Bergstol headed for Quail Hollow and PGA Championship after finishing in a tie for third in PGA Professional Championship

 

   When Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, finished in third place in last summer’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, he knew he was headed to the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. for the PGA Professional Championship.

   It was a seven-month wait, but Bergstol has had some success on the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course, where three of the four rounds of the event once known as the National Club Pro would be played.

   The top 20 finishers in the PGA Professional Championship form the Colebridge Financial Team that represents club pros from all over the country at the PGA Championship, which tees off May 15 at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C.

   It was certainly a reasonable goal for Bergstol, one of the most consistent players on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit, to think he could be one of those top-20 finishers and get a chance to tee it up in one of golf’s four professional major championships.

   Bergstol matched par with a 72 in Wednesday’s final round on the Wanamaker Course to finish in a tie for third place with a 4-under 283 total in the PGA Professional Championship. Bergstol will indeed be headed to Quail Hollow with a tee time for the PGA Championship.

   It will be Bergstol’s second appearance in a major championship as he qualified for the 2008 U.S. Open on the South Course at Torrey Pines in San Diego, Calif.

   Bergstol has been a regular in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship, contested at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in November each year.

   He finished alone in second place in the NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship in 2021 and in a tie for second in 2022. Bergstol ended up in a tie for 25^th place in last fall’s Assistant Pro Championship. The guy knows his way around both courses at the PGA Golf Club, particularly the Wanamaker.

   And the Wanamaker played tough for everybody not named Tyler Collet, an assistant pro at the John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Fla., not far from the PGA Golf Club, who put his name on the Walter Hagen Cup and collected the top prize of $66,700 out of a total purse of $750,000 by cruising to a 10-shot victory.

   Bergstol opened with a solid 3-under 69 at the Wanamaker Sunday. The par-71 Ryder Course played quite a bit easier than the Wanamaker did and Bergstol picked up a couple more shots with a 2-under 69 at the Ryder in Monday’s second round.

   A 1-over 73 back at the Wanamaker Course in Tuesday’s third round had Bergstol on the verge of a spot on the Colebridge Financial Team as he was in a tie for eighth place going into Wednesday’s final round.

   Bergstol had an up-and-down final round, but when his shot with a pitching wedge from 132 yards away at the 368-yard, par-4 10^th hole found the bottom of the cup for a hole-out eagle, he was feeling pretty good.

   The eagle at the 10^th hole helped Bergstol match par in the final round to nail down his invitation to the PGA Championship.

   “I did enough and I’m happy about that,” Bergstol told Greg Dillard of the PGA of America website. “There were some sloppy bogeys along the line, but, I mean, happy to get it done and get it into the house. Obviously, a little bit better would have been nicer, but I can’t complain.

   Collet took most of the drama out of the race for the title before the tournament ever got to the final round.

   Collet blitzed the Wanamaker Course with a sizzling 7-under 65 in the opening round. He added a solid 4-under 67 at the Ryder Course in Monday’s second round and got it to 15-under through three rounds with an equally solid 4-under 68 back at the Wanamaker Course.

   Collet matched par in the final round with a 72 for a 15-under 272 total. His 10-shot margin of victory was a record for the PGA Professional Championship.

   Jesse Droemer, an instructor at Riverbend Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas, tried to keep up with Collet, but couldn’t catch him, but earned runnerup honors with a 5-under 282 total.

   Droemer opened with a 4-under 68 at the Wanamaker Course and added a 3-under 68 at the Ryder Course in the second round. He could only manage a pair of even-par 72s in the final two rounds, but still earned a second-place finish.

   Joining Bergstol in the tie for third place, a shot behind Droemer at 4-under was Michael Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif.

   Block became the face of America's club pros with his tremendous performance as part of the Colebridge Financial Team in the PGA Championship two years ago at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y.

   Block was the low club pro at Oak Hill, finishing in a tie for 15^th place, and had a dramatic hole-in-one in the final round.

   Block made a big splash in the opening round of the PGA Professional Championship with a sizzling 7-under 64 at the Ryder Course. He added a 1-under 71 in Monday’s second round at the Wanamaker Course, but cooled off a little in the final two rounds at the Wanamaker Course with a 3-over 75 in Tuesday’s third round and a final round of 1-over 73.

   Most of the drama at the PGA Golf Club was reserved for the four-man playoff for the final berth on the Colebridge Financial Team with Michael Kartrude, a pro at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Fla., making a par on the fifth hole of the playoff, the par-4 14^th at the Wanamaker Course, to punch his ticket to the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.

   Four other members of the Philadelphia Section PGA contingent at the PGA Golf Club survived both the 36-hole and 54-hole cuts and played four rounds.

   Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club, finished among a trio tied for 48^th place with a 5-over 292 total.

   Like Bergstol, Oakley has played a lot of competitive golf at the PGA Golf Club. Oakley finished in a tie for second place in November’s NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the Wanamaker Course.

   Oakley opened with a 2-under 70 at the Wanamaker Course before adding a 1-under 70 at the Ryder Course in Monday’s second round. He struggled in Tuesday’s third round at the Wanamaker Course with a 79 before closing with a 1-over 73.

   Oakley has represented the Philadelphia Section in the PGA Championship as part of the Colebridge Financial Team in 2022 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. and again last year at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.

   Brett Walker of Chester Valley Golf Club and Mike Meisenzahl of Tavistock Country Club finished among the group tied for 51^st place at 6-over 293.

   Walker had moved out of the Philadelphia Section, but returned just in time to capture the title in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship last summer.

   After opening with a 1-over 73 at the Wanamaker Course, Walker carded a sparkling 6-under 65 in Monday’s second round at the Ryder Course. A 4-under 76 at the Wanamaker Course in Tuesday’s third round left Walker just outside the top 20, still with a chance to earn a spot on the Colebridge Financial Team.

   But he closed with a 79 at the Wanamaker Course to fall back to 6-over.

   Trevor Bensel, representing Clubhouse 54, got off to a great start with a 6-under 65 at the Ryder Course, but couldn’t carry that momentum over to the Wanamaker Course.

   Bensel recorded a 5-over 77 in Monday’s second round and a 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s third round to survive the 54-hole cut before struggling to an 80 in the final round as he finished in the group tied for 63^rd place with a 9-over 296 total.

   Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club and the pride of Sun Valley High School, failed to make the 54-hole cut as he stood at 5-over 220 through three rounds.

   Shattuck had become the first Philadelphia Section pro to capture the title in the PGA Professional Championship since Ed Dougherty, another Delco guy, when he holed a dramatic par putt on the 72^nd hole at the Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. two years ago.

   Shattuck earned another trip to the PGA Championship a year ago at Valhalla, where he was one of two members of the Colebridge Financial Team to survive the 36-hole cut and ended up earning low-club pro honors with a 1-under 283 total.

   The reigning three-time winner of the Philadelphia Section’s Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year award, Shattuck opened with a 1-under 70 at the Ryder Course at the PGA Golf Club. He added a 2-over 74 in Monday’s second round before posting a 4-over 76, both at the Wanamaker Course.

   Shattuck was the runnerup to Walker in last summer’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, his third straight second-place finish in the Philly Section’s premier event.

   Joanna Coe, Merion Golf Club’s head of instruction, also failed to survive the 54-hole cut with an 11-over 226 total. Coe is the reigning three-time winner of the Philadelphia Section’s Rolex/Haverford Trust Women’s Player of the Year award.

   After opening with a 4-over 75 on the Ryder Course at the PGA Golf Club, Coe signed for a solid 2-under 70 at the Wanamaker Course in Monday’s second round to survive the 36-hole cut before struggling to an 83 in the third round.

   Coe earned Player of the Year honors in the Philadelphia Section despite giving birth to her first child last spring. She had qualified for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major championship on the LPGA Tour, but was granted a waiver that enabled her to carry over that spot she had earned to this year due to her pregnancy.

   Bottom line: Coe will be representing the Philadelphia Section when the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship tees off next month at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas. Pretty sure it will be the sixth time Coe will tee it up in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

   Another familiar name, former Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Ashley Grier, playing out of The Legacy Golf & Tennis Club, like the PGA Golf Club, in Port St. Lucie, Fla., also failed to survive the 54-hole cut with a 6-over 221 total.

   Grier got off to a solid start with a 1-under 70 at the Ryder Course in the opening round and a 1-under 71 at the Wanamaker Course in the second round before struggling to an 80 in Tuesday’s third round at the Wanamaker Course.

   Coe and Grier made history in the PGA Professional Championship in 2019 at Belfair in Bluffton, S.C. when they became the first two women to survive both cuts and play 72 holes.

   One of the Philadelphia Section’s top senior players, Dave Quinn of Laurel Valley Country Club, headed a large group of Section players who failed to survive the 36-hole cut. Quinn opened with a solid 2-under 69 at the Ryder Course, but struggled to a 5-over 77 in Monday’s second round at the Wanamaker Course that left him with a 3-over 146 total.

   Jeff Herb, working out of the pro shop at Waynesborough Country Club, also landed on 3-over 146 as he opened with a 4-over 76 at the Wanamaker Course before adding a 1-under 70 at the Ryder Course in Monday’s second round.

   Billy Stewart, the pride of Malvern Prep and Saint Joseph’s, appears to be unaffiliated at the moment after a long stint as an instructor at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course.

   After opening with a 2-over 74 at the Wanamaker Course, Stewart added a 3-over 74 at the Ryder Course for a 5-over 148 total.

   Looks like Andrew Turner has relocated from Whitford Country Club to the Country Club of York. He opened with a 4-over 76 at the Wanamaker Course before adding a 2-over 73 at the Ryder Course for a 6-over 149 total.

   Looks like Tony Perla has relocated back into the Philadelphia Section at Huntingdon Valley Country Club. Perla opened with a 2-over 73 at the Ryder Course before adding a 6-over 78 at the Wanamaker Course for an 8-over 151 total.

   Rusty Harbold, who plays out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, opened with a 2-over 73 at the Ryder Course before struggling to an 82 at the Wanamaker Course for a 155 total.

   Dave Pagett, the head pro at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, opened with a 6-over 77 at the Ryder Course before adding an 81 at the Wanamaker Course for a 158 total.

   Terry Hertzog, another of the Philadelphia Section’s senior stalwarts playing out of Bent Creek Country Club, opened with an 80 at the Ryder Course and added an 87 at the Wanamaker Course in Monday’s second round for a 167 total.