From the eye-opening 9-under-par 61 that Braden Shattuck fired on his way to a victory in the 36th Burlington Classic in early June to his runnerup finish in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship on the last day of August, it was obvious that the 28-year-old head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club was the best player in the very competitive Philadelphia Section PGA circuit in 2022.
When the points were added up, Shattuck was indeed the runaway winner of the Rolex/The Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section.
Shattuck, who played his high school golf at Sun Valley and a year of college golf at Delaware, followed up his victory in the Burlington Classic at Burlington Country Club in Westampton, N.J. with two more wins, in the Doylestown Open at Doylestown Country Club in July and in the Jack Jolly & Son Championship at Moselem Springs Golf Club in Fleetwood, Berks County, in September.
Shattuck was a constant presence, not just on the Philadelphia Section leaderboards, but in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Open Championship at the A.W. Tillinghast masterpiece that is the Wissahickon Course at Philadelphia Cricket Club and in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Open Championship at the Longue Vue Club in the Pittsburgh suburb of Verona.
Shattuck’s consistency also earned him the F. Edward DeBaufre Trophy that recognizes the player with the lowest scoring average in Rolex/Haverford Trust Company points events.
Shattuck compiled a 69.06 scoring average in 16 rounds, not far off the record scoring average of 68.93 recorded by DeBaufre Trophy winner Zac Oakley in 2021 when Shattuck and Oakley were colleagues in the pro shop at Bidermann Golf Club.
Shattuck was the runnerup to Oakley in the race for the Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year honor a year ago. But Shattuck would not be denied in 2022 and he contended in some of the biggest events of the summer.
Shattuck closed with a 5-under 66 at DuPont Country Club to earn runnerup honors in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship. It gave him a 7-under 206 total that left him two shots behind Brian Bergstol, an instructor at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort. The 54-hole Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship also included a round at Concord Country Club.
Bergstol was Shattuck’s closest pursuer in the Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year chase as he finished with 4003.01 points to Shattuck’s total of 5,205.5 total.
Oakley, the 2021 Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year, finished third in this season’s point standings with a 3,753.01 total. Oakley finished in third place, a shot behind Shattuck, in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, which concluded Aug. 31st at DuPont.
Shattuck, Bergstol and Oakley will head a strong contingent that will represent the Philadelphia Section in the PGA Professional Championship, which tees off April 30th at Twin Warriors Golf Club and Santa Ana Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.
Last spring, Oakley finished in a tie for sixth place in the PGA Professional Championship – its old-school moniker was the National Club Pro – at the Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa’s Fazio Foothills Course in Austin, Texas to punch his ticket to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
The top 20 finishers in next spring’s PGA Professional Championship in New Mexico will earn a spot in the field for the PGA Championship, which tees off May 18th at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course, a Donald Ross classic in Rochester, N.Y.
Shattuck had a share of the lead on the 18th tee in the final round of the Philadelphia Open at the Cricket Club, but sent his tee shot out of bounds. He fell back into a share of second place with a 1-under 141 total, two shots behind amateur John Brennan, who was playing on his home course. Shattuck shared low-pro honors with Sunnybrook Golf Club assistant pro Robert Fenton.
Shattuck closed with a solid 3-under 67 at Longue Vue to finish a shot out of the playoff that decided the Pennsylvania Open winner with a 4-under 206 total.
A couple of western Pennsylvania players, Jake Sollon, a pro from Venetia, and Tanner Grzegorczyk, an amateur from Glenshaw, both landed on 7-under 203 with Sollon claiming the title and the top prize of $8,000.
Shattuck halted his bid in the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying School process with a back issue in the aftermath of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, but recovered quickly enough to earn his third victory in the Jack Jolly & Son Championship and finish in a tie for 10th place in the inaugural playing of the Silvercrest Cup at Gulph Mills Golf Club in September.
A senior “rookie,” Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz captured the Philadelphia Section’s Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year honor for 2022.
Making his debut in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship at Medford Village Country Club in June, Steinmetz captured the title with a 5-under 139 total.
Steinmetz remained a player to be reckoned with against Philadelphia Section pros of all ages. He was the winner in the Golf Association of Lehigh Valley (GALV) Lehigh Valley Open in July by three shots with a 3-under 139 total at Brookside Country Club in Macungie.
Steinmetz’s victory in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship earned him a spot in last month’s Senior PGA Professional Championship, also held at Twin Warriors and Santa Ana in New Mexico.
Steinmetz finished in a tie for 24th place in the Senior National Club Pro, earning a spot in the field for next spring’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a major championship on the PGA Tour Champions which will tee off May 25th at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas.
Steinmetz will be joined in Frisco by Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, who finished in a tie for 26th place in New Mexico to earn his third straight trip to the Senior PGA Championship. Steinmetz succeeded McNabb as the winner of the Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year honor as McNabb had been the Philadelphia Section’s top senior player in 2020 and 2021.
Steinmetz and Shattuck represent two different moments in my 38-year journalism career. I was covering high school golf at The Mercury in Pottstown when Steinmetz was a standout at Perkiomen Valley in the 1980s. Nearly 30 years later, I was covering high school golf at the Delaware County Daily Times when Shattuck finished in a tie for 14th place in the 2011 PIAA Championship as a senior at Sun Valley.
The golf business can take you far from home. It’s nice to see a couple of local guys who are making their mark not far from where they starred as high school players.
For the first time, the Philadelphia Section named a Women’s Player of the Year and that honor went to Joanna Coe, who was in her first year as an instructor at Merion Golf Club after moving into the Section from Baltimore Country Club.
Coe, a Mays Landing, N.J. native, is used to firsts as she was the inaugural winner of the PGA of America’s Women’s PGA Professional Player of the Year award in 2019.
Coe was a dominant winner of the Women’s Philadelphia PGA Championship when she had nine birdies in a 5-under 67 that gave her a seven-shot victory at Whitford Country Club in July.
Not long after that, Coe lost in a playoff in the LPGA Professional National Championship at the Kingsmill Resort’s River Course in Williamsburg, Va., which earned her a spot in next year’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major on the LPGA Tour. The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship tees off June 22nd at another Tillinghast classic, the Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J.
Coe was a winner against the guys on the Philadelphia Section circuit when she prevailed in a three-way playoff with Shattuck and Overbrook Golf Club head pro Eric Kennedy to capture the title in the Conestoga Classic at Conestoga Country Club in Lancaster in June.
Brian Kelly, who retired from his position at Bucknell Golf Club this year, was the Philadelphia Section’s Super Senior Player of the Year for the second year in a row.
Trevor Bensel, who moved from Overbrook to Sandy Run Country Club in the offseason, was the Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) Player of the Year.
The talented Bensel carded a 5-under 67 at Heidelberg Country Club in Bernville, Berks County to capture the title in the National Car Rental Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship in September, outdueling Bergstol and Oakley.
Bensel, Bergstol and Oakley will head a contingent of Philadelphia Section pros when the NCR Assistant PGA Professional Championship tees off Thursday at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Bergstol was the runnerup in the PGA of America national event a year ago at the PGA Golf Club.
Bensel finished in a tie for fourth place in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at DuPont and Concord and will be part of the Philadelphia Section contingent teeing it up in the PGA Professional Championship in New Mexico next spring.
Bensel also claimed a victory in a Rolex/Haverford Trust Company points event when he won the Tournament Players Division Championship in April at Hartefeld National Golf Club in New Garden Township, Chester County.
Bergstol was the Central Counties PGA Chapter Player of the Year and Kelly was its senior Player of the Year.
Doylestown Country Club’s Travis Deibert was the Philadelphia Section’s Comeback Player of the Year and Chester Valley Golf Club’s Sam Ambrose won the Section’s Ike Turner Most Improved Player Award.
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