Zac Oakley, an instructor in the pro shop at Bidermann Golf Club, made a major move up the leaderboard in Tuesday’s third round of the PGA Professional Championship with a sizzling 6-under-par 65 on the Fazio Foothills Course at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas.
Matching the best score of the week on the par-71 Fazio Foothills layout, Oakley, the Philadelphia Section PGA’s reigning Rolex Haverford Trust Player of the Year, moved from a tie for 51st place entering the third round to a tie for sixth place at 6-under 206.
More importantly, Oakley took a big step toward an appearance in next month’s PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, which will be held at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. The top 20 finishers in the PGA Professional Championship – it used to go by the National Club Pro and still does in a lot of corners – punch their ticket to the PGA Championship.
And Oakley will make his bid for a PGA Championship berth on a golf course in the Fazio Foothills layout that seems to fit his game. Oakley carded a 2-under 69 on the Fazio Foothills Course in Sunday’s opening round before adding a 2-over 72 on the par-70 Coore Crenshaw Cliffside Course in Monday’s second round.
Oakley got it going early and often in Tuesday’s third round, blitzing the outgoing nine at the Fazio Foothills Course for six birdies in a 6-under 29. After making birdies at the second and third holes, Oakley rattled off three straight at five, six and seven before closing out his front nine with another birdie at nine.
A bogey at the 10th hole slowed Oakley’s roll a little, but he got it back to 6-under for the round with his seventh birdie of the day at 14.
Oakley claimed three wins on the Philadelphia Section circuit last summer and put his name on the DeBaufre Trophy with the lowest scoring average in the history of the award.
He kept his roll going by capturing a victory in Event #3 of the PGA Tournament Series in December, defeating fellow Philadelphia Section standout, Brett Walker, an assistant pro at Sunnybrook Golf Club, in a playoff. Oakley also did some looping at Seminole Golf Club, the iconic Donald Ross design in Juno Beach, Fla., during the offseason.
Oakley has some pretty solid golf bloodlines. His dad Peter was a dominant player in the Philadelphia Section for years and stunned the golf world – at least the golf world outside the Philadelphia area – when he won The Senior Open Championship in 2004 at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
It would seem unlikely that Oakley would be able to catch Jesse Mueller for the title as the 39-year-old general manager at the Grand Canyon University Golf Course in Phoenix built a five-shot lead over his closest pursuer with a 5-under 66 that left him with a 54-hole total of 13-under 199 total.
Mueller was 1-under for his round after making a birdie at the fourth hole when he found himself 50 yards from the pin after two shots on the 479-yard, par-4 eighth hole. Mueller’s wedge shot found the bottom of the hole for a birdie that really seemed to get him going.
Mueller added birdies at the 11th and 12th holes before making a bogey at 13. But Mueller bounced back with two more birdies at the 16th and 18th holes on his way to the clubhouse to give himself a big lead going into Wednesday’s final round.
Casey Pyne, an assistant pro at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn., birdied the 18th hole to complete a 2-under 69 that gave him sole possession of second place at 8-under 204, five shots behind Mueller.
Heading a trio of players tied for third place at 7-under 205 was Michael Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Rancho Viejo, Calif. and the winner of the PGA Professional Championship in 2014. Block registered a 1-under 70 in Tuesday’s third round.
Joining Block at 7-under were Colin Inglis, an assistant pro at Shadow Hills Country Club in Junction City, Ore., and Kyle Mendoza, an assistant pro at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
Inglis moved up the leaderboard with a 3-under 68 in Tuesday’s third round while Mendoza got it going with a 4-under 67.
Oakley was joined by five other players in the group tied for sixth place at 6-under.
A year ago in the PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Oakley entered the final round tied for 20th place with a very real chance to grab a spot in the PGA Championship. Oakley struggled in the final round with a 77 that left him in a tie for 40th place.
Two of the Philadelphia Section’s top young players, Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel and Billy Stewart, an instructor at Union League Liberty Hill, struggled in Tuesday’s third round and missed the 54-hole cut.
Bensel had opened the PGA Professional Championship with a sparkling 5-under 65 at the Coore Crenshaw Cliffside Course that left him a shot out of the lead. But Bensel could not solve the Fazio Foothills Course and a second straight 5-over 76 Tuesday left with him with a 5-over 217 total, one shot off the 54-hole cut line.
Stewart also carded a 5-over 76 on the Fazio Foothills Course in Tuesday’s third round and joined Bensel just outside the cut line at 5-over 76. Oakley, Bensel and Stewart had all begun the day in the group tied for 51st place at even-par.
The Philadelphia Section PGA Twitter account – if you care about the local club-pro scene, you should be a follower – informs that another local pro, Steve Sanderson, did survive the 54-hole cut. Despite a 4-over 75 Tuesday, Sanderson made the 54-hole cut on the number at 4-over 216.
As I mentioned in my first post from the PGA Professional Championship earlier this week, there is often a lot of movement in the local golf offseason by club pros and I’m sure I’ll be able to catch up with Sanderson’s club affiliation in the Philadelphia Section as the still young 2022 season unfolds.
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