Brett Walker is back and picking up right where he left off when he departed the Philadelphia Section PGA after capturing the title in the 100th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in 2021.
Returning to the Philadelphia Section in the pro shop at Chester Valley Golf Club, Walker held off Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, by a shot with a final round of 2-under-par 69 Wednesday on Shattuck’s home course at Rolling Green, the William Flynn gem in Springfield, Delaware County.
Walker had taken a three-shot lead over Shattuck going into Wednesday’s final round on the strength of a 7-under 64 in Monday’s opening round at Rolling Green, which played host to the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur, and a 1-over 71 at his new home course at Chester Valley, which hosted a regular stop on the then fledgling Senior Tour (now known as PGA Tour Champions) in the 1980s and ’90s.
Walker, it seems, is at his best on the classic golf courses that seem to be in endless supply in the Philadelphia Section.
Walker’s final-round 69 gave him an 8-under 204 total and earned him the top prize of $9,000. Walker’s name will be engraved on the William B. Packer Trophy for a second time.
It turned into a two-horse race in the final round as Shattuck, a Delco guy who was a scholastic standout at Sun Valley, closed with a sparkling 4-under 67, the best round of the day, to earn runnerup honors with a 7-under 205 total.
Shattuck was the runnerup in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship for the third straight year.
After opening with a bogey at the first hole, Walker made birdies at the second and fifth holes to get it to 7-under for the championship.
When Shattuck made a birdie at the third hole, he briefly crept within two shots of Walker.
But the tournament likely turned at the par-5 seventh hole as Walker nearly holed his second shot for a double eagle, his ball settling two feet from the hole for an easy eagle that got him to 9-under for the championship.
Shattuck, meanwhile, settled for par and fell four shots behind Walker.
Walker successfully nursed his advantage with pars on 10 of his final 11 holes, his only blemish coming on Rolling Green’s tough par-3 14th hole.
Shattuck kept coming as he made birdies at the eighth and ninth holes, but a bogey at 11 slowed his roll. Shattuck made birdies at the 15th and 17th holes to get it to 7-under, but was never able to draw even with Walker.
“It was a grind today,” Walker told the Philadelphia Section website. “Winning is never easy. Braden and Zac (Oakley) made it tough on me and I just tried to hit the best shots I could. When I focused on my own game and my own shots, it went well for me.”
Walker and Shattuck will head a group of the top 13 finishers Wednesday in the Philadelphia Section contingent that qualified to tee it up in the PGA Professional Championship – it’s old-school moniker was the National Club Pro -- next April at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
The top 20 finishers at the PGA Golf Club will form the Colebridge Financial Team that will represent club pros all around the country at the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, in May at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C.
Walker took that road to make an appearance in the PGA Championship in 2021 at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island on the South Carolina coast. The PGA Professional Championship was also at the PGA Golf Club that year and Walker finished in a tie for eighth place.
Shattuck, the two-time reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section, has made it to the PGA Championship each of the last two springs, becoming only the second player from the Philadelphia Section to win the PGA Professional Championship when he buried a 12-foot putt for par on the 72nd hole at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. in 2023.
Shattuck finished in a tie for 16th place in this year’s PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch East PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s national headquarters in Texas to earn a second straight trip to the PGA Championship.
Shattuck was one of just two members of the Colebridge Financial Team to survive the 36-hole cut in the PGA at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. and earned low club pro honors.
Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, was the only other player to finish under par for the tournament as he matched par in Wednesday’s final round, played with real-feel temperatures approaching triple digits, with a 71 to take third place with a 2-under 210 total that left him five shots behind Shattuck.
Bergstol captured the title in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship in 2022 at DuPont Country Club.
Mike Meisenzahl, playing out of the Tavistock Country Club pro shop, closed with a solid 2-under 69 at Rolling Green to end up in fourth place at even-par 212.
Trevor Bensel, an assistant pro at Sandy Run Country Club, carded a final round of 2-over 73 to finish alone in fifth place with a 1-over 213 total. Bensel has been a regular at the PGA Professional Championship. Maybe 2025 is the year he busts through with a top-20 finish and a trip to the PGA Championship.
Rusty Harbold, playing out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, finished up with a solid 1-under 70 at Rolling Green and ended up in sixth place with a 3-over 215 total.
Veteran Terry Hatch, playing out of the Royal Oaks Golf Course pro shop, also closed with a 1-under 70 to finish in seventh place, a shot behind Harbold with a 4-over 216 total.
Zac Oakley, who was the defending champion, began the day trailing Walker by four shots and was still in contention when he matched Walker’s eagle at the par-5 seventh hole. But Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club, struggled on Rolling Green’s incoming nine and finished with a 7-over 78 that left him among a trio of players tied for eighth place at 5-over 217.
Oakley was part of the group, along with Shattuck, that finished in a tie for 16th place in the PGA Professional Championship in the spring at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco and earned a trip to the PGA Championship for the second time in three years.
Joining Oakley at 5-over were Dave Quinn, playing out of the Laurel Creek Country Club pro shop, and Jeff Herb of Waynesborough Country Club.
Quinn, like Hatch, part of a really strong group of senior players in the Philadelphia Section, closed with a solid 2-under 69 to secure his spot in next spring’s PGA Professional Championship. Herb finished up with a 1-over 72 to earn a top-10 finish.
The trio that finished in a tie for 11th place at 7-over 219 – Terry Hertzog, playing out of the Bent Creek Country Club pro shop, Whitford Country Club’s Andrew Turner and Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro Dave Pagett – grabbed the last three tickets for next spring’s PGA Professional Championship.
The first alternate was Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course, as he finished alone in 14th place with an 8-over 220 total. It seems that one or two of the Philly Section’s alternates make the PGA Professional Championship field each year.
Any other alternates will come from a foursome that finished in a tie for 15th place at 9-over 221 that included Parks Price of Hanover Country Club, Stephen Swartz of Carlisle Country Club, Sam Ambrose of Chester Valley and Scott Chisholm of Rolling Green.
The Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship was presented by Club Car, Colebrook Financial and Rolex and was supported by Gallagher, The Golf Channel, the PGA Tour, Titleist, FootJoy, Callaway, Nike, TaylorMade, Visit Delco, SCNS Sports Foods and StrackaLine.
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