Last week was a good one for Aaron Rai, who beat out the competition at Aronimink Golf Club and won the PGA Championship for his first major title.
But it was also a good week for Ben Kern, one of the 20 PGA professionals who qualified for the tournament. Kern was the only club pro to make the cut (shooting 74-67-77-72); he finished 80th and won $23,930. He even played the final round with former No. 1 and European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.
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“It’s very special,” Kern said Sunday. “Obviously, once I got into the business, it was a goal to get out here and play in this kind of event. It’s a once-in-a-year opportunity that I’ve had the chance to play in three. It’s very special to be in this field and then to walk away with low club pro, it’s everything.”
When he’s not playing in PGA Championships, Kern is the general manager at Hickory Hills Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio. He said Sunday he had lots of work to get back to.
“It’s going to be busy,” Kern said. “I have not looked at my emails. So I will get back to my emails in a few days. Unfortunately, I’m probably going to be at my desk for a lot of it, getting caught up, getting the back end back to where it needs to be, getting all the information out to the members and what we have coming up, because our season is going.”
But before he got back to his desk — or maybe at his desk — Kern did something important: He posted his scores from a major golf tournament to his handicap.
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Some pros, like Jon Rahm and Max Homa, for example, have handicaps that are kept semi-active, but they don’t post frequently. And we are going to guess Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy did not post their scores on Sunday night either. (And if any of the other club pros did post scores, they didn’t get four rounds in like Kern, or get to hold up a crystal trophy on Sunday night.)
The USGA — which would love for you to get your own Handicap Index — noticed Kern entered his scores and tweeted about it on Tuesday.
Kern’s three-under 67 he shot Friday was the only one of his PGA Championship scores that counted toward his Handicap Index, and for good reason — only two players shot a lower score in the second round, and Kern’s 67 was good for a -6.7(!) differential. The Aronimink course rating from the back tees is 75.5 and the slope is 144, although those numbers don’t factor in a major-championship setup, so Kern’s differentials could have been even lower.
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Kern said last week he keeps a handicap to have matches with members at his home club. He was asked on Friday, after that 67, what happens now.
“It’s going to absolutely destroy my handicap,” he said. “But that’s OK. That’s what it’s for. I think the handicap is sitting right around +6. So I got to give up a few shots to the members back home.”
His handicap is now +6.4, which is pretty good. You can sign up for your own Handicap Index here.
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