Oakley punches his ticket to PGA Championship as he finishes tied for sixth in PGA Professional Championship

    When the PGA Championship tees off May 19 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., Bidermann Golf Club instructor Zac Oakley will have a starting time.

   With scores mostly higher in difficult conditions Wednesday at the Omni Barton Creek Resort’s Fazio Foothills Course, Oakley carded a cautious 4-over-par 75 over the par-71 Fazio Foothills layout to finish in a tie for sixth place in the PGA Professional Championship, easily among the top 20 finishers who punched their tickets to next month’s PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships.

   Oakley, the Philadelphia Section PGA’s reigning Rolex Haverford Trust Player of the Year, had surged into the top 20 on the strength of a sizzling 6-under 65 in Tuesday’s third round that included six birdies in a front-nine 29.

   In Wednesday’s final round Oakley made four bogeys on the Fazio Foothills Course’s outgoing nine at the first, sixth, seventh and eighth holes. Two more bogeys at the 11^th and 12^th holes had Oakley 6-over for his round before he settled down with birdies at 15 and 17 and four pars.

   Oakley’s final-round 75 left him with a 2-under 281 total, tied with four other players for sixth place.

   A year ago, Oakley entered the final round of the PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla. in a tie for 20^th place, needing a solid round to maintain his spot among the top 20. He fell back and ended up in a tie for 40^th place.

   That experience probably helped him as he navigated the final round Wednesday at Omni Barton Creek.

   In the Philadelphia Section campaign that followed last year’s disappointment at the PGA Golf Club, Oakley won three times and put his name on the DeBaufre Trophy with the lowest scoring average, 68.93, in the history of the award.

   Oakley finished in a tie for 10^th place in last fall’s National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship back at the PGA Golf Club. He then claimed another win at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course when he defeated fellow Philadelphia Section standout Brett Walker, an assistant pro at Sunnybrook Golf Club, in a playoff in Event #3 of the PGA Tournament Series.

   Pretty sure Steve Sanderson is a new addition to the Philadelphia Section and I’m not sure what his club affiliation is yet, but he closed with a 7-over 78 at the Fazio Foothills Course Wednesday and finished in a tie for 66^th place with an 11-over 294 total.

   Surviving two cuts and playing four rounds in the PGA Professional Championship, with its field of 312 club professionals from all over the country, is no small feat in itself.

   Jesse Mueller, with wife Jessie on the bag, put his name on the Walter Hagen Cup as he registered a cautious 3-over 74 over the Fazio Foothills Course to cruise to a five-shot victory with a 10-under 273 total.

   The 39-year-old general manager of the Grand Canyon University Golf Course in Phoenix had built a five-shot lead with three strong rounds over the Fazio Foothills and Coore Crenshaw Cliffside courses at Omni Barton Creek and he did nothing to jeopardize that advantage.

   Mueller made bogeys at the first and fourth holes and, after a birdie at five, made another bogey at the eighth hole and was 2-over for the round. But, as it had all week, Mueller’s short game bailed him out.

   Mueller chipped in for birdie at the par-4 10^th hole to keep his pursuers at bay. Mueller made bogeys at the 15^th and 16^th holes on his way to the clubhouse, but it was as easy a walk to victory as you’d want. Mueller became the first member of the Southwest Section PGA to capture the PGA Professional Championship.

   Michael Block, the head pro at the Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif. and winner of the 2014 PGA Professional Championship, and Jared Jones, the director of instruction at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, finished in a tie for second place, each landing on 5-under 278.

   Block finished up with a 2-over 73 while Jones matched par on the Fazio Foothills Course with a 71 for the third day in a row to get his share of second place.

   Wayne Worthington II, an instructor at The Golf Depot in East Columbus, Ohio, and Ryan Vermeer, winner of the 2018 PGA Professional Championship at the Bayonet and Black Horse Resort on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula, finished in a tie for fourth place, each ending up with a 4-under 279 total.

   Worthington and Vermeer each finished up with a 2-over 73.