Meet the Team of 20 Competing at the 2021 PGA Championship - Part I

The 2021 PGA Championship is fast approaching and the ‘Team of 20’ PGA Professionals competing will be looking forward to facing The Ocean Course head on at Kiawah.

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 in Kiawah, May 20-23.

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

Balin will be playing in his eighth PGA Championship since 2010. His best finish at the PGA Professional Championship was runner-up to Alex Beach in 2019. Balin competed on the Latinoamerica Tour for 5 seasons, winning the 2015 Guatemala Stella Artois Open. He also played in the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot.

Club/Facility: Silvermine Golf Club, Norwalk, CT
Metropolitan PGA Section

Peter's first appearance in the PGA Professional Championship now leads him to his first PGA Championship, and golf runs in his family. His father, Mike Ballo, PGA, is a fellow professional and has competed in three PGA Championships. His mother Page is a PGA Life Member who was a standout at the University of North Carolina and his brother Mike Jr has competed on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Club/Facility: Westchester Country Club, Rye, NY
Metropolitan PGA Section

Beach was defending champion of the 2019 PGA Professional Championship. He finished T6 this year. This will be his fourth PGA Championship. In 2019, he was just the second left-hander and second PGA Golf Management University Program alum to capture the national title. That year, he became the first individual to win both the National Rental Car Assistant PGA Professional Championship and the PGA Professional Championship.

Club/Facility: Century Country Club, Purchase, NY
Metropolitan PGA Section

Bensel Jr. placed solo second at the PGA Professional Championship, his best of his seventeen starts. It's worth noting that he is also a three-time champion of the National Rental Car Assistant PGA Professional Championship. Now, Bensel Jr. is in the thick of preparing to compete in his third PGA Championship. However, he is no stranger to majors. He also competed in the 2009 US Open.

Club/Facility: John's Island Club, Vero Beach, FL
South Florida PGA Section

Tyler Collet played in his first PGA Professional Championship in 2019, where he missed the cut. In 2021, he finished T8 and punched his ticket to his first PGA Championship. He graduated in 2017 from the PGA Golf Management program at Eastern Kentucky University, where he had a hand in Eastern Kentucky winning the 2016 PGA Jones Cup at PGA Golf
Club in Port St. Lucie, Florida.