BIG RAPIDS – Only 20 non-tour professional golfers qualified to play in this year’s
PGA Championship to be held beginning Thursday (Aug. 7) at Oakland Hills Country Club
in Bloomfield Township – and Ferris State University alumni account for two of those
coveted slots.
Scott Hebert (right) and Alan Morin will be in the field vying for one of golf’s four major championships thanks to their performance at the PGA Professional National Championship at River Pointe Golf Club in Albany, Ga., June 19 through 22.
Placing an exclamation point on his qualifying for one of the tour’s big four events, Hebert, head golf professional at Grand Traverse Resort & Spa, won the PNC, a tournament that gives club professionals and teachers a shot at appearing in the PGA Championship. The victory secured him a spot in the field for the tournament’s 90th annual competition.
Hebert, a six-time Michigan Open champion, birdied five of the first seven holes on the back nine to finish with a 4-under-par 68, a total tournament score of 12-under-par 276 and a one-stroke win.
The victory garnered him a $75,000 payday from a total purse of more than half-a-million dollars. The win also gives Hebert the chance to further elevate his national profile by earning him entry into six additional PGA Tour events over a 12-month period.
Alan Morin, assistant golf professional at The Falls C.C. in Lake Worth, Fla., will join Hebert at Oakland Hills by virtue of his tie for 15th place with a total score of two-under-par 286. Earlier this year, Morin made the cut at the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic.
Both Hebert and Morin have experience competing against the world’s best golfers. Hebert’s 2008 appearance at the PGA Championship will be his second consecutive time contesting that event, while Morin has played in three previous PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens.
Both men hold degrees in Professional Golf Management from Ferris.