It's a major moment for Sunnybrook's Walker after strong finish in PGA Professional Championship

    Brett Walker, an assistant pro at Sunnybrook Golf Club, has specialized in strong finishes at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. in 2021.

   In February, Walker fired an 8-under-par 63 at the PGA Golf Club’s Ryder Course to force a playoff with PGA Life Member and former PGA Tour performer Omar Uresti in the PGA Stroke Play Championship. Walker won the playoff for his first professional victory.

   Wednesday, Walker closed with a 2-under 70 at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course to finish in a tie for eighth place at even-par 287 in the PGA Professional Championship. More importantly, Walker was among the top-20 finishers who earned a ticket to next month’s PGA Championship, one of the four professional majors in men’s golf, at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island on the South Carolina coast.

   Walker began the day on the outside looking in after a 3-over 75 over the 7,088-yard, par-72 Wanamaker Course layout in Tuesday’s third round left him among the group tied for 34^th place at 2-over.

   Walker got off to an uneven start on a Wanamaker Course that seemed to play pretty tough in the final round of the PGA Professional Championship – I prefer the event’s old-school moniker, the National Club Pro -- as he made bogeys at the second and fourth holes after opening with a birdie at the first hole.

   But he made four birdies over the next six holes to go from 1-over on his round to 3-under. Walker made birdies at the fifth, seventh, eighth and 10^th holes. After a bogey at the 12^th hole dropped Walker back to 2-under for the round, he grinded out six straight pars to get to the house with an even-par 287 total.

   Walker was steady all week as he opened with a 1-over 72 at the Ryder Course before carding a 2-under 70 at the Wanamaker Course in Monday’s second round. Even his bad round, the third-round 75, wasn’t bad enough to knock him out of the chase for one of those coveted top-20 tickets to the PGA.

   Things did not go as well for two other Philadelphia Section PGA representatives who entered Wednesday’s final round with a realistic shot at a top-20 finish.

   Bidermann Golf Club instructor Zac Oakley began the day in a tie for 20^th place at even-par. But Oakley struggled to a 5-over 77 to end up among the group tied for 40^th place at 5-over 292.

   Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel was tied for 28^th place at 1-over at the start of the day, but he, too, struggled on the Wanamaker Course with a 79 that left him in the group tied for 55^th place at 8-over 295.

   A fourth Philly Section pro, Hugo Mazzalupi, one of the Section’s talented senior players who plays out of the Patriots Glen National Golf Club pro shop, finished in a tie for 71^st place at 300 after signing for a final-round 81. Surviving two cuts and playing 72 holes in the PGA Professional Championship isn’t a bad accomplishment out of a field 312 club professionals from all around the country.

   Tom Cooper, who earned his trip to the PGA Professional Championship with a runnerup finish in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship last September at the Country Club of York and Bent Creek Country Club in Lititz, entered the final round tied for 14^th place at 1-under.

   But Cooper, who appears to have moved on from his position in the Pine Valley Golf Club pro shop, finished up with a 78 to join Bidermann’s Oakley in a tie for 40^th place at 5-over 292.

   Uresti started the day with a seven-shot lead on the field after scorching the Wanamaker Course with a 7-under 65 in Tuesday’s third round. The 52-year-old gave some players some hope when he went bogey, double bogey, bogey at the second, third and fourth holes, respectively.

   When Frank Bensel Jr., an assistant pro at the Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y., drained a 30-footer for birdie at the 13^th hole, he was within two shots of Uresti. But when Uresti birdied the 16^th hole while Frank Bensel Jr. was making bogey at the 18^th hole a couple of groups ahead of him, Uresti’s lead was four shots.

   Uresti struggled to a final round of 4-over 76, but his 11-under 276 total was three shots better than Frank Bensel Jr. and enabled Uresti to lift the Walter Hagen Cup for the second time in his career. Uresti defeated Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb in a playoff to win the National Club Pro in 2017.

   It will be Uresti’s fifth trip to the PGA Championship, but his first since appearing in the PGA Tour major five straight times from 2014 to 1018. Uresti will have another major moment next month when he appears in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a PGA Tour Champions major, at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. Uresti punched his ticket to the Senior PGA by winning the Senior PGA Professional Championship last fall at the PGA Golf Club.

   Frank Bensel Jr. finished with a 4-under 68, one of just two sub-70 rounds recorded in Wednesday’s final round, to carn runnerup honors with an 8-under 279 total. Frank Bensel Jr. will be making his third trip to the PGA Championship, but his first since 2012.

   Ben Cook, an instructor at Yankee Springs in Wayland, Mich., was hanging around the top of the leaderboard all week and posted a final round of 2-over 74 to finish two shots behind Frank Bensel Jr. in third place with a 6-under 281 total.

   Larkin Gross, a 23-year-old from Center Cross, Va., was another two shots behind Cook in fourth place at 4-under 283 after closing with a 4-over 76. Gross, who starred collegiately at Division III power Methodist, got into contention with a spectacular 8-under 64 in Tuesday’s third round.

   The best round of the day in Wednesday’s final round belonged to Stuart Smith, the director of golf at Somersett Golf & Country Club in Reno, Nev. who fired a sizzling 7-under 65 that enabled him to finish in a tie for sixth place at 1-under 286.