By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Elon native John Somers will play in next week’s PGA Championship.
The golfer with area roots qualified last week by tying for fourth place in the PGA Professional Championship. That earned him a spot for the first time in one of golf’s major tournaments.
The PGA Championship will be held May 18-21 at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.
Somers, 31, has pursued professional golf on several levels since competing collegiately for Elon University, playing on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica in 2019 and on the Korn Ferry Tour, which is the feeder circuit into the PGA, early in 2020.
The PGA Professional Championship is a tournament for golf club professionals and teachers who are members of the Professional Golfers’ Association of American. The qualifying event was held at Twin Warriors and Santa Ana Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. Somers had a 72-hole score of 6-under-par 282, though he shared the lead after 54 holes.
Somers, a Bartlett Yancey High School graduate, is the head golf professional at Southern Hills Plantation Club in Brooksville, Florida. He was Elon’s team Most Valuable Player in 2013 and 2014.
Somers had been a mainstay among contenders in amateur events in and around Alamance County, often noted for his long drives. He averaged about 330 yards off the tee on pro circuits.
On the professional level, his victories have included the 2022 North Florida PGA Professional Championship and the 2019 Chile Open.
