Brian Bergstol, the director of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, always seems to be playing his best golf at this point in the season, when the stakes are the highest on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit.
Bergstol, coming off a victory in the 46th Pro-Am for Wishes Championship a couple of weeks ago at Penn Oaks Golf Club, was at it again in Monday’s opening round of the 101st Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship as he carded a sparkling 5-under-par 66 at Concord Country Club to grab the lead following the opening round.
Bergstol will play his second round Tuesday just across the Delaware state line at DuPont Country Club with the final round of the 54-hole stroke-play event scheduled for Wednesday.
And the stakes are high. In addition to playing for one of the biggest purses on the Philadelphia Section schedule, the top 11 finishers in the Section championship will advance to the PGA Professional Championship next spring at the Twin Warriors and Santa Ana Pueblo courses in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.
The top 20 finishers in the National Club Pro – the event’s old-school moniker – advance to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, which tees off May 18, 2023 at Oak Hill Golf Club, the classic major championship venue in Rochester, N.Y.
You need to look no further than Bergstol’s closest pursuer, Bidermann Golf Club instructor Zac Oakley, the Philadelphia Section’s reigning Rolex Haverford Trust Player of the Year, to understand the possibilities.
Oakley was the runnerup in the 100th playing of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which was played at Aronimink Golf Club and Applebrook Golf Club a year ago. Oakley then finished in a tie for sixth place in the PGA Professional Championship in the spring of this year at the Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas and earned himself a trip to the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Cou8ntry Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Oakley opened with a solid 3-under 68 at Concord that left him two shots behind Bergstol in second place.
Bergstol made a splash on the PGA of America’s national scene as he finished in second place in last fall’s National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Bergstol got off to a great start Monday, touring the outgoing nine at Concord in 3-under 32 with birdies at the third, fifth and sixth holes.
A birdie at the 10th hole got Bergstol to 4-under before a bogey at 12 dropped him back to 3-under. Birdies at the 15th and 16th holes got Bergstol to 5-under. He dropped a shot with a bogey at the 17th hole, but Bergstol made a birdie at Concord’s gettable par-5 finishing hole to end up at 5-under.
“I played really solid,” Bergstol told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “Overall, it was a really good round, although I still missed three putts inside eight feet. I hit it super and hit a lot of greens and a lot of fairways and took care of business on the par-5s.”
Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, headed a group of six players tied for third place, a shot behind Oakley at 2-under.
Shattuck’s victory in the Doylestown Open at the end of July was his second Rolex Haverford Trust Player of the Year points win in 2022. Since then, Shattuck finished in a tie for fourth place in the Philadelphia Players Championship at Lookaway Golf Club, took third place in the Pennsylvania Open at the Longue Vue Club near Pittsburgh, and finished in third place in the Pro-Am for Wishes at Penn Oaks.
In the middle of all that, Shattuck showed up for the one-day Partner-Pro at Stonewall and, rumor has it, threw a 4-under 66 at the Old Course to take the low-pro prize.
Shattuck opened with a 69 Monday at DuPont, site of the LPGA Championship – rebranded as the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, but a major championship for the women in either case – from 1994 to 2004.
Shattuck figures to be tough in his second round Tuesday at Concord. He knows the course well, having spent a lot of time there being mentored by head pro Mike Moses while learning the ins and outs of being a club professional.
A couple of past winners of this championship, Terry Hatch of Royal Oaks Golf Course and Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course, are also in the group at 2-under.
Hatch, winner of the Section championship in 2003, matched Shattuck’s 69 at DuPont, while Stewart recorded his 69 at Concord, where he won the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship in 2018.
Rounding out the group at 2-under were Michael Rushin of Bear Trap Dunes and Nick Iacono of Chester Valley Golf Club, each of whom carded a 69 at DuPont, and Green Valley Country Club head pro John Cooper, whose 69 was recorded at Concord.
Alex Knoll, an instructor at Glen Brook Golf Club and a guy with a pretty good record in this championship, headed a group of seven more players locked in a tie for ninth place at 1-under.
Knoll, who has back-to-back titles in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship in 2019 and 2020 on his resume, opened with a 70 at DuPont. Knoll lost in a playoff to Bergstol in the Pro-Am for Wishes Championship at Penn Oaks.
Two of the most decorated members of the Philadelphia Section’s talented stable of senior standouts, Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz and Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, are also in the group at 1-under, both having teed it up at DuPont in Monday’s opening round.
Steinmetz captured the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship as a senior “rookie” earlier this summer at Medford Village Country Club and also owns a Rolex Haverford Trust points win in the GALV Lehigh Valley Open at Brookside Country Club in Macungie. Steinmetz is a three-time winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.
McNabb, the Section’s two-time reigning Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, spent his spring and early summer rubbing shoulders with the top senior players in the world as he earned spots in the field at two major championships on the PGA Tour Champions schedule, the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at the Harbor Shores Resort in Benton Harbor, Mich. and the U.S. Senior Open, a home game at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem.
Rounding out the large group at 1-under were Brenden Mitchell, a colleague of Oakley’s at Bidermann, Bryce Young of the Bayside Resort Golf Club and Jeff Fick of Moselem Springs Golf Club, all of whom posted a 70 at Concord, and Pine Valley Golf Club’s Chad Ferguson, who carded a 70 at DuPont.
The Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship is presented by Cadillac, Club Car and Rolex and supported by Titleist, FootJoy, Nike Callaway, TaylorMade Golf, Golf Channel, the PGA Tour, Precise Yardage Books, SCNS Sports Foods, Ship Sticks and Visit Delco, Pa.
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