After three straight frustrating runnerup finishes, Braden Shattuck, the director of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, found the winner’s circle in the 104th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which wrapped up on a dreary Wednesday at Concord Country Club.
Taking a three-shot lead into the final round, Shattuck put together a businesslike 2-under-par 69 over the William Flynn design at Concord for an 11-under 202 total that left him two shots clear of runnerup Riley Wheeldon, who is in his first year in the Philadelphia Section PGA and working in the pro shop at Aronimink Golf Club.
Shattuck, a product of nearby Sun Valley High School, learned the ropes of being an effective club professional under the tutelage of Concord head pro Mike Moses. Shattuck’s familiarity with the course certainly was a factor in helping him put his name on the William B. Packer Trophy and earn the top prize of $9,250.
“It feels great to finally win this championship,” Shattuck, the Philly Section’s reigning three-time Rolex / Haverford Trust Company Player of the year, told the Philadelphia Section website. “This was the first time I actually got out ahead after two rounds, which helped a lot.”
Shattuck got off to a good start in Wednesday’s final round with back-to-back birdies at the second and third holes that quickly got him to 11-under for the championship.
Shattuck made a bogey at the sixth hole, but maintained his lead with birdies at 10 and 13. He made bogeys at the 15th and 17th holes, but closed with a birdie at Concord’s par-5 finishing hole.
The victory kept Shattuck at the top of the points race that will determine the Philly Section’s Rolex / Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year honor as he bids to win that award for a fourth straight time.
Wheeldon capped a really solid effort with a 3-under 68 as he finished with a 9-under 204 total.
Shattuck will head a strong contingent from the Philly Section to the PGA Professional Championship, which will tee off April 26 next year at one of the game’s most popular destinations, the Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coast.
The top finishers this week qualified for the PGA Professional Championship, but Shattuck was already exempted into the event once known at the National Club Pro because he won the thing in dramatic fashion in 2023 at the Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.
There was a little added incentive for the Philly Section contenders who were vying to compete next spring at Bandon Dunes.
The top 20 finishers in the PGA Professional Championship will form the Corebridge Financial Team that will represent club pros across America at the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships.
And the 2026 PGA Championship, of course, is coming to Delaware County and the Donald Ross masterpiece that is Aronimink. It is the first PGA Championship to be held at Aronimink since 1962 when it was won by World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player.
A year after his victory in the PGA Professional Championship in 2023 and his first appearance in a major championship in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y., Shattuck again earned a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team out of the 2024 National Club Pro at PGA Frisco’s Fields Ranch East Course at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas.
In his second straight PGA Championship appearance, Shattuck was one of two club pros who survived the 36-hole cut at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. and ended up as the low club pro.
You think Shattuck, a Delco guy, would love to represent the Philadelphia Section in a PGA at Aronimink? Me too.
And how about Wheeldon? Assuming he returns to the pro shop at Aronimink next spring, he could be representing the Philadelphia Section and head pro Jeff Kiddie and his Aronimink staff in a PGA at Aronimink with a top-20 finish at the Dunes. How cool would that be?
The third-place finisher at Concord this week, Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Course, has earned a spot in the PGA Championship twice before, most recently when he joined Shattuck on the Corebridge Financial Team at Valhalla in 2024.
Oakley, the son of Philly Section legend Peter Oakley, matched par in the final round at Concord with a 71 and ended up four shots behind Wheeldon with a 5-under 208 total.
Will Scarborough, who works out of the pro shop at The Peninsula Golf & Country Club, and Zach Barbin, an assistant pro at Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, finished in a tie for fourth place at Concord, a shot behind Oakley at 4-under 209. Both earned spots in the PGA Professional Championship next spring at Bandon Dunes.
Scarborough closed with a 1-over 72 while Barbin, winner of two of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major championships, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur and the Patterson Cup in the pandemic summer of 2020, matched par in the final round with a 71.
Defending champion Brett Walker, playing out of the Chester Valley Golf Club, headed a trio of players tied for sixth place at 2-under 211. Walker finished up with a 1-under 70.
Walker was working in the pro shop at Sunnybrook Golf Club in 2021 when he advanced out of the PGA Professional Championship to the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island off the South Carolina coast.
Walker had left the Philadelphia Section for a couple of years, but returned just in time to capture the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Rolling Green a year ago.
Tony Perla, another guy who was working outside the Philly Section for a while before joining the staff at Huntingdon Valley Country Club this year, tallied the low round of the week at Concord, a sizzling 6-under 65, in Wednesday’s final round to join Walker at 2-under.
Rounding out the trio tied at 2-under was Chris Krueger of Kings Creek Country Club as he matched par in the final round with a 71.
Walker, Perla and Krueger all earned a trip to Bandon Dunes for next spring’s PGA Professional Championship.
One of Walker’s colleagues in the Chester Valley pro shop, Sam Ambrose, and Trevor Bensel, playing out of pro shop at LuLu Country Club, finished in a tie for ninth place at Concord, each landing on 1-under 212.
Ambrose matched par in the final round with a 71 while Trevor Bensel, one of the Philly Section’s most consistent performers, finished up with a 1-over 72. Ambrose and Trevor Bensel will represent the Philly Section in the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes next spring.
Frank Bensel, at 57 years young a legendary player in the club pro ranks who moved into the Philly Section when he accepted a job as an instructor at Galloway National Golf Club this year, and Joanna Coe, the head on instruction at Merion Golf Club, nabbed berths to the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes as they finished in a tie for 11th place, each ending up at even-par 213.
Frank Bensel surged up the leaderboard with a final round of 4-under 67 to punch his ticket to Bandon Dunes. Frank Bensel has advanced out of the PGA Professional Championship to the PGA Championship three times in his career.
Coe, a native of Mays Landing at the Jersey Shore who represented the Philly Section in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major on the LPGA Tour, at Fields Ranch East in June, closed with a 1-over 72.
Coe is the Philly Section’s reigning three-time Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Women’s Player of the Year.
One other Philly Section pro, Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, was exempt into the field for next spring’s PGA Professional Championship as a result of his tie for third place at this year’s National Club Pro at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Bergstol represented the Philly Section as a member of the Corebridge Financial Team because of his strong showing in the PGA Professional Championship in the PGA Championship at The Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C.
Bergstol matched par in the final round at Concord with a 71 to finish among the group tied for 20th place with a 4-over 217 total.
The list of alternates to the PGA Professional Championship out of the Philly Section includes Dave Quinn, one of the Section’s talented senior players who works in the pro shop at Laurel Creek Country Club, Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro Dave Pagett and Danny Lewis, representing Trout National – The Reserve, all of whom finished in a tie for 13th place at 1-over 214 at Concord, as well as Michael Little of Clubhouse 54 and Tom Michaels of Berkshire Country Club, both of whom were among the group tied for 16th at 2-over 215 at Concord.
The Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship was presented by Club Car, Corebridge Financial and Rolex. The event was supported by Gallagher, The Golf Channel, the PGA Tour, Titleist/Footjoy, Callaway, Nike, Ship Sticks, TaylorMade, Visit Delco and StrackaLine.
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