Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, and Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club, nailed down significant Philadelphia Section PGA victories on consecutive days in late September.
Shattuck earned his third Philly Section victory of the season with a 3-under-par 68 at Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia in Fox Hill, N.J. Sept. 29th that gave him a two-shot edge on his closest pursuers in the Delaware Valley Open.
More importantly, the win made it a certainty that Shattuck would earn his fourth straight Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Philadelphia PGA Player of the Year award. The Delaware Valley Open was the final Rolex/Haverford Trust Company points tournament of the 2025 season.
A day later, Oakley outlasted Zach Barbin, an assistant pro at Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, in the final of the Philadelphia PGA Match Play Championship by making a birdie on the 19th hole at the iconic setting of Merion Golf Club’s East Course Sept. 30th as he won the title in the season-long event for the fourth time.
Shattuck and Oakley were colleagues in the Bidermann pro shop before Shattuck moved back home to Delco to accept his current position at Rolling Green. Shattuck was a scholastic standout at Sun Valley in Aston.
Shattuck’s round at Trump National Philadelphia actually got off to a slow start when he made a double bogey at the fifth hole. But he turned things around quickly, making birdies at the seventh, ninth and 10th holes before going back-to-back with birdies at 14 and 15.
Shattuck added the win in the Delaware Valley Open to his victories earlier in the season in the Doylestown Open and the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship. Shattuck’s win in the Section’s marquee event at Concord Country Club was particularly gratifying as he had been the runnerup in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship the previous three years.
Shattuck has become one of the top club pros in the country in recent years after capturing the title in the PGA Professional Championship in 2023 at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. and a year later earning low-pro honors in the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. after another strong showing in the PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s headquarters in Frisco, Texas.
Seven of the Philly Section’s top players chased Shattuck at Trump National Philadelphia as they shared second place, each landing on 1-under 70.
That group included Mark Sheftic, the head of instruction at Sunnybrook Golf Club and part of the Philly Section’s talented group of senior players, Mike Little of Clubhouse 54, Tony Perla, who returned to the Philly Section this year in the Huntingdon Valley Country Club pro shop, Andy Hewitt of Cripple Creek Golf & Country Club, Aronimink Golf Club’s Riley Wheeldon, the runnerup to Shattuck in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Concord, Trevor Bensel of LuLu Country Club and Matt Meisenzahl of Tavistock Country Club.
Sheftic’s 1-under total left him atop the leaderboard in the Senior division. Radnor Valley Country Club’s ageless George Forster was the runnerup with a 1-over 72.
Greg Farrow, the longtime head pro at Deerwood Country Club, matched par with a 71 to take top honors in the Super Senior division. Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Bill Sautter was the runnerup with a 2-over 73.
Joanna Coe, the talented head of instruction at Merion, topped the Women’s division with a 2-over 73.
Looped for Coe in Monday’s PGA REACH Philadelphia's sixth Pro-Am fundraising outing at Stonewall’s Old Course and the game of the three-time reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Philadelphia PGA Women’s Player of the Year was really impressive.
Green Valley Country Club assistant pro Brittany Weddell was the runnerup in the Women’s division at Trump National Philadelphia with an 80.
Bensel’s even-par 71 gave him a victory in the concurrent Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) event.
Chesapeake Bay’s Zach Barbin, Kyle Early of Waynesborough Country Club, Green Valley’s Andrew Cornish and Andrew Turner of the Country Club of York each posted a 1-over 72 to finish a shot behind Bensel in a tie for second place.
The Delaware Valley Open was supported by Jack Jolly & Son, Inc., KM Golf Sales and the PGA Tour.
A day later, Oakley capped the season-long Philadelphia PGA Match Play Championship by rallying on Merion East’s back five to pull out a victory over Barbin in the final.
The semifinals and final at Merion Sept. 30 was the culmination of a unique Philly Section event involving the game’s most inscrutable formats: Match play.
The final four players at Merion survived a day of matches Sept. 3rd at Commonwealth National Golf Club in Horsham when a field of 16 players, competing in divisions named for the Philly Section’s legendary figures, was whittled down to four with two rounds of matches.
At Merion, Oakley reached the final with a 6 and 5 victory over Waynesborough’s Early in their semifinal match. Barbin captured a 4 and 3 decision over Bensel in the other semifinal.
Barbin got the jump on Oakley in the final as he made a birdie at the par-5 second hole. His lead grew to 3-up heading to the challenging final five holes at the historic East Course, which has hosted the U.S. Open five times.
Oakley won the 14th hole with a birdie and 15 with a par to creep within 1-down of Barbin. Oakley’s par at Merion’s iconic finishing hole sent the match to extra holes. A birdie at Merion’s short, par-4 opening hole gave Oakley the victory in an event he has dominated.
Match play demands a certain mindset, one that Oakley clearly has.
“Zach played great today,” Oakley told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “It was tough. It was up and down on that back nine, but I really focused on the last four holes, hung in there and made a lot of good putts. To do it at Merion makes it even more special for me.”
Oakley had advanced to the semifinals at Merion when he edged Sunnybrook’s Sheftic, 2-up, to win the Jack Connelly Bracket Sept. 3rd at Commonwealth National.
Early defeated Merion’s Coe, 2 and 1, in the final of the Skee Riegel Bracket to punch his ticket to the semifinals.
Barbin cruised to a 5 and 4 decision over Tavistock’s Meisenzahl to capture the top spot in the Charlie Hoffner Bracket and advance to the semifinals. Earlier in the day, Barbin had stunned Shattuck with a 1-up victory in the round of 16.
Bensel booked a spot in the semifinals with a 1-up victory over Chester Valley Golf Club’s Brett Walker to claim the top spot in the Dick Smith Bracket.
The Philadelphia PGA Match Play Championship was supported by Rolex and the PGA Tour.
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