Shattuck finds Cricket Club's Wissahickon Course to his liking as he grabs Philadelphia Open lead

    Braden Shattuck had just completed a strong senior season at Sun Valley by finishing in a tie for 14^th place in the 2011 PIAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County.

   He told the guy who was covering the tournament for the Delaware County Daily Times, which would be me, “I can play with these guys. I’m serious. I’m as good as all these guys.”

   Personally, I never doubted the kid. I’m sure he doubted himself at times over the years, but I knew, deep down, he had the kind of confidence in himself that is an essential ingredient to achieve any kind of success at any level of golf.

   Flash forward to Tuesday. The 27-year-old Shattuck, who is in first year as the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, grabbed the lead in the opening round of the Philadelphia Open with a gritty 2-under-par 68 at the A.W. Tillinghast masterpiece that is the Wissahickon Course at Philadelphia Cricket Club in Whitemarsh Township.

   Shattuck is quickly becoming one of the Philadelphia Section PGA’s top players. He was the runnerup to then fellow Bidermann Golf Club instructor Zac Oakley in the season-long Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year points race in 2021. He already owns a Philadelphia Section victory this year, capturing the title in the Burlington Classic Pro-Am for the second straight year on the strength of an opening-round 61.

   Shattuck will take a one-shot lead over 30-year-old Sunnybrook Golf Club assistant pro Robert Fenton into Wednesday’s final round. A field of 144 players, 102 amateurs and 42 professionals, was cut to the low 60 players and ties with the cut coming at 5-over 75.

   A couple of amateurs, Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Brian Isztwan, a senior at Harvard, and Chesapeake Bay Golf Club’s Austin Barbin, a senior at Liberty, were in a tie for third place, a shot behind Fenton as each matched par with a 70.

   Isztwan is coming off a victory last week in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s R. Jay Sigel Match Play Championship on his home course at Huntingdon Valley. Did a pretty decent post on Isztwan’s victory, if I do say so myself.

   Barbin of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., was the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Player of the Year in 2019, highlighted by a victory in GAP’s Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club.

   It will be Shattuck they’ll be chasing as he did a pretty nice job negotiating the 7,012-yard, par-70 Wissahickon Course layout in his first look at it.

   Beginning his round off the 11^th tee, Shattuck was steady in the early going, offsetting a bogey at the 12^th hole with a birdie at 16.

   Shattuck got a 30-foot birdie putt to fall after reaching the 425-yard, par-4 second hole with a 9-iron. He stuck a lob wedge to six feet at the 117-yard, par-3 third hole and converted the birdie try to get it to 2-under.

   Shattuck gave a shot back when an errant tee shot led to a bogey at the 487-yard, par-4 fourth hole. Another birdie bomb, again from 30 feet, found the bottom of the cup at the 365-yard, par-4 eighth hole to enable Shattuck to get to the clubhouse at 2-under.

   Despite having never seen the course before, Shattuck felt like his frequent visits to Baltimore Country Club, another Tilly classic, helped him get around the Wissahickon Course.

   “This is my first go around here,” Shattuck told the GAP website. “I love Tillinghast golf courses. One of my friends plays out of Baltimore (Country Club) and I go down there and play a decent amount. I love that golf course. This has a lot of familiar vibes. It’s right in front of you.

   “All the bunkers are right where you need to land in the fairway, so you have to hit good tee shots. If you hit good tee shots, it’s fairly straightforward from there. I hit a bunch of good tee shots (Tuesday), which is rare for me. I’ve very pleased.”

   Sandy Run Country Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel, who finished in a tie for third place on this very same Wissahickon Course in last summer’s Pennsylvania Open, headed a talented group of 10 players a shot behind Isztwan and Barbin in a tie for fifth place at 1-over 71.

   John Pillar Sr., the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs and one of the Philadelphia Section’s top senior players, and Wilmington Country Club pro Ryan Rucinski, who starred collegiately at Wilmington University, are the two other pros in the large group tied for fifth place at 1-over.

   They are very much in the hunt for the top prize of $7,000 that goes to the low professional.

   Saucon Valley Country Club’s Matt Mattare, who earned a ticket to the U.S. Amateur in a GAP-administered qualifier last week at Rolling Green Golf Club, headed a star-studded group of amateurs in the group tied for fifth at 1-over.

   Mattare won the Philadelphia Open in 2017 at Philadelphia Country Club and achieved a rare double that summer when he added a victory in the Metropolitan Golf Association’s Amateur Championship to his Philly Open crown.

   Galloway National Golf Club has two players, Drue Nicholas, who emerged as one of Drexel’s top players during his sophomore season, and Michael Gallagher, in the group tied for fifth place.

   Phoenixville Country Club’s Morgan Lofland, the former Conestoga standout coming off a solid freshman season at Penn State, was also in the mix at 1-over.

   Josh Ryan, who lost in a playoff in Monday’s Jock MacKenzie Memorial, one of GAP’s major championships for junior golfers at Sandy Run (I’ll get to a roundup on that before the week is out), also landed at 1-over.

   Ryan, who will join Barbin at Liberty later this summer, captured the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship for a third straight year last month at Bala Golf Club. Ryan plays out of The 1912 Club.

   Former Saint Joseph’s standout Ross Pilliod, playing out of LedgeRock Golf Club, also signed for a 71.

   Have to give a shout-out to Stonewall looper Alex Seelig, who rounded out the group tied for fifth place with a solid 71. Seelig, a senior at Robert Morris, plays out of Reading Country Club.

   Seelig tuned up for his Philadelphia Open appearance by winning the Stonewall Caddie Tournament Monday with a 2-under 68 at the Old Course. I finished a mere 45 shots behind him.