Shattuck three shots off the lead in a tie for third after two rounds of PGA Professional Championship

   There’s still a lot of golf to be played, but Braden Shattuck, the reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Philadelphia Section PGA Player of the Year, is tied with seven other players for third place following two rounds of the PGA Professional Championship in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.

   Shattuck, an instructor at Rolling Green Golf Club, would be even closer to the lead if he hadn’t made a double bogey on his final hole of the day, the ninth at Santa Ana Golf Club, to complete a 1-under 71 that left him with a 3-under 141 total following Monday’s second round.

   Shattuck had carded a 2-under 70 in Sunday’s opening round at Twin Warriors Golf Club. He trails the 36-hole leader Ben Kern, the general manager of Hickory Hill Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio, by three shots.

   Looks like Shattuck headed a group of six members of the Philadelphia Section PGA contingent who survived the 36-hole cut to the top 90 players and ties, which fell at 3-over 147. Pretty sure the survivors of the cut, which wasn’t established until early Tuesday morning when the second round, suspended by darkness Monday, was completed, will all play one of the two courses in Tuesday’s third round.

   There is a tournament within the tournament at the PGA Professional Championship – I prefer its old-school moniker, the National Club Pro – as the top 20 finishers punch their ticket to the PGA Championship, the second of professional golf’s major championships, which tees off later this month at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.

   And Shattuck has very much positioned himself to take that major step in his professional career.

   Shattuck tuned up for his trip to New Mexico by claiming a victory in the Philadelphia Section’s first event of the 2023 season, the Tournament Players Division (TPD) Championship April 24^th, with 37 points in the modified Stableford scoring at Regents’ Glen Country Club in York. He finished with a flourish at Regents’ Glen, making five straight birdies to close out his round.

   I’ve been a Braden Shattuck fan since I covered his scholastic career at Sun Valley in my previous life at the Delaware County Daily Times. Shattuck finished in a tie for 14^th place in the 2011 PIAA Championship as a senior.

   Shattuck came out of the gate fast in Sunday’s opening round with birdies at the first, second and fourth holes at Twin Warriors. He added a fourth birdie on the outgoing nine at the seventh hole between bogeys at five and nine.

   Shattuck made back-to-back birdies at the 11^th and 12^th holes to get it to 4-under for the round before making back-to-back bogeys at 14 and 15 to finish at 2-under. He was part of a large group tied for 10^th place, two shots behind opening-round leader Wyatt Worthington II, an instructor at the Golf Depot in Reynoldsburg, Ohio.

   Starting off the back nine at Santa Ana in Monday’s second round, Shattuck made birdies at the 16^th and 18^th holes, stumbled briefly with a bogey at two, but got it to 3-under for his round with an eagle at the par-5 third.

   A bogey at the fourth hole followed by a birdie at five left him a 3-under for the round and 5-under for the championship before his finishing double bogey at nine.

   Shattuck earned his spot in the field of the PGA Professional Championship with a runnerup finish in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship last summer at Concord Country Club and DuPont Country Club.

   Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League Liberty Hill Course, is also in with a shot to make it to Oak Hill as he matched par at Santa Ana with a 72 Monday after opening with a 1-under 71 Sunday at Twin Warriors and is in the group tied for 21^st place with a 1-under 143 total.

   Stewart, a product of the junior program at Llanerch Country Club, starred scholastically at Malvern Prep and collegiately at Saint Joseph’s.

   Joanna Coe, the Philadelphia Section’s Women’s Player of the Year in 2022, survived the cut and is tied for 58^th place at 2-over 146. Coe, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, carded a 2-over 74 at Twin Warriors Monday after matching par with a 72 at Santa Ana in Sunday’s opening round.

   Zac Oakley, an instructor in the Bidermann Golf Club pro shop, was one of the players who had to return to Twin Warriors Tuesday morning to finish his second round. He was 2-over with three holes to play, but made a bogey on the 18^th hole to make the cut on the number at 3-over 147.

   Oakley, the Rolex/Haverford Trust Philadelphia Section PGA Player of the Year in 2021, finished in a tie for sixth place in last year’s PGA Professional Championship at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas to earn a spot in the field for the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

   Two other Philadelphia Section players, Michael Little of Clubhouse 54 and Rich Steinmetz, the veteran head pro at Spring Ford Country Club, also landed with Oakley in the group tied for 89^th place, making the cut on the number at 3-over 147.

   After opening with a 2-over 74 at Santa Ana, Little recorded a 1-over 73 at Twin Warriors in Monday’s second round.

   Steinmetz, who won the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship at Medford Village Country Club as a senior “rookie” last summer, carded a 1-over 73 at Twin Warriors Monday after opening with a 2-over 74 at Santa Ana in Sunday’s opening round.

   Steinmetz, the Philadelphia Section’s reigning Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, is familiar with Santa Ana and Twin Warriors having finished in a tie for 24^th place in the Senior PGA Professional Championship over the two courses to earn himself a trip to the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a major on the PGA Tour Champions circuit which tees off later this month at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas.

   Another of the Philadelphia Section’s senior standouts, Dave McNabb, the head pro at Applebrook Golf Club, and Brian Bergstol, an instructor at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort who was crowned the winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at DuPont last summer, just missed the 36-hole cut as both landed on 4-over 148.

   McNabb will join Steinmetz later this month at PGA Frisco as he earned a third straight trip to the Senior PGA Championship by finishing in a tie for 26^th in the Senior PGA Professional Championship at Twin Warriors and Santa Ana last fall.

   McNabb matched par with a 72 at Santa Ana in Sunday’s opening round before carding a 4-over 76 in Monday’s second round at Twin Warriors.

   Bergstol was the runnerup in last fall’s National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course, the second year in a row he finished second in that PGA of America national event.

   After opening with a 1-over 73 at Twin Warriors Sunday, Bergstol registered a 3-over 75 at Santa Ana in Monday’s second round.

   Terry Hatch, another of the Philly Section’s senior standouts who is hanging his shingle at Bent Creek Country Club this year, struggled to a 6-over 78 at Twin Warriors in Sunday’s opening round, but bounced back with a 1-under 71 Monday at Santa Ana to miss the cut by just two shots with a 5-over 149 total.

   Trevor Bensel, an assistant pro at Sandy Run Country Club (at least that’s where he was last year as club pros can move around from year to year), matched par with a 72 at Twin Warriors in Sunday’s opening round, but struggled to a 7-over 79 at Santa Ana Monday to end up with a 7-over 151 total.

   John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, bounced back from a 7-over 79 in Sunday’s opening round at Twin Warriors with a 1-over 73 at Santa Ana for an 8-over 152 total.

   Hugo Mazzalupi, like Pillar, another of the Philly Section’s deep pool of senior talent, opened with a 78 at Twin Warriors Sunday and added a 4-over 76 Monday at Santa Ana for a 154 total. Mazzalupi is at The Links of Twin Towers, which appears to be the new name for Linfield National Golf Club.

   Matthew Zehner, who was working in the Wilmington Country Club pro shop last summer, opened with a 4-over 76 at Twin Warriors Sunday before adding an 80 Monday at Santa Ana for a 156 total.

   Terry Hertzog, yet another of the Philly Section’s talented seniors, opened with a 4-over 76 at Santa Ana Sunday and added an 82 at Twin Warriors in Monday’s second round for a 158 total.

   Kern ripped off four straight birdies on the ninth, 10^th, 11^th and 12^th holes on his way to a 4-under 68 at Twin Warriors in Monday’s second round to grab the lead at the halfway mark with a 6-under 138 total. Kern had opened with a 2-under 70 Sunday at Santa Ana.

   Worthington had grabbed the lead following an opening round of 4-under 68 at Santa Ana Sunday. He matched par with a 72 in Monday’s second round at Twin Warriors that left him alone in second place, two shots behind Kern with a 4-under 68 total.