UPDATE (August 16, 2015) - Brian Gaffney closed out his PGA Championship experience by collecting crystal on the 18th green at Whistling Straits thanks to his finish as the low club pro in the event. With 20 club pros in the field, the Head Professional at Quaker Ridge was the only one to make it to the weekend, and the first of his profession to make the cut at the PGA Championship since 2011. Gaffney finished strongly Sunday with a 1-under 71.

Gaffney's Golf.com Blog: Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday

Gaffney opened with a bogey on the first, but carded back-to-back birdies on the fourth and fifth holes. After another bogey to open his final nine, he added another birdie on the 518-yard par-4 15th and parred the remaining three holes for the 71. He finished the championship in 71st. Making the rounds with media, Gaffney continually expressed the joy of his PGA Championship experience. What made it even better for Gaffney was having several family members and friends behind him all week long.

Related: Results | Golf Channel Blog | Gaffney on PGA.com's Live Coverage

Former St. John's golfer Keegan Bradley also carded a Sunday 71 to finish tied for 61st. J.J. Henry of Fairfield, Conn., posted a 3-over 75 on Sunday and finished tied 72nd, while Morgan Hoffmann of Franklin Lakes, N.J., closed the championship with a 6-over 78 and to tie for 75th.

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UPDATE (August 15, 2015) - Upon the completion of the second round early Saturday morning, Tour pros Morgan Hoffmann of Franklin Lakes, N.J., J.J. Henry of Fairfield, Conn., and former St. John's golfer Keegan Bradley each managed to make the cut at the PGA Championship to join Quaker Ridge's Brian Gaffney as Met Area representatives playing the weekend at the year's final major.

Gaffney is the only club pro to make the cut at Whistling Straits, besting his next fellow PGA Professional by four strokes over the two rounds. He began Saturday's round with a birdie and made the turn in 1-over par, but a closing 41 coming in shot his score up to 78. Gaffney's final round will begin at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday.

Bradley and Hoffmann posted matching third round scores of even-par 72, and both stand at 2-over for the championship.

Henry carded a 2-over 74 on Saturday, which moved him to 3-over for the week.

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UPDATE (August 14, 2015 - 7:40 p.m.) –With play suspended for the remainder of Friday due to storms, it appears as if Brian Gaffney will be the only club pro making the cut at the PGA Championship, after the Quaker Ridge Head Professional shot a second round 73 for a 36-hole score of even-par 144 at Whistling Straits. Gaffney will be the first club professional to make the cut at the PGA Championship since 2011.

After seven birdies in his opening round, Gaffney added four more to his tally on Friday. He birdied both par-3s on the front side, each one coming in response to a bogey on the previous hole.  After back-to-back bogeys on holes 11 and 12, the 44-year old bounced back strongly once again, recording two-straight birdies to get back to level par for the round. Gaffney had a highlight-reel shot on the par-4 14^th, as his approach from the rough hit the flagstick and came to rest within inches of the hole. He concluded the round with a bogey on the challenging par-4 15^th for his 73. Having made five major championship appearances, this will be Gaffney's first made cut.

Related: Leaderboard | Gaffney on Golf Channel's Live From Coverage | Gaffney Highlights

Also playing in the afternoon and able to complete their rounds, Winged Foot’s Grant Sturgeon and Fresh Meadow’s Matt Dobyns each improved upon their first round scores by matching Gaffney with 73 on Friday, but will miss out on the final two rounds. Dobyns completes his PGA Championship with a 149 total, and Sturgeon 150.

Three-straight birdies from Ben Polland on holes 9 through 11 during his morning play made it look as if the Deepdale assistant would make a run for weekend play; however, Polland played the final seven holes in 7-over par for his second-straight round of 76 and a 152 total.

Brett Jones of Due Process carded 78 in his second round for a two-day total of 153.

Tour professionals Morgan Hoffmann of Franklin Lakes, N.J., J.J. Henry of Fairfield, Conn., and former St. John’s golfer Keegan Bradley were still on the course when the storms caused play to be halted for the remainder of Friday. Henry is currently on the projected cut line of 2-over as he stopped play on the third hole, his 12th of the round. Hoffmann will begin Saturday morning at 3-over while resuming play on the fourth hole, his 13th of the round. Bradley is 4-over and will pick up round two on the 14th.

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UPDATE (August 13, 2015 - 8:30 p.m.) - Quaker Ridge’s Brian Gaffney led the group of Met Area participants in the opening round of the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits on Thursday, recording the lowest score of the bunch at 1-under 71.

Gaffney’s round was ignited by seven birdies, including three straight on holes 13 through 15 which were on his opening nine. However, four bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-4 18^th led to his opening 71. Gaffney’s score was the best among the 20 club pros playing this week, and placed him tied 24th at day's end.

Related: Leaderboard | Gaffney post-round Interview

Riding his victories at the PGA Professional National Championship and the Metropolitan Professional Championship, Matt Dobyns of Fresh Meadow opened with a 4-over 76, but did not card a birdie on the day. Winged Foot’s Grant Sturgeon also played in the morning wave of the season’s final major, carding a 5-over 77.

Touring professional and Franklin Lakes, N.J., native Morgan Hoffmann carded an even-par round of 72 in his 8th career major start.

Fairfield, Conn., native J.J. Henry, one of the last entrants in the field thanks to his win at the Barracuda Championship last weekend, shot 3-over 75 as he made his first major appearance in two years. Former St. John's golfer and past PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley began the tournament with a 4-over 76.

Brett Jones of Due Process and Ben Polland of Deepdale each took on the muscular 7,501-yard track in the afternoon as the winds picked up. Jones, whose brother Matt  is also playing this week and opened with a 4-under 68, began the championship with a 3-over 75. Polland had a tough start to his round and was 5-over through four holes, but a chip-in birdie on the par-4 14^th turned the tides. The 24-year old, who is the youngest club pro in the field, then played his final 14 holes in 1-under-par for a first round 76.

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ELMSFORD, N.Y. (August 5, 2015) – Five Met Area Head Professionals are set to compete in the PGA of America's premier event of the season, the 97th PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, following top finishes at July's PGA Professional National Championship at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Additionally, Fairfield, Conn., native J.J. Henry punched a late ticket to the PGA Championship thanks to his win at the Barracuda Championship.

For Matt Dobyns of Fresh Meadow, his experience at the PNC was the most memorable of them all, as he birdied the 72^nd hole to claim a one-shot victory over Deepdale’s Ben Polland for his second career PGA PNC title. Dobyns carries a load of momentum to Kohler, Wisc., after a five-stroke victory at the Metropolitan PGA Professional Championship, contested Aug. 3-5.

The upside for Polland, however, is that he will be playing in the first major of his career. The 24-year-old is one of the youngest Met PGA Professionals in the area. Last year, he claimed the Metropolitan PGA Professional Championship, and has won multiple assistant professional tournaments.

Related: Road to the PGA Championship | PGA PNC Final Round Highlights

With his win last month at the PNC, Dobyns became the first player since Mike Small in 2010 to win the title on multiple occasions. Only five players in the tournaments history have done so. In 2012, Dobyns won the tournament by eight-strokes, a record for the largest margin of victory.

This will be Dobyns second straight year playing in the PGA Championship, and third in four years. Last year, he also qualified for the U.S. Open, where he missed the cut by one. To begin his championship week at Whistling Straits, Dobyns is scheduled to play a practice round with Jordan Spieth, which was arranged by his former college coach from University of Texas.

Last year’s Met Open winner and PGA Assistant Championship winner, Grant Sturgeon of Winged Foot, clinched a berth in the field after finishing in a tie for third with an even-par 282. Sturgeon’s last and only major he competed in was the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazel National Golf Club, where he made the cut and finished 76^th. Sturgeon also had a strong showing at the Metropolitan PGA Professional Championship, finishing in a tie for fifth place.

Brian Gaffney of Quaker Ridge grabbed the final qualifying position in the PGA Championship from the PNC, as he birdied the first hole of a five-man playoff. Gaffney, the 2012 NJ PGA Player of the Year, will be playing in his fifth major championship overall and has played in three previous PGA Championships. This will be the 44-year-old's first major since competing in the PGA Championship in 2012.

Brett Jones of Due Process tied for 12^th with a 1-under 283 and will join his brother, Matt Jones, at the PGA Championship this year. To start his preparation for the first major of his career, the 2009 NJ PGA Player of the Year will play a practice round for World No. 1 Rory McIlroy.

Meanwhile, Henry joins the contingent of locals in the field thanks to his second career win at the Barracuda Championship. Henry defeated Kyle Reifers with an eagle on the second playoff hole after each finished the event with 47 points. The Barracuda Championship, which was played opposite the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, uses the Modified Stableford scoring format. The win is the third of Henry's career and also helps his playoff position for the FedEx Cup, as he moved from 150th to 76th in the latest standings. This will be Henry's first start in a major since the 2013 PGA Championship.

This will be the third time the PGA Championship will be played at Whistling Straits, having previously hosting in 2004 and 2010. Television coverage begins on TNT at 1 p.m. Thursday, August 13.