Technically, the victory for Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Brett Walker in the National Car Rental Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship last Monday at Cedarbrook Country Club was his first win on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit.
The reality, though, is that Walker’s win was just the latest success in what has been a banner 2021. Walker added a 3-under-par 69 to an opening round of 4-under 68 in the one-day, 36-hole test for a 7-under 137 total that gave him a two-shot victory over Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Ashley Grier, the 2020 Women’s PGA Player of the Year.
Maybe more importantly, the win sends Walker to the scene of his two biggest moments of 2021, PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The top five finishers at Cedarbrook will represent the Philadelphia Section in the 45th National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship, which tees off Nov. 11 at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course.
It was at the PGA Golf Club where Walker defeated PGA Life Member Omar Uresti in a playoff to capture the PGA Stroke Play Championship, part of the PGA of America’s Winter Series, in February. It was Walker’s first professional victory.
Walker was back at the PGA Golf Club in April, representing the Philadelphia Section in the PGA Professional Championship. A closing 2-under 70 at the Wanamaker Course enabled Walker to finish in a tie for eighth place and earned him a trip to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, in May at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course on the South Carolina coast.
Walker had birdies on five of the first seven holes on Cedarbrook’s outgoing nine in his opening round. He birdied the first, second and fourth holes, made a bogey at the fifth, and made birdies at six and seven. Walker made a bogey at the 13th hole, but got that shot back with a birdie at 15 that got him to 4-under and earned him a share of the lead following the opening round with Andrew Turner of Berkshire Country Club.
Walker pulled away from the field with four birdies in a stretch of six holes in the second round in the afternoon. He started with bogeys at the first and third holes around a birdie at the second, but then heated up with birdies at seven, nine, 10, 11 and 12. Walker lost a shot with a bogey at the 14th hole, but got it back with a birdie at 17 that got him to 7-under for the tournament.
“It was great to finally win one,” Walker told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “I was tied to start the final round and was able to keep making birdies to stay in and win it.”
It was the second year in a row that Grier earned runnerup honors in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship as she finished second a year ago at St. Davids Golf Club. After matching par in the opening round at Cedarbrook with a 72, Grier posted a sparkling 5-under 67 to take second place with a 5-under 139 total.
Grier, the Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) in 2020, was the only member of the Philadelphia Section contingent at last November’s Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club to make the cut and play all four rounds. She finished in a tie for 34th place.
Last month, Grier finished in fifth place in the LPGA Professionals National Championship at the Kingsmill Resorts’ River Course in Williamsburg, Va. to earn a trip to the 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., the fifth time Grier has teed it up in the event, a major championship on the LPGA Tour.
Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club, and Brian Bergstol, a teaching pro at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, shared third place, each landing on 3-under 141. Bergstol was just a shot behind Walker and Turner with his opening-round 69 and he matched par in the afternoon. Oakley added a 71 to his opening round of 2-under 70.
Oakley will be making a return trip to the Assistant PGA Professional Championship after earning a spot in the field at the PGA Golf Club last November.
Defending champion Mike Tobiason of Deerfield Golf Club finished in a tie for fifth place with another representative from the Bidermann pro shop, Braden Shattuck, at 2-under 142. Tobiason defeated Shattuck, who has been one of the hottest players on the Philadelphia Section circuit this summer, in a playoff to earn the fifth and final guaranteed spot in the Assistant PGA Professional Championship.
Tobiason and Shattuck had identical splits, each opening with a 4-under 69 before closing with a 1-over with a 1-over 73. Shattuck will be the Philadelphia Section’s first alternate to the Assistant PGA Professional Championship if a spot in the field should open up.
Jordan Shuey of West Shore Country Club had the best round of the day in the afternoon, a sizzling 6-under 66, which, combined with his opening-round 77, left him alone in seventh place with a 1-under 143 total. That gave Shuey second-alternate status.
Turner couldn’t maintain the momentum from his morning 68 as he fell back with a 4-over 76 in the afternoon and ended up in a tie for eighth place with Trevor Bensel, Grier’s colleague in the Overbrook pro shop, and another member of the West Shore pro shop, Steve Swartz, at even-par 144.
Turner became the third alternate and Swartz, who added a 1-over 73 to his opening-round 71, was the fourth alternate.
Bensel added a 2-over 70 to his opening-round 74 to end up at even-par. Although Bensel and Oakley failed to join Walker in advancing to the PGA Championship, both survived two cuts and played all four rounds in the PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club in April.
Noah Firestone of Galloway National Golf Club and Merion
Golf Club’s Grant Gardiner shared 11th place as each ended up at
1-over 145. Firestone added a 74 to his opening round of 1-under 71 while
Gardiner bounced back from an opening-round 75 with a 2-under 70 in the
afternoon.
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