Oakley surges to top of leaderboard heading into final round of Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship

    Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club, just missed winning the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship a year ago in a fairly spectacular 2021 season on the Philadelphia Section PGA circuit.

   Oakley was the winner of the Philadelphia Section’s Rolex Haverford Trust Player of the Year award. He also earned the Section’s Debaufre Trophy for the low scoring average with a 68.93 average that was the lowest in the history of the award.

   Oakley was the runnerup to Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Brett Walker in the 100^th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Aronimink Golf Club and Applebrook Golf Club a year ago, which earned him a trip to the PGA Professional Championship in April at the Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas.

   Oakley’s tie for sixth place at Omni Barton Creek punched his ticket to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. It’s always a career highlight for any club pro to finish among the top 20 at the National Club Pro – the PGA Professional Championship’s old-school moniker – and represent his fellow PGA professionals at the PGA.

   Oakley blitzed the DuPont Country Club layout in suburban Wilmington, Del. with a sparkling, five-birdie, no-bogey 66 Tuesday that gave him a one-shot lead heading into Wednesday’s final round of the 101^st Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.

   Oakley had opened with a 3-under 68 at Concord Country Club, just over the Delaware border from DuPont in Pennsylvania’s Delaware County, you know, Delco. His 66 Tuesday gave Oakley an 8-under 134 total and a one-shot lead heading into Wednesday’s final round back at DuPont, home to the LPGA Championship, rebranded as the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – a major for the women in either case – from 1994 to 2004.

   Brian Bergstol, the director of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, had grabbed the lead with an opening round of 5-under 66 at Concord. He added a solid 2-under 69 at DuPont in Tuesday’s second round and was Oakley’s closest pursuer with a 7-under 135 total.

   Oakley started quietly at DuPont Tuesday, making a birdie at the fifth hole and eight pars on the outgoing nine. But he heated up on the incoming nine with birdies at the 10^th, 11^th, 13^th and 16^th holes to get it in at 5-under for the day.

   “I hit it really solid today again,” Oakley told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “I hit a lot of greens and a lot of fairways and today I made some putts, which is good. No bogeys, so that was big.”

   Bergstol’s first 15 holes at DuPont Tuesday featured birdies at the third and 15^th holes and 13 pars. The only blemish on Bergstol’s scorecard was a bogey at the 16^th hole, but he got that shot back with a birdie at the finishing hole to complete his 2-under round.

   Bergstol also represented the Philadelphia Section with distinction on a national stage last fall when he was the runnerup in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   Applebrook head pro Dave McNabb was two shots behind Bergstol in third place after he got it going at Concord with a 4-under 67 in Tuesday’s second round, which, combined with his opening-round 70 at DuPont, left him with a 5-under 137 total.

   Speaking of representing the Philadelphia Section on a national stage, McNabb teed it up in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at the Harbor Shores Resort in Benton Harbor, Mich. in May and in the U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem in July, both major championships on the PGA Tour Champions.

   McNabb, the reigning two-time winner of the Philadelphia Section’s Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year award, is a past winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship in 2015.

   A couple of other past champions, John Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, and Terry Hatch of Royal Oaks Golf Course, were among a group of five players tied for fourth place at 2-under 140.

   Pillar registered a 4-under 67 at DuPont in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 2-over 73 at Concord Monday. Hatch matched par with a 71 Tuesday at Concord after opening with a 2-under 69 at DuPont. Like McNabb, Pillar and Hatch are part of a very talented stable of senior players in the Philadelphia Section.

   Another of the Section’s senior standouts, Hugo Mazzalupi of Linfield National Golf Club, was also in the group at 2-under as he added a 2-under 69 at DuPont Tuesday to the opening round of even-par 71 he carded at Concord Monday.

   Would love to see Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, get a chance to play in next spring’s PGA Professional Championship at the Twin Warriors and Santa Ana Pueblo courses in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. I covered the guy in a previous life at the Delaware County Daily Times when he finished in a tie for 14^th place in the PIAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County as a senior at Sun Valley in 2011.

   Shattuck saved his round by making birdies on the last three holes at Concord, a course he is very familiar with, to match par with a 71 and join the group at 2-under. Shattuck, who owns two Rolex Haverford Trust Player of the Year points tournament wins in 2022, had opened with a 2-under 69 Monday at DuPont Monday.

   The top 11 finishers following Wednesday’s final round will punch their ticket to New Mexico for next spring’s National Club Pro. As part of the group tied for fourth place, Shattuck is in very good position to do just that.

   Rounding out the group tied for fourth place was another of the Philadelphia Section’s talented young players, Sandy Run Country Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel, who fired a 4-under 67 at Concord Tuesday after opening with a 2-over 73 at DuPont.

   A couple of three-time Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship winners and two more of the Philadelphia Section’s senior standouts, Rich Steinmetz of Spring Ford Country Club and Terry Hertzog, a Philadelphia PGA entry, were among a group of five players tied for ninth place at 1-under 141.

   Steinmetz, who captured the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship as a senior “rookie” earlier this summer at Medford Village Country Club, matched par with a 71 at Concord in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 1-under 70 at DuPont.

   Hertzog carded a 1-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round at Concord after matching par in Monday’s opening round with a 71 at DuPont.

   Another past champion, 2018 Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship winner Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League Liberty Hill course, was also in the group at 1-under. Stewart registered a 1-over 72 at DuPont Tuesday after opening with a 2-under 69 at Concord.

   Michael Little of Makefield Putters posted a solid 3-under 68 at DuPont in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 2-over 73 at Concord as he also joined the group at 141.

   Got a chance to visit Little at the headquarters of Makefield Putters in Bensalem recently as he fitted Joe Burkhardt, the publisher of Tri-State Golfer, for one of the company’s new putters that are all the rage. I was working on an article for Burkhardt’s publication, which should be out soon, if it isn’t already.

   Little, a two-time Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section, feels like his company’s putter is making him a better player.

   Rounding out the group at 1-under was Chester Valley Golf Club’s Nick Iacono, who carded a 1-over 72 at Concord in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 2-under 69 at DuPont.

   The Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship is presented by Cadillac, Club Car and Rolex and supported by Titleist, FootJoy, Nike Callaway, TaylorMade Golf, Golf Channel, the PGA Tour, Precise Yardage Books, SCNS Sports Foods, Ship Sticks and Visit Delco, Pa.