Adam Fisher Leads After First Round of Assistant PGA Professional Championship

As the temperature heated up, so did Adam Fisher’s game in Thursday’s first round of the Assistant PGA Professional Championship at PGA Golf Club.

Fisher fired a 5-under 67 on the Dye Course, making just one bogey against six birdies, to take a one-shot lead over two players on a day when temperatures were in the low 50s to start the Championship and the mid-70s in the afternoon.

“It was perfect,” said Fisher, an Assistant PGA Professional at North Ridge Country Club and a member of the Carolinas PGA Section. “Seventy-five degrees and virtually no wind.”

Fisher started hot with three birdies on his first four holes. He chipped to tap-in distance at the par-5 10th hole and added birdies at the 12th and 13th, where he hit his tee shot to three feet.

“I got off to a really good start,” Fisher said. “I hit a couple of squirrely tee shots, but I played really well.”

Ian McConnell and Sandra Changkija – one of two women in the field – are tied for second after 68s. Changkija is very familiar with PGA Golf Club, having won three consecutive PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championships from 2021-23. But she doesn’t have much experience on the Dye.

“Two practice rounds,” said Changkija, who plays out of the North Florida PGA. She bogeyed her first hole, but made five birdies afterward. “I played really well.”

McConnell, an Assistant PGA Professional at Country Club of Fairfax in Virginia and a member of the Middle Atlantic PGA Section, had five birdies against a bogey to take the lead after the morning wave.

“That was the goal, to keep the ball in front of me and try to make as many pars as possible,” said McConnell. “I hit one bad drive on 15 to make the bogey, but I came back to hit a 7-iron to 6 feet and birdie 16, so that was a nice rebound. There were some birdies out there, but there were also some bogeys out there.”

McConnell’s 68 was one of only six rounds under par among the 66 players in the morning wave. A cold front that rolled through South Florida earlier this week sped up the Dye’s greens and made chipping a guessing game.

“I thought it played difficult,” McConnell said. “The greens are firm. You miss the greens around here … it’s really grainy around the greens, so it’s tough chipping. I ended up putting from off the green most of the time, and I was able to kind of get up and down when I did miss.”

DK Kim, from the Southwest PGA Section, overcame two early bogeys with six birdies before finishing with a bogey. He’s tied for fourth with Garrett Woodin of the Rocky Mountain PGA Section after 69s.

Woodin eagled the par-5 fifth hole by hitting a 5-wood from the waste area to 8 feet, helping him to play a four-hole stretch in 4-under.

“Best shot of the day,” Woodin said of the 5-wood. “That really kick-started my round.”

Dalton Bartlett had one of the day’s best rallies. He was 3-over after he double bogeyed the fourth hole, but played the rest of the round 5-under to shoot 70. He’s alone in sixth.

“It was a rough start, but I just tried to stay focused,” said Bartlett, who works at Rockledge Country Club in Cocoa, Florida. “You can get a little careless on some shots and it can get away from you. My whole focus was just let it go, it's in the past, and focus on the next shot and continue that all the way till we get to the end.”

Evan Wartgow of the Utah PGA Section took advantage of the par-5s – he made birdies on all four of them – to fuel his 1-under 71. He has two tap-ins and two-putted for another birdie. He’s tied for seventh with six other players.

“The greens are running fast, so you don’t want to be above the hole,” said Wartgow, who works at Park Meadows Country Club. “There was just enough wind out there to make you think.”

Andrew Turner of the Philadelphia PGA Section made a hole-in-one on the 192-yard 16th hole with an 8-iron. It was his first in competition.

The 72-hole event runs through Sunday. The winner earns a spot in next year’s PGA Professional Championship and the top four advance to next year’s Assistant PGA Professional Championship. There is a 36-hole cut to the low 70 scores and ties.

The Assistant PGA Professional Championship is Supported by Golf Channel and Srixon/Cleveland Golf.