Braden Shattuck, the director of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, and Joanna Coe, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, were recently named the top male and female player, respectively, in the Philadelphia Section PGA, both earning the honor for the fourth consecutive year.
Shattuck had been the runnerup in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship for three years in a row, but he finally nailed down the title in the Philly Section’s marquee event in the summer at Concord Country Club.
Shattuck probably clinched his fourth straight Rolex / Haverford Trust Player of the Year honor with that victory, but he added another win in the Delaware Valley Open at Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia in Fox Hill, N.J. for good measure.
The Delaware Valley Open win was Shattuck’s third of the season. Shattuck also claimed a title in the Doylestown Open at Doylestown Country Club earlier in the summer.
Shattuck also earned the other major season-long award handed out by the Philly Section as he won the F. Edward DeBaufre Trophy for the low Scoring Average with a sparkling 67.93 average. Shattuck broke the previous low Scoring Average record he had established a year ago.
Shattuck, who starred scholastically at Sun Valley, established himself as one of the top club pros in the country when he captured the title in the PGA Professional Championship at the Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. in the spring of 2023.
A year later, Shattuck earned a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team, representing club pros across America, in the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. for the second straight year.
At Valhalla, Shattuck was one of two members of the Corebridge Financial Team to survive the 36-hole cut and finished out the weekend by claiming low-club pro honors.
Shattuck is preparing for a start in the PGA Tour Q-School’s Second Stage the first week in December.
Shattuck earned his spot in the Second State by earning co-medalist honors with Dave Pastore of Stamford, Conn. in the Q-School First Stage event which wrapped up Oct. 17th at Galloping Hill Golf Club in Kenilworth, N.J.
Shattuck opened with a sizzling 8-under-par 63 over the par-71 Galloping Hill layout and added rounds of 69, 67 and 68 for a 17-under 267 total. Those are the kinds of numbers you need to put up to advance out of these things.
If Shattuck can survive the Second Stage, he would move on to Q-School’s Final Stage, which tees off Dec. 11 at courses in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. There aren’t a whole lot of PGA Tour cards up for grabs in Q-School’s Final Stage, buy a high finish can earn you some status on the Korn Ferry Tour, the gateway to the PGA Tour for many professional players.
Once again, Coe was named the Rolex / Haverford Trust Women’s Player of the Year.
Coe regularly competes against the men in the Philly Section events. While Shattuck was capturing the title in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Concord, Coe finished in a tie for 11th place to earn herself a trip to Bandon Dunes for the PGA Professional Championship in April.
Coe also represented the Philly Section in two LPGA Tour events in 2025, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major for the women pros, at PGA Frisco’s Fields Ranch East at the PGA of America’s headquarters in Frisco, Texas and in the ShopRite LPGA Classic at Seaview’s Bay Course across the bay from Atlantic City, N.J., not far from where Coe grew up in Mays Landing, N.J.
Got a chance to caddy for Coe in the PGA REACH Philadelphia Pro-Am at Stonewall’s Old Course last month.
For some reason, tournament officials had Coe and the other women pros in the field playing from the Old Course’s 5,357-yard ladies tees. There was also no individual pro prize up for grabs, so Coe could go for stuff.
Coe was also busy chatting up the Merion members in our group about ideas she had for improving the practice facilities at Merion.
Joanna Coe vs. the Old Course at 5,357 yards was a mismatch in Coe’s favor, at least tee to green. She made an eagle, at the ’Wall’s par-5 opener – our 17th hole of the day in the shotgun start -- and had four birdies. With a couple of better reads, it might have been seven birdies. She can really play.
Oh yeah, in the midst of all that, Coe has a 15-month old daughter she’s mothering at home.
John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs in Hawley, was named the winner of the Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year Award for the second year in a row.
Pillar captured the title in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship for the second year in a row in blistering heat at Spring Ford Country Club.
That win earned Pillar a trip to the Senior PGA Professional Championship last month at the PGA Golf Club. Pillar finished in a tie for 32nd at the PGA Golf Club and will be part of the Corebridge Financial Team representing senior club pros across America in next spring’s Senior PGA Championship, a major on the PGA Tour Champions, at The Concession Club in Bradenton, Fla.
The Philly Section’s Super Senior Player of the Year is also a repeat selection as Bill Sautter, who works out of the pro shop at Philadelphia Cricket Club, again got the nod.
Sautter also survived the sauna at Spring Ford to take top honors in the Super Senior division in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship.
Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, was also a repeat winner as the Central Counties Chapter Player of the Year.
Was able to do daily posts on last week’s Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club’s Dye Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla. and Bergstol, who always seems to save his best stuff for this event, finished among the group tied for 16th place with a 5-over 293 total.
Bergstol represented Shawnee, the Philadelphia Section and the Central Counties Chapter in the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, in May at The Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. after earning a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team by finishing in a tie for third place in the PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course.
Tom Michaels, the head pro at Berkshire Country Club, was named the winner of the Ike Turner Most Improved Player Award.
Michaels had a top-20 finish in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Concord and was consistent the whole season with a scoring average of 71.86.
The Philadelphia Section also recognized a new class of Playing Legends that includes John D. “Jack” Campbell, Bruce P. Coltart, Ronald “Rod” Munday, Theodore “Ted” Turner and Joe Zarhardt.
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