UPDATED (5:45 p.m., July 1, 2015) - A birdie on the 72nd hole earned Matt Dobyns his second career PGA Professional National Championship, Wednesday at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Dobyns began the event with an opening round 72, but posted scores of 69, 68 and 70 over the final three rounds for the 279 tournament total, a score of 3-under. Dobyns, the head professional at Fresh Meadow, also won the title in 2012 and is now only the fifth player to win multiple National Championships.

RELATED: Final Scoring

Met Area Club Professionals had an exceptionally strong showing at the event, as Dobyns entered the final round trailing fellow area pros Ben Polland of Deepdale and Grant Sturgeon of Winged Foot by one stroke. Polland closed the tournament with a 2-over 72 to finish in solo second place, while Sturgeon carded a 74 and finished in a tie for third place at even par.

Dobyns birdied two of his final three holes on the front nine, making the turn in even par. After bogeys on both the 10th and 12th holes, he played the final six holes in 2-under to claim the title from behind.

With their top finishes, the trio will advance to the 2015 PGA Championship, contested Aug. 13-16 at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. Only the top 20 finishers, of a field which began with 312 competitors, advance to the PGA Championship.

Two additional area professionals also punched their tickets to the PGA Championship. Brett Jones of Mountain Ridge birdied his final two holes to record his second-straight round of 69. The 2009 New Jersey PGA Player of the Year earned a T-12 finish. Quaker Ridge's Brian Gaffney also birdied the 72 hole to finish in a five-way tie for 20th and become part of a playoff for the final advancing position. Gaffney then birdied the first playoff hole, the par-4 11th, to lock up his place at Whistling Straits where he will be making his fourth PGA Championship appearance (2000, '09, 2012, 2015).

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UPDATED (12:00 p.m., July 1, 2015) - A pair of Met Area Club Professionals stand atop the leaderboard of the 48th PGA Professional National Championship, as Grant Sturgeon of Winged Foot and Ben Polland of Deepdale enter Wednesday's final round co-leading thanks to a three-day total of 4-under 208. Meanwhile, Matt Dobyns, the 2012 PGA National Championship winner, sat just one stroke back following 54 holes of play, and the trio of Met Area representataives began their final round at 11:50 a.m. In all, eight Met Area Club Professionals survived both a 36 and 54-hole cut.

RELATED: Leaderboard

Sturgeon, the 2014 Met Open Champion, has been consistent with rounds of 70, 69 and 69 at the par-70 Philadelphia Cricket Club. Polland held the 36-hole lead after rounds of 68 and 67 to begin the championship, but slid back into the tie with Sturgeon following a 3-over 73. After an opening round 72, Dobyns has rebounded nicely with under-par rounds of 69 and 68.

Brian Gaffney of Quaker Ridge began his final round inside the top-10, posting scores of 73, 69 and 71 through the first three rounds.

Mark Brown of Tam O'Shanter, Patrick Clark of Wee Burn, Rob Labritz of GlenArbor and Steve Scott of Paramount are also underway in their final round of play, having made the 54-hole cut of the low 70 scores and ties.

The top 20 finishers will advance to the 2015 PGA Championship, contested Aug. 13-16 at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.

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ELMSFORD, N.Y. (June 29, 2015) – 24 Club Professionals from Met Area clubs will be contesting this week at the 48^th PGA Professional National Championship this week at the historic Philadelphia Cricket Club.

Headlining the local names this week will be Matt Dobyns. The former 2012 champion, who is now the head golf professional at Fresh Meadow Country Club, finished at 13-under at Bayonet, which was the lowest score in a PGA PNC since 1996. Darrell Kestner, a Glen Cove product, almost 20 years after his last win, will be representing Deepdale Golf Club.  

Other Met Area professionals include: Greg Bisconti of Saint Andrews, Bill Britton of Trump National – Colts Neck, Mark Brown of Tam O’Shanter, Mike Burke of Montammy, Patrick Clark of Wee Burn, James Farrell of The Creek, Mark Farrell of H. Smith Richardson, Pat Fillian of Echo Lake, Dave Fusco of Patriot Hills, Brian Gaffney of Quaker Ridge, Rob Labritz of GlenArbor, Chris Mazzuchetti of Due Process Stable, Jim McGovern of White Beeches, Charles Meola of Saxon Woods, Cory Muller of Darien, Scott Paris of Plainfield, Paul Poandl of Bedens Brook, Ben Polland of Deepdale, David Quinn of The Links at Union Vale, Steven Scott of Paramount, Grant Sturgeon of Winged Foot, and Edward Whitman of Knickerbocker.

RELATED: Pairings | Leaderboard

All 312 contestants will play at least 36 holes on separate days.  At the end of both rounds, the top 90 plus ties advance to the third round. After the end of the third round, the field is reduced to 70 plus ties. If there is a tie for 20^th place at the end of 72 holes, a playoff occurs until exactly 20 move on to the PGA Championship.