Shattuck grabs share of the lead as he opens defense of his Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship title

 

   Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, struck the opening drive in the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in May.

   It was a proud moment for Shattuck personally and for the Philadelphia Section PGA, which was hosting the PGA of America’s major championship for the first time since the PGA was played at Aronimink in 19 and 62.

   Shattuck, a product of Sun Valley High School in Aston, earned his spot in the field at Aronimink by finishing in a tie for eighth place in the PGA Professional Championship at the Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coastline.

   The top 20 finishers in the PPC each year form the Corebridge Financial Team and get to represent club pros all across America in the PGA Championship. It was the third time in the last four springs that Shattuck had earned a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team and got to tee it up in the PGA Championship.

   This one, at Aronimink, so close to home, was special.

   Shattuck took the first step on what could be a return trip to the PGA Championship in 2027 by firing a sizzling 8-under-par 64 Monday at Sandy Run Country Club to get a share of the lead in the 105^th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.

   After three straight runnerup finishes in the Philadelphia PPC, Shattuck broke through and captured the title a year ago at Concord Country Club.

   He opened defense of that title by grabbing a share of the lead with Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Tony Perla, who matched Shattuck’s 64 at Sandy Run, and Joe Kogelman of GOLFTEC Moorestown, who posted a sizzling 8-under 64 of his own at nearby Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, the George C. Thomas Jr. classic that once upon a time hosted a regular stop on the PGA Tour.

   The players will switch courses for Tuesday’s second round and the field will be cut to the low 60 and ties with the survivors of the cut teeing it up in the final round at Whitemarsh Valley Wednesday.

   The top 10 eligible finishers will earn a trip to the PGA Professional Championship next spring at the Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla. The top 20 finishers at Streamsong will form the Corebridge Financial Team for the PGA Championship, which will be held at the Fields Ranch East Course at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas.

   Shattuck, the Philly Section’s four-time reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year, and Brian Bergstol, the director of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, are exempt into next spring’s PPC at Fields Ranch East.

   I have not been able to keep up with the Philly Section circuit as much as I'd like during this busy summer, but Shattuck has been his typically solid self.

   Shattuck was coming off a third-place finish in the 50^th annual Pro-Am for Wishes earlier this month with a 4-under 138 total at Penn Oaks Golf Club.

   In early July, Shattuck put together a blistering 14-under 128 total in rounds over Berkleigh Golf Club and Moselem Springs Golf Club to take the title in the Golf Association of the Lehigh Valley’s Reading Open.

   Did manage to get a little roundup of Shattuck’s victory in the Delaware Valley Open at Scotland Run Golf Club a few days after he failed to make the cut in the PGA Championship at Aronimink.

   Shattuck had tuned up for the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes in April with a victory in the Radnor Golf Foundation Tournament Players Division Championship at Galloway National Golf Club.

   Shattuck was flawless Monday at Sandy Run as he made birdies at the fourth, seventh, ninth, 10^th, 12^th and 14^th holes before adding an eagle at the par-5 15^th.

   Perla got off to a nice start at Sandy Run with birdies at the fourth, sixth and ninth holes on the outgoing nine before turning it on on the back nine, going back-to-back with birdies at 11 and 12, going back-to-back again with birdies at 15 and 16 and finishing up his round with a birdie at the last.

   Kogelman blitzed Whitemarsh Valley with seven birdies in his first 11 holes. He went back-to-back with birdies at the first and second holes, went back-to-back again with birdies at four and five and then ripped off consecutive birdies at nine, 10 and 11.

   A double bogey at the 13^th hole slowed Kogelman’s roll a little, but he got back on track with a birdie at 15 and the finished strong with back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18.

   Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course, was a shot behind the three co-leaders with a sparking 7-under 65 at Sandy Run.

   Stewart, the 2018 Philadelphia PPC champion, cashed the biggest check offered by any Section tournament in the country when he won the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic and its top prize of $100,000 the day after Memorial Day at Sunnybrook Golf Club.

   Whitford Country Club assistant pro Anthony Sebastianelli, who captured the title in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship at Laurel Creek Country Club earlier this summer, was a shot behind Stewart in fifth place after signing for a 6-under 66 at Sandy Run.

   Sebastianelli was the runnerup to Chesapeake Bay Golf Club’s Zach Barbin in the Pro-Am for Wishes earlier this month at Penn Oaks with a 5-under 137 total.

   Chester Valley Golf Club’s Brett Walker, a two-time winner of the Philadelphia PPC, most recently two years ago at Rolling Green Golf Club, was a shot behind Sebastianelli in sixth place with a 5-under 67 at Sandy Run.

   The trio of Aronimink Golf Club instructor Riley Wheeldon, Tavistock Country Club’s Mike Meisenzahl and Bent Creek Country Club’s Parks Price were in a tie for seventh place, each ending up at 4-under.

   Wheeldon, the runnerup to Shattuck in the Philadelphia PPC a year ago at Concord, and Meisenzahl both carded their 68s at Sandy Run while Price recorded his 68 at Whitemarsh Valley.

   Wheeldon nearly earned a spot in the field in the PGA Championship at his home course, but struggled in the final round in the PPC at Bandon Dunes to finish in a tie for 51^st place.

   Rounding out the top 10 following the opening round of Philadelphia PPC were the Shawnee Inn’s Bergstol and Jake Gerney of Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia as they ended up in a tie for 10^th place at 3-under.

   Bergstol, the Philadelphia PPC champion in 2022, opened with a 69 at Whitemarsh Valley while Gerney’s 69 came at Sandy Run.

   Bergstol finished in a tie for third place in the PPC in the spring of 2025 and represented the Philadelphia Section as a member of the Corebridge Financial Team in the  PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C.

 

Stumacher finishes strong to claim title in Philly Junior Tour's Girls Summer Championship at Manufacturers

 

   Just couldn’t stay away from the U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s East Course, but it left me well behind in a lot of the golf news I usually post on this blog. I’m going to keep plugging away, particularly with the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stuff, to catch up as much as possible, starting with …

   Sarah Stumacher, a Gladwyne resident and a senior on the Friends’ Central School golf team, finished strong at Manufacturers’ Golf & Country Club, a classic William Flynn design in Fort Washington, to card a sparkling 3-under-par 71 and capture the title in the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s Girls Summer Championship July 27^th.

   The Girls Summer Championship was originally scheduled to be a two-day event July 27^th and 28^th, but looks like it was limited to just a single round.

   It was still a Junior Golf Scoreboard (JGS) event, offering points for players that can earn them status on some of the higher-profile junior circuits, most notably the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).

   The JGS points went to overall finishers from ages 13 to 18. The Philly Junior Tour broke out its usual 16-to-18 and 13-to-15 divisions, so I will wrap them up while referring to the overall scoring.

   Stumacher, who plays out of Philadelphia Cricket Club, got off to a good start with back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes and an eagle at the par-5 ninth. She made birdies at the 10^th, 12^th, 14^th and 16^th holes while touring the incoming nine at Manufacturers in 2-under 36.

   Stumacher had six pars on her scorecard as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 16-to-18 division and in the overall scoring.

   York Suburban senior Vivienne Powers, who has qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of the last two falls, Conestoga junior Nicolette Bottos, who helped the Pioneers capture the PIAA Class AAA team title last fall, and Shuyan Song, an invader from China, each posted a 1-under 73 to finish two shots behind Stumacher.

   Powers was awarded runnerup honors in the overall scoring in a tiebreaker, Song, who finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division, was in third place via the tiebreaker and Bottos ended up fourth in the overall standings.

   Powers made birdies at the 10^th, 14^th and 16^th holes while touring the incoming nine at Manufacturers in 3-under 35. She had 13 pars on her card, including a string of four straight pars from the sixth through the ninth holes.

   After making birdies at the third, seventh and 10^th holes, Bottos made an eagle at the par-5 12^th before adding another birdie at 16 as she matched Stumacher’s 2-under 36 on the back nine at Manufacturers. Bottos had eight pars on her card as she shared second place among the older girls with Powers.

   Bottos, who plays out of Rolling Green Golf Club, has had a strong summer, highlighted by her victory in the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Girls’ Championship earlier in July at Honeybrook Golf Club. Powers finished in a tie for second place at Honeybrook.

   Ephrata junior Makenna Heckman, who has reached the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of her first two seasons of scholastic golf, finished in fourth place in the 16-to-18 division and sixth in the overall standings with a 1-over 75.

   Exeter senior Giulia Weisser, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of her first three seasons of scholastic golf, Conestoga senior Corinne McReynolds, Bottos’ teammate on the Pioneers state Class AAA team champions, and Harriton junior Megan Choi, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in each of her first two seasons of scholastic golf, finished in a tie for fifth place in the 16-to-18 division as each tallied a 2-over 76.

   That trio, along with Cedar Crest sophomore Bryn Brandt, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall who finished in third place in the 13-to-15 division with a 3-over 76, rounded out the top 10 in the overall scoring as they finished in a four-player logjam tied for seventh place.

   Perkiomen Valley senior Saloni Patel, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, and Siena Cohen of Marlton, N.J. finished in a tie for eighth place in the 16-to-18 division, each signing for a 79.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division were Southern Lehigh senior Lexi Miller, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, and Emma Bergey of Kennett Square as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each recording an 81.

   Song made birdies at the third, seventh, 10^th, 12^th and 17^th holes and had 10 pars on her scorecard, including a run of four straight pars from 13 through 16, as she finished at the top of the leaderboard in the 13-to-15 division with her 1-under 73.

   Song toured the incoming nine at Manufacturers in 2-under 36 while earning third place in the overall standings in the tiebreaker with Powers and Bottos from the 16-to-18 division.

   Madison Cabot, a Newtown resident and a sophomore at The Pennington School, finished a shot behind Song in second place among the younger girls and fifth in the overall scoring by matching par with a 74.

   Cabot, the Philly Junior Tour’s 13-to-15 Player of the Year in 2025, made back-to-back birdies at the 15^th and 16^th holes and had 14 pars on her card, including a string of five straight pars from six through 10. Cabot toured the incoming nine at Manufacturers in 1-under 37.

   Cabot played on the Council Rock South golf team as a freshman last fall before transferring across the Delaware River to Pennington.

   Cedar Crest’s Brandt ripped off three straight birdies at the 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes and added another birdie at 16 in her 2-over 76 that left her in third place in the 13-to-15 division and part of the four-way tie for seventh with Weisser, McReynolds and Choi from the 16-to-18 division in the overall chase.

   Brandt also had eight pars on her card and finished up with a sparkling 2-under 36 on the back nine at Manufacturers.

   Notre Dame Academy freshman Katelyn Bodge, who finished in sixth place in the Inter-Ac League Championship in May at Sandy Run Country Club, finished in fourth place among the younger girls with a 3-over 78.

   Council Rock North sophomore Noor Mehta and Mia DeCarlo of Glen Mills finished in a tie for fifth place in the 13-to-15 division as each registered an 81. DeCarlo, the Sam Penecale Scoring Average Award winner in the girls 12-and-under division a year ago, was coming off a Philly Junior Tour victory a week earlier at Laurel Creek Country Club.

   Radnor junior Sara Fanelli took seventh place among the younger girls with an 84, Emilie Davoli, a precocious 12-year-old from Ambler, was eighth with an 85 and Caroline Wallace of Chambersburg finished ninth with an 88.

   Hannah LeGrow, coming off her freshman season with the Ursuline Academy golf team in the spring, rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as she finished in 10^th place with a 91.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whaley fights to the finish to defeat Leng and capture the U.S. Amateur title at Merion

 

   The victory by Englishman Jack Whaley, a senior at Florida State, over Stanford junior Jay Leng Jr. in the final of a really fun 126^th U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s storied East Course, was a testament to the breadth of golf talent that is out there.

   Yes, they were technically amateurs, but the majority of the participants in last week’s U.S. Amateur have their sights set on a professional career.

   I saved the match-play bracket going into Saturday’s semifinals because I did the same thing 10 years ago when the U.S. Women’s Amateur was held at Roling Green Golf Club, the William Flynn gem just a few miles away from Merion.

   Four women from that match-play bracket, Hannah Green, Patty Tavatanakit, Celine Boutier and Yuka Saso, have won major championships in the decade that has ensued and Nasa Hatatoka has come close a couple of times.

   Whaley’s run to a U.S. Amateur title nearly ended before it got started.

   It took 2-over 142 for two rounds of qualifying for match play at Philadelphia Country Club and Merion just to get a chance to compete with 15 other guys for the final 11 spots in the match-play bracket. It started Wednesday morning at 7:15 a.m. Wedges at 120 yards at Merion’s little par-3 13^th hole.

   Whaley took care of that challenge by nearly holing his shot for a kick-in birdie that assured him a spot in the match-play bracket.

   Later that same day – remember, Whaley’s day probably began with a wakeup call in the 4 to 5 a.m. range – Whaley found himself in a tight match with Jackson Ormond, a hot-shot from Rochester, N.Y. who will join the program at Florida in a couple of weeks.

   All the kid did in June was earn himself a spot in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, make the cut and play the weekend.

   It took 22 holes, but Whaley finally prevailed. After a Wednesday spent living on the edge, Whaley could finally take a breath.

   Whaley was really impressive the rest of the way in match play and the Brit, after spotting Leng a 2-up advantage on the first 18 holes of the scheduled 36-hoile final, came roaring back, ultimately dropping an eight-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15^th hole, the 33^rd of the match, in the rain, to pull out a 4 and 3 decision that left him hoisting the Havemeyer Trophy.

   It was pointed out to Whaley that his name will join the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods on that Havemeyer Trophy, that he will join the likes of Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino and another Englishman, Justin Rose, as champions at Merion.

   “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” Whaley told the USGA in the moments following his emotional hug on the 15^th green with his father and caddy Andy. “But it’s definitely a huge honor to be able to part of the names of all the famous people and unbelievable golfers that have come through this golf course and won. Yeah, I don’t really have words for it right now.”

   Whaley took a flyer, coming to America to play NAIA golf at Dalton State College in Georgia. He caught the eye of somebody at Florida State and now he will represent Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup Match at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland next month while showing off the Havemeyer Trophy to his teammates.

   Whaley, No. 90 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) – a ranking that is going up the next time the WAGR is updated – got the jump Sunday morning when he chipped in for birdie at Merion’s short par-4 opener and won the par-3 third with a par to go 2-up.

   Leng, No. 23 in the WAGR and in the midst of a summer-long hot streak that included a victory in the Western Amateur at Beverly Golf Club in Chicago, Ill., cut his deficit in half by winning the long par-5 fourth hole.

   Whaley went back to 2-up by winning the tough par-4 fifth hole with a par, although Leng nearly got an unlikely half when he chipped with his back to hole and watched his ball slow-walk its way down the slope before, somehow, not falling.

   Leng got even by winning the ninth and 10^th holes with pars and Whaley took a 1-up lead again by taking the short par-4 11^th, the Bobby Jones hole, with a par.

   The rest of the morning belonged to Leng.

   You probably have seen the video of Leng’s birdie putt at the par-4 12^th hole as he lagged it out at least three feet left of the hole and circled the ball as it meandered its way right into the cup.

   Leng made a birdie at the little par-3 13^th hole to take a 1-up lead. He couldn’t possibly have imagined that it would be his last birdie of the day.

   A win for Leng at the par-4 16^th hole, the first of the three-hole finishing sequence that criss-crosses what once was a quarry, gave him a 2-up lead heading to the afternoon.

   Rain was promised for the afternoon and it arrived pretty much on schedule not long after the afternoon round began. It seemed to reinvigorate the Englishman, who, I’m certain, has played in rainy conditions in his native Great Britain many more times than Leng, a native of San Diego, Calif., has.

   A birdie by Whaley at the par-5 second hole, the 20^th of the match, began a burst of four straight wins that turned his 2-down deficit into a 2-up lead. Whaley made a birdie at the par-3 third hole, won the par-5 fourth with a par and the tough par-4 fifth with a bogey.

   Leng cut his deficit to 1-down when slippery hands for Whaley sent his tee shot at the par-4 sixth hole out of bounds. Out came the rain gloves.

   A birdie at the par-4 eighth hole, the 26^th of the match, restored Whaley’s 2-up advantage and he dropped a 10-foot birdie putt at the short par-4 10^th to take a commanding 3-up lead.

   It was about this time that the NBC coverage kicked in. There was a brief lull in the rain, but it looked pretty wet out there. After spending six days at Merion, I bagged the final, instead catching a loop at Stonewall that finished just before the rain arrived in earnest.

   Whaley gave a hole back when he dumped his approach at the 11^th hole, the Bobby Jones hole, in the creek fronting the green.

   But he quickly restored his 3-up lead by winning the 12^th hole, the 30^th of the match, with a par.

   When the pair headed for the East Course’s Back Five, the rain was back.

   Whaley maintained his 3-up advantage before finally putting Leng away with a nice approach at the par-4 15^th hole to eight feet below the hold and confidently holing the birdie try.

   Leng got a nice consolation prize later in the day Sunday when he was named to the United States Walker Cup team that will take on Whaley and GB&I at Lahinch.

   Leng joined 19-year-old Kihei Akina, the nation’s top freshman during the wraparound 2025-2026 college season at Brigham Young and No. 11 in the WAGR, 21-year-old Ryder Cowan, a senior at Oklahoma who got a share of low-amateur honors in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock and is No. 8 in the WAGR, 21-year-old Josiah Gilbert, a senior at Auburn who helped the Tigers capture a national title in the spring at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. and is No. 7 in the WAGR, 20-year-old William Jennings, a junior at Alabama who was the runnerup in the NCAA’s individual chase at La Costa and is No. 5 in the WAGR, and 35-year-old Stewart Hagestad, who will be a member of the U.S. team for a sixth straight Walker Cup and is No. 27 in the WAGR, as the final selections for the U.S. team.

   Four other players had already secured spots on the team, including Oklahoma State teammates Preston Stout, the No. 1 player in the WAGR, and Ethan Fang, No. 9 in the WAGR.

   Stout and Fang, both seniors, are veterans of the U.S. team that claimed a 17-9 victory over GB&I a year ago at the iconic Cypress Point Club on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.

   Normally a biennial event, the Walker Cup Match is being contested for a second year in a row in order to synch it up with its female counterpart, the Curtis Cup Match, and leave odd-numbered years to the World Amateur Team Championship.

   The talented teens, Miles Russell, the runnerup in last month’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley Country Club, and Tyler Watts, who will join the program at Tennessee when he returns from Lahinch, round out the U.S. Walker Cup team.

   Watched Watts’ loss to Leng in a terrific round-of-16 match at Merion.

   Of course, the other star of the show last week was Merion and the Hugh Wilson design – with some finishing touches from Flynn – shined as brightly as ever.

   I grew up just blocks from the eighth tee at the East Course and looped there is a younger man, finishing off my stint at Merion by carrying Scioto Country Club assistant pro Jay Cudd’s bag in the 1981 U.S. Open.

   It’s always felt like visiting an old friend when I get a chance to get to Merion, particularly in the last few trips for qualifying for match play in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur in 2016, the 2021 Pennsylvania Amateur and the Curtis Cup in 2022.

   We are so lucky to have one of the cathedrals of the game in our backyard and that the membership at Merion is so generous in opening its doors for events like this.