Meet the Team of 20 Competing at the 2020 PGA Championship - Part I

The 2020 PGA Championship is fast approaching and the ‘Team of 20’ PGA Professionals competing will be looking to make their mark at TPC Harding Park.

The 2020 PGA Professional Championship -- which had been scheduled for July 19-22 at the Fazio Foothills and Coore Crenshaw Cliffside courses at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas -- was canceled on June 29 due to COVID-19. That meant the top 20 on the 2019 PGA Player of the Year list were eligible for the 2020 PGA Championship.

We’ll be taking a look at the ‘Team of 20’ over the next few weeks leading into the championship. Here are five of the PGA Professionals who will be teeing it up at TPC Harding Park, August 6-9.

Club/Facility: Hickory Woods Golf Course, Loveland, Ohio
Southern Ohio PGA Section

Auterson will be making his debut in the PGA Championship. The winner of the 2018 Southern Ohio PGA Professional Championship and Southwest Chapter Stroke Play Championship, he finished 12th in the 2019 PGA Professional Player of the Year Standings presented by Omega.

Club/Facility: Fresh Meadow Country Club, Lake Success, New York
Metropolitan PGA Section

Balin will be playing in his seventh PGA Championship since 2010 and will also play in the 120th U.S. Open Championship after being granted an exemption from the USGA for finishing in the top-three spots in the 2019 Professional Player of the Year standings. He finished runner up at the 2019 PGA Professional Championship.

Club/Facility: Westchester Country Club, Rye, New York
Metropolitan PGA Section

Beach will be appearing in his third-straight PGA Championship after winning the 2019 PGA Professional Championship. He was just the second left-hander and second PGA Golf Management University Program alum to capture the national title. Beach’s 2019 also featured being a member of the victorious U.S. PGA Cup Team and a win at the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship, where he became the first PGA Member to win both the PPC and Assistant PPC in the same calendar year.

Club/Facility: Vesper Country Club, Tyngsboro, Massachusetts
New England PGA Section

Berberian will be playing in his fifth-straight PGA Championship, the longest active streak among PGA Club Professionals. He is one of six PGA Professional Champions whose father was a PGA Professional. His father, PGA Life Member Richard Berberian, Sr., competed in the 1988 & 1990 PGA Professional Championships and five Senior PGA Professional Championships. Berberian is a two time (2016, ’17) PGA Professional Player of the Year.

Club/Facility: Club Pelican Bay, Naples, Florida
South Florida PGA Section

Bertsch earned a spot in his second-straight PGA Championship by finishing fifth in the 2019 PGA Professional Player of the Year standings presented by OMEGA. He earned Southwest Florida Chapter PGA Player of the Year honors in 2018