South County's Bob Gaus Completes His First Senior PGA Championship

Of the many differences between playing with your buddies and playing on the final day of a professional golf tournament, let alone one of the sport's "majors", one of the biggest changes has to be the crowd.

There are no galleries when a weekend warrior hits the links. But Sunday, Crestwood's Bob Gaus, the Club Pro at Tower Tee Golf walked up to the 18th green at Bellerive Country Club to more applause than some of the other more famous names who made the same trip at the 74th PGA Championship. It was something he's faced throughout the tournament.

He tapped in for a par 4 at the last to finish the day +2 and overall +6 for the weekend. He won't win the Bourne Trophy, but it reinforced that he knew he could compete at this level.

Afterward, he told reporters that he thought he would be a wreck playing in front of so many familiar faces, but the the opposite ended up being true.

"I felt more and more comfortable every day I was out here," he said after posting his scorecard. "I'll have a lot more confidence especially in the next couple tournaments I play in, so that'll be big, huge."

Gaus was one of 5 club professionals to make the cut, something that can't be said for some well-known names in golf who failed to make it to the weekend.

Next month, Gaus will try to qualify for the U.S. Senior Open and will compete in the national Club Pro tournament in additon to his work at Tower Tee.

So what did the club pro learn this week that could help his own golf pupils? Stay in the moment, avoid distractions and be patient.

"I had to deal out about a hundred tickets for friends, I'm picking people up before I come out and play golf, I'm a taxi service....then getting up at 4:30 the last three days has been brutal. You talk about a test in patience, that would be the main thing I'd take away from this I could pass on to my students.