Braden Shattuck stared down the 12-foot putt Wednesday that would win him the most prestigious title a club professional can aspire to … and he just buried it.
The reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section PGA capped a really solid final round at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. by saving par on the 18th hole with that putt, completing a three-birdie, one-bogey 2-under-par 70 under what had to be the most intense pressure he has ever faced on a golf course.
The 28-year-old Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club who starred scholastically at Sun Valley, finished the grueling 72-hole test that is the PGA Professional Championship with a 9-under 279 total that was one shot better than Matt Cahill, the head pro at Seminole Golf Club, the iconic Donald Ross design in Juno Beach, Fla., and Michael Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif.
By finishing in the top 20 in the PGA Professional Championship – I prefer its old-school moniker, the National Club Pro – Shattuck earned a spot on the Corebridge Financial PGA Team and will have a starting time when the PGA Championship, the second of the four major professional championships, tees off May 18th at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y., outside of Rochester.
It will be Shattuck’s debut in a PGA Tour event and it will be his debut in a major championship.
The victory goes with a neat trophy, the crystal Walter Hagen Cup, and a pretty nice payday, too, a cool $60,000.
“It feels incredible – I can’t imagine being here right now,” Shattuck told Ryan Adams of PGA.com following the emotional victory. “Obviously, you want to win the golf tournament when you walk in the door and show up, but my goal was really just to be in the top 20.
“This is my first PGA Professional Championship that I’ve played in, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It means the world, though. I can’t believe it.”
Shattuck had a share of the lead at 7-under going into the final round over the 7,631-yard, par-72 Twin Warriors layout. He got off to a good start with a birdie at the first hole before giving a shot back with the only blemish on his scorecard, a bogey at the seventh hole.
But he was flawless the rest of the way. Shattuck made a birdie on the par-5 12th hole that got him to 8-under for the championship. Then he holed a clutch 20-foot birdie putt on the par-5 16th hole that gave him a one-shot lead over Cahill and Block, both of whom were playing in front of Shattuck.
Cahill made a putt on the same line that Shattuck would have a half-hour later for a par on the 18th hole that completed a 4-under 68 and got him to the house with an 8-under 280 total.
Block had a decent look at birdie on the 18th and his ball got a piece of the hole before going by. The par for Block, who was playing in the PGA Professional Championship for the ninth time, gave him a final round of 3-under 69 and an 8-under 280 total.
Shattuck arrived on the tee at the par-4 18th hole knowing he needed a par to pull out the victory. He bailed a little on his approach, which ended up hole high to the right of the green. He chipped it to 12 feet. He needed that putt for par to win the championship and he got it.
My suspicion in the post I did following the third round was confirmed in a release from the Philadelphia Section PGA. Shattuck became only the second Philadelphia Section member to win the PGA Professional Championship, matching the feat accomplished in 1985 by Ed Dougherty. Both, as I mentioned in my previous post, are Delco guys.
The victory also gives Shattuck exemptions into six PGA Tour events. Not sure if that’s including the PGA Championship or if those are events designated by the PGA Tour or ones of Shattuck’s choosing.
The Golf Channel broadcast mentioned a car accident Shattuck was involved in four years ago that has apparently caused some chronic back issues. The back flared up on Shattuck last summer and forced him to suspend his bid to try to get through the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying.
But by the end of the summer, Shattuck was back in good form, as evidenced by his runnerup finish in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which earned him his trip to New Mexico in the first place.
Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League Liberty Hill Course, had a little too much work to do to earn a spot in the PGA Championship, but Stewart, who starred scholastically at Malvern Prep and collegiately at Saint Joseph’s, finished strong with a final round of 2-under 70 that left him in the group tied for 27th place with an even-par 288 total.
The Philadelphia Section’s 2022 Women’s Player of the Year, Joanna Coe, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, closed with a 2-over 74 to finish in the group tied for 49th place with a 3-over 291 total.
Only one other woman in the field was better than Coe as Stephanie Connelly Eisworth, an instructor at Eagle Harbor Golf Club on Fleming Island, Fla. Connelly Eisworth closed with her second straight 1-over 73 to finish among the group tied for 34th place with a 1-over 289 total.
When Coe and former Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Ashley Grier survived two cuts at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C. in 2019, they were the first women to play four rounds in the PGA Professional Championship. Coe has now achieved that feat twice.
Coe will represent the Philadelphia Section in next month’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major on the LPGA Tour, at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. Coe punched her ticket to Baltusrol with a runnerup finish in last summer’s LPGA Professional National Championship at the Kingsmill Resort’s River Course in Williamsburg, Va.
Cadillac, Club Car, Corebridge Financial and Rolex were presenting sponsors for the PGA Professional Championship. Gallagher USA, The Golf Channel and the PGA Tour were supporting partners and Titleist/Footjoy, Callaway, Nike and TaylorMade were supporting sponsors.
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