,” said Mitchell. “When you do that, you just have a lot better chance of hitting it close.”

Mitchell had two bogeys Friday but followed each with a string of birdies. He followed a bogey on the second hole with three consecutive birdies, and after bogeying the 11th hole, he came back with birdies on the 12th and 14th holes.

“I hit two really good putts after I made bogeys,” he said. “If you get going in the wrong direction with momentum on a day like today, it can really catch you.”

Shane Lowry was the lone golfer who shot 65 Friday, keeping him in second place at 11-under. Lowry shot a four-under 31 on the front nine with four birdies. His only bogey came on the 10th hole.

“Obviously the ball wasn’t going very far, but there wasn’t that much rain (early) and there wasn’t much wind as well, which was nice,” said Lowry. “I felt like the course, once you hit it in the fairways, was very scorable. I’m very happy with my day. To par the last two holes – like 18 – was brutal. I couldn’t reach it in two. Yeah, to make four was nice.”

Lowry, who played with former Eagle Jason Kelce in Wednesday’s pro-am, said, “The crowds here are great. I’m looking forward to the weekend here. I think we’re going to have a great tournament here this weekend.”

In third place at 10 under was Sepp Straka, who shot a 32 on the front nine en route to a 67.

“It was fun. … definitely don’t want to play in the rain all the time, but every now and again, it’s fun,” the Austrian said. “I wish I carried the ball another 20 yards in the air so I could take out all these fairway bunkers that I’m having to hit around. … This is definitely a course that a lot of those bunkers are 300 carry. If you’re carrying it over 300, you can take them out of play.”

Six golfers are tied for fourth place at 7-under-par, including defending champion Rory McIlroy, who had three bogeys and six birdies for a 3-under-par 67.

“I felt like today was sort of a scrappy (round),” said McIlroy. “I made what I feel are some uncharacteristic mistakes compared to how I’ve played the majority of the year.”

Asked about his consistent play since last September, McIlroy responded, “It’s been a very consistent period for sure. Even when I feel like I haven’t played my best, I find a way. I think that’s when I talk about being a more complete golfer, if one part of my game isn’t on, then I can maybe lean into another part to try to – like today, holing quite a few putts and making my score that way rather than hitting the ball unbelievably well.

“I think that’s been a big key to this consistent run is not having to rely too much on any one aspect of the game.”

The six players tied for fourth place are McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Akshay Bhatia, Si Woo Kim and Patrick Cantlay. Thomas shot 67 in the second round.

“The ball didn’t go anywhere when it’s like this,” Thomas said. “On No. 10, we’re flipping sand wedges, gap wedges in, and today I hit a drive as good as I could and hit a pretty good 6-iron in. Weather like this definitely makes the play a little bit more – it’s harder to make birdies. You can get up-and-down because it’s still pretty soft, but it’s harder to make birdies.”

Five golfers were tied for 10th place at 6-under-par, including Rickie Fowler, who shot a 63 on Thursday.

Harrington, one of the biggest names on the tour (now known as PGA Tour Champions), could return to the Lehigh Valley next year after Jefferson Health, the PGA Tour Champions and Lehigh County Club agreed to a five-year deal to host a new tournament. The Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic will be held annually starting in fall 2026, at Lehigh Country Club in Lower Macungie Township.

“We are thrilled to partner with Jefferson Health and bring PGA Tour Champions golf to the Lehigh Valley,” tour President Miller Brady said in a news release. “Golf legends and World Golf Hall of Fame members will have an exceptional week of competition at a first-rate golf course in Lehigh Country Club. We’re excited to bring local golf enthusiasts an unforgettable experience and look forward to making a lasting, positive impact on the community for years to come.”

Jefferson Health last year merged with Lehigh Valley Health Network.

The tournament could bring a $50 million boost to the local economy, according to organizers. Proceeds will benefit charities in Northeastern Pennsylvania and throughout the greater Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley regions, including the primary beneficiaries of the inaugural tournament, Valley Youth House and Eagles Autism Foundation.

All three rounds of the Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic will be aired on the Golf Channel.

“Being able to bring an event like this to the community and to benefit the community as well as the charities … we couldn’t be prouder to be a part of that,” Jefferson CEO Joseph Caccione said. “It couldn’t be a better partnership. It’s more than about golf; it’s really about those charities who will directly benefit and the community that will indirectly benefit.”

The tournament will debut the week of Sept. 28 and could feature a long list of former major champions including Bernhard Langer, John Daly, Fred Couples, Jim Furyk and Stewart Cink, as well as other legends without majors, including the tour points leader Miguel Angel-Jimenez and Steve Stricker.

“These are guys that you watched week in and week out growing up and they’re still out here playing on our tour 20 times a year,” Brady said. “That’s what makes our tour so special. You get up close and personal with all of them.”

Another former champion at Saucon Valley Country Club, World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin, joined Jefferson Health and PGA Tour Champions to announce the partnership Thursday afternoon at Lehigh Country Club.

“We’ve kind of been in the shadow of Saucon Valley for all these years, who have hosted some tremendous major events and have done a great job with it,” Adams said. “Now’s our chance to step into the spotlight and pull the curtain back on Lehigh Country Club. People are going to see what we’ve been enjoying for decades and it’s going to be exciting. I’m not sure why it didn’t happen in the past, but it’s happening now, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

The 6,851-yard course was constructed in 1928 by William Flynn and is renowned for it fairways and significant elevation changes, which Adams hopes will challenge the tour veterans.

“It’s all about the setup,” he said. “It’s evolved over the years with different iterations of adding trees, taking trees away, growing the rough up, growing the rough down, but where we are today, I think it’s going to be a true test. It’s really going to challenge those best golfers of our time.”

Derek Bast is a freelance sports reporter who can be found on Twitter/X at @derek_bast or reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Looking forward to more evening sunlight thanks to daylight saving time this weekend?

Many in the golf industry like the time change, too, and they are pushing to make that annual switch permanent.

The move is intended to encourage more evening golf and to stave off efforts to establish permanent standard time, which would leave less time for an evening on the links. And it is those late afternoon players who tend to buy food and drinks in the clubhouse.

“We would lose 100 tee times a day if daylight saving time goes away,” said Connor Farrell, general manager of Stone Creek Golf Course in Omaha, Nebraska. “Switching to permanent standard time would cost us $500,000 a year.”

Golf played a big role in daylight savings time

Golf has deep roots in the history of daylight saving time, which begins for most states at 2 a.m. Sunday when clocks “spring forward” by one hour. Some credit goes to William Willett, a British builder and avid golfer who in 1905 published a pamphlet advocating for moving clocks ahead in April and returning them back to their regular settings in September. The U.S. adopted a version of that during World War I and again in World War II.

Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966 that set up the biannual time change, and lobbying efforts by the golf industry are largely credited for Congress expanding daylight saving time by a month in the mid-1980s.

Lawmakers try to make standard time permanent

But for as long as it has been around, the constant clock adjusting has drawn the ire of Americans weary of losing an hour of sleep in the spring only to be faced with the early onset of darkness in the fall. That exhaustion has led to hundreds of bills introduced in nearly every state over the years to halt the practice.

The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that in the last six years, 20 states have passed measures calling for a switch to year-round daylight saving time, many at the cajoling of golf industry lobbyists. But while states could switch to permanent standard time — as Arizona and Hawaii have done — Congress would need to change the law to allow permanent daylight saving time.

That hindrance — along with arguments that permanent standard time would improve sleep quality and foster safer morning commutes — has seen more states consider opting out of daylight saving time. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have introduced bills this year to make standard time permanent.

Nebraska is among several states considering competing bills to make either standard time or daylight saving time permanent. That drew Joe Kohout, a lobbyist for the Nebraska Golf Alliance, to testify in favor of year-round daylight saving time.

Late afternoon golf leagues account for up to 40% of the annual revenue of some Nebraska courses, Kohout said, while a majority of golf instructors reported that nearly 50% of their lessons are taught after 4 p.m.

Under permanent standard time, “Nebraska’s golf courses will lose revenue, be forced to raise prices, and in some cases could be driven out of business,” he said.

The Utah Golf Association is also fighting a bill to make standard time permanent.

“The argument that changing clocks twice a year is an inconvenience does not outweigh the year-round benefits of having more usable daylight hours in the evenings,” it posted on social media.

In Indiana, golf course owner Linda Rogers succeeded in lobbying the Legislature to institute daylight saving time in 2006. Now a state senator, Rogers is fighting an effort to return to permanent standard time.

“Daylight savings time allows someone that, you know, worked until 5 o’clock to come out and still play at least nine holes,” she said. “And it’s not just golf. There are so many outdoor activities that people want to be outside for and enjoy later in the summertime.”

Golf course owners like the status quo

The National Golf Course Owners Association, which has about 4,000 members, recently polled stakeholders on the matter. The vast majority favored either permanent daylight saving time or the status quo of changing the clocks, said CEO Jay Karen. Only about 6% backed a change to permanent standard time.

“If standard time was to be made permanent, thousands of courses would be harmed by that,” Karen said.

Even so, Karen’s group is not advocating for a change to permanent daylight saving because it could hurt hundreds of courses that cater to early morning golfers, he said. Those include courses in retirement communities, vacation resorts where late tee times interfere with dinner plans and Sun Belt courses where extreme late-day heat sees golfers favoring early tee times.

“We feel like status quo is no harm, no foul,” Karen said.

Republican Iowa state Rep. John Wills introduced a bill this year to make the change to permanent daylight savings. But he has been under pressure to amend the bill to permanent standard time.

Wills was considering it until he heard arguments on how that change could affect golf.

’“I think I might push back in the future and say, you know, the golf industry needs this,” he said.

In the old days of 2016, when golfers visited the Dormie Club in West End, North Carolina — 15 minutes from the hotbed of American golf, Pinehurst — they were greeted by a small, single-wide trailer and a rugged pine straw parking lot.

Seconds after you exit your car, valets are zipping up in golf carts, taking your name, then your bags, handing you keys to your own golf cart, and then zipping off to drop your luggage in the four-bedroom cottage where you’ll stay. A short walk past an expansive putting green you’ll find the pro shop — and then you’ll see the club’s most elegant feature: its golf course.

The changes have all come about because Dormie Club was acquired in 2017 by the Dormie Network, a national group that owns seven private golf facilities from Nebraska to New Jersey. (“Dormie” is a word for being ahead in golf — the names were coincidences.) A key to the network’s success has been its ability to find clubs ripe for acquisition, with outstanding golf courses and existing on-site lodging or the room to build it, says Zach Peed, president of the company and its driving force. After investing in Arbor Links Golf Club in Nebraska City, Nebraska, in late 2015, Peed believed he saw an opening in the golf market: a new model of hospitality for traveling professionals who wanted a pure golf experience that eschewed the pools and pickleball courts of their home clubs. His clubs would become dream golf-only getaways for avid players and their pals.

“Dormie Network’s concept was sparked by having played competitive golf in college, combined with an element of experiencing and understanding hospitality,” says Peed. “It made sense to blend the two to create golf trips that had more value than just playing golf. We want genuine hospitality to help create unforgettable memories and new friendships.”

Part of that formula has been in the lodging strategy; in North Carolina, 15 four-bedroom cottages now are a short golf cart ride from the main clubhouse. In each, golfers all have their own king-size bed and en suite bathroom. A large common room is dominated by a flatscreen television along with a well-stocked bar and snacks. That ability to be both social, or tucked away in your room, extends to the expansive new clubhouse, where a high-ceilinged bar area with blond wood creates an inviting space for dining and drinking, and several hideaway rooms allow for more private diners with just your group.

So far, their commitment to hospitality has been helping them expand in both membership and club usage in the increasingly competitive market for traveling golfers. Major players such as Bandon Dunes, Pinehurst Resort, and the Cabot Collection have created — or renovated — a new paradigm where golfers get dining and lodging that’s as showcase-worthy as the courses they play. Comfortable sheets and options beyond pub food aren’t luxuries anymore, but staples for many group trips. Dormie has answered that call by focusing on both the big details and the small ones, like having the dew wiped off each golf cart at dawn outside guest cottages before the day begins or having a tray of cocktails delivered to golfers as their final putt falls on the 18th green.

These touches may seem over-the-top, but they stand out in a world where golf travel is increasingly popular — and expensive — after the pandemic lockdowns. Since 2020 there has been an explosion in participation in the sport, with new golfers picking up the game and avid golfers playing more: According to the National Golf Foundation, a record 531 million rounds were played in 2023, surpassing the high of 529 million set in 2021. Supreme Golf, a public golf booking website, reports in its latest analysis that the average cost of a tee time has increased to $49 in 2024 from $38 in 2019, a 30% increase.

Those cost increases are also on par (pun intended) with the costs of private clubs and initiation fees during that same period, where membership rosters that were dwindling pre-COVID now have waitlists 50 to 60 people deep, according to Jason Becker, co-founder and chief executive officer of Golf Life Navigators, which matches homebuyers with golf course communities. “There’s been an absolute run on private golf. If we use southwest Florida as an example, where there are 158 golf communities, this time last November, only five had memberships available,” he said.

That inability to find a club close to home has pushed avid golfers to look farther afield, choosing national memberships at clubs that require traveling, usually via plane, to play. Dormie has capitalized on this growing segment, offering two types of memberships: First, a national membership, where members pay an initiation fee and monthly dues just as they would at a local club, but instead of one club they have access to seven.

The second option is a signature membership for companies, “which allows businesses to use our properties for entertainment needs and requires a multiyear commitment,” Peed says. The network also offers a limited number of regional memberships for those living within a certain distance of one of its clubs. Dormie Network declined to provide the cost of memberships or monthly dues and wouldn’t give membership numbers, but the clubs are structured to lodge roughly 60 golfers, max, on-site at any given property at any time.

The total number of beds across the network’s portfolio of properties has increased from 84 in 2019 to 432 today. It saw a jump from 10,000 room nights in 2019 to 48,000 in 2023.

This September, Dormie opened GrayBull in Maxwell, in Nebraska’s, Sandhills region. Dormie Network tabbed David McLay Kidd to build the course, who also built the original course at Oregon’s famed Bandon Dunes. Kidd says of the property GrayBull sits on, “It’s like the Goldilocks thing: not too flat, not too steep. It’s kind of in a bowl that looks inwards, and there are no bad views.” That kind of remote destination, where the long-range views are only Mother Nature or other golf holes, is what drives many traveling golfers these days.

Peed says his team leaned on years of knowledge from Dormie’s acquisitions as they built GrayBull, which started construction in 2022. “We had an understanding of how our members and guests use the clubs that allowed us to take a blank canvas in the Sandhills of Nebraska and combine all of the greatest aspects of each Dormie property into one.”

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That was not the case on Saturday, Aug. 10, 1963, when the previous record of 61 was set by all-time great Arnold Palmer (matched by Emmaus grad Kyle Wambold in 2017). Palmer’s round erased Dave Stegeman Jr.’s 66 as the course record, according to The Sunday Call-Chronicle.

The newspaper reported that 2,500 fans were on hand to witness an exhibition featuring Palmer and another golf legend, Gary Player.

The event was a part of a world tour sponsored by the YM-YMCA, with proceeds going toward its building fund, according to the newspaper.

The Call-Chronicle’s Coult Aubrey wrote:

“The skeleton remains, but the Monster is dead.

Bronzed and relaxed Arnold Palmer stripped the once-mighty, always-feared Allentown Municipal Golf Course and sprawling 7,000 yards to the bone yesterday, putting uncannily for a rash of birdies and eagles which resulted in an unbelievable 12-under-par 61.

Gary Player, the good-looking South African who termed the greens ‘the finest of any municipal course in the United States,’ turned in an excellent three-under-par, yet never was a challenge as Palmer put on the greatest putting show of his fabulous career.

The three-time Masters champion and all-time money winner used only 26 putts – a personal low – in treating a crowd of some 2,500 to an exhibition they won’t soon forget.”

Aubrey reported that Palmer had 10 one-putt greens and Player needed only 28 putts and had seven one-putt greens.

Aubrey also noted that it was Palmer’s second 61 of the week. He shot a 10-under 61 on the exhibition tour in Springfield, Missouri, the previous Sunday.

During a clinic before the Allentown match, Palmer and Player entertained the crowd with their skills – and some humor, Evening Chronicle Sports Editor Dave DeLong reported.

When Player was hitting, Palmer told the crowd, “He’s the best dressed player in the low class.”

When Palmer was taking swings, Player countered with, “He’s the worst dressed player in the high class.”

Player joked with the crowd that Palmer had a recent accident. “He fell off his wallet.”

The Palmer-Player exhibition was part of a big sports week in the summer of 1963 in the Lehigh Valley. On Aug. 16, the Steelers beat the Eagles 24-13 at Bethlehem’s Liberty Stadium with 14,000 fans in attendance.