Bergstol hits the jackpot as playoff win in Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic comes with $150,000 payoff

   Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, tapped in for par on the first hole of a playoff Tuesday at Sunnybrook Golf Club and earned the biggest prize offered in a PGA Section event anywhere in the country.

   The Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic offered a top prize of $100,000 the last time it was contested two years ago. For this year’s 25^th edition, Haverford Trust Company, the event’s title partner and a title sponsor for the Philadelphia Section PGA, upped the ante with the winner earning $150,000 in the event that has traditionally been played the day after Memorial Day.

   And Bergstol, who captured the title in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship last summer at DuPont Country Club, earned the big prize.

   Bergstol made a couple of late birdies on the 14^th and 15^th holes that enabled him to catch Waynesborough Country Club pro Jeff Herb at 1-under 71, the only two sub-par rounds surrendered by a tough Sunnybrook layout.

   A par on the first hole of the playoff gave Bergstol the victory.

   Bergstol has been on quite a roll since claiming the Section championship late last summer with three birdies on the final six holes at DuPont.

   In November, Bergstol was the runnerup for the second year in a row in the National Car Rental Assistant PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   Bergstol failed to survive the 36-hole cut in the PGA Professional Championship at Twin Warriors and Santa Ana Golf Clubs in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. earlier this spring, but played solid with a 4-over 148 total.

   Bergstol opened his round at Sunnybrook with a birdie at the first hole, but gave a shot back with a bogey at five. After bouncing back with a birdie at the sixth hole, Bergstol made bogeys at eight and 12 to fall back to 1-over for his round. But the two birdies on his way to the clubhouse enabled him to catch Herb.

   “I look forward to this event every year,” Bergstol told the Philadelphia Section PGA website.

   Herb played much earlier in the day and caught fire late in his round to post a 1-under total that nearly held up for the victory.

   Herb opened his round with a bogey at the first hole before making a birdie at three. Herb then briefly got on the bogey train with bogeys at the ninth, 11^th and 12^th holes. But Herb finished with a flourish with three straight birdies at the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th holes before a closing birdie at the last got him in the house at 1-under.

   Berkshire Country Club assistant pro Andrew Turner matched with a 72 to finish alone in third place, a shot out of the playoff.

   Heading a group of six players tied for fourth place at 1-over 73 was Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, who played the weekend, as in last weekend, in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, a PGA Tour Champions major held at the new PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas.

   McNabb made a splash in Thursday’s opening round at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco when he aced the 161-yard eighth hole, but he struggled otherwise with a 78. But McNabb bounced back with a sparkling 5-under 67 in Friday’s second round to make the cut.

   McNabb finished up with rounds of 75 Saturday and 76 Sunday to end up in a tie for 63^rd place with an 8-over 296 total.

   Also in the group at 1-over at Sunnybrook were Greg Matthews of Pennsauken Country Club, Rusty Harbold, out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, Michael Little of Clubhouse 54, Mike Ladden of Whitford Country Club and Union League Liberty Hill instructor Billy Stewart.

   Stewart had a solid showing in the PGA Professional Championship earlier this spring at Santa Ana and Twin Warriors, surviving two cuts and finishing in a tie for 27^th place with an even-par 288 total.

   Nobody had a stronger showing in the National Club Pro in New Mexico than Rolling Green Golf Club’s director of instruction Braden Shattuck, who was one of six more players tied for 10^th place in the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic with a 2-over 74.

   Shattuck, the reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Philadelphia Section PGA Player of the Year, became just the second Philadelphia Section representative to win the PGA Professional Championship when he made a 12-foot putt for par on the 72^nd hole that gave him a 9-under 279 total.

   The victory earned him a $60,000 first-place check and a berth in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y. After struggling to a 79 in the opening round at Oak Hill’s tough East Course, Shattuck bounced back with a 73 in the second round, but missed the cut with his 12-over 152 total.

   One of the players Shattuck beat at Santa Ana and Twin Warriors, though, gave club pros everywhere a huge kick when Michael Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif., finished in a tie for 15^th place with that spectacular slam-dunk hole-in-one on the Oak Hill East Course’s 15^th hole while paired with Rory McIlroy in the final round.

   Joining Shattuck in the group tied for 10^th place at 2-over were Green Valley Country Club’s John Cooper, the ageless George Forster out of Radnor Valley Country Club pro shop, Sandy Run Country Club’s Trevor Bensel, Alex Willey of Manufacturers Golf & Country Club and Dustin McCormick of Glen Brook Golf Club.

   McNabb’s 73 earned him top honors in the Senior Division with Cooper and Forster tied for second place, a shot behind McNabb.

   Spring-Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz, the reigning Robert “Skee” Riegel Player of the Year, also represented the Philadelphia Section in the Senior PGA Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, but failed to make the cut with a pair of 79s for a 158 total.

   Steinmetz recorded a 4-over 76 at Sunnybrook to finish among a large group tied for 24^th place in the overall Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic scoring and in a tie for seventh place in the Senior Division.

   Joanna Coe, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, carded an 83 to capture top honors in the Women’s Division.

   Coe survived two cuts and played four rounds in the PGA Professional Championship at Santa Ana and Twin Warriors, finishing in a tie for 49^th place with a 3-over 291 total. Coe will represent the Philadelphia Section when she plays in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, a major championship on the LPGA Tour which tees off June 22^nd at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J.

   Beatrice Smith of Gulph Mills Golf Club was the runnerup in the Women’s Division at Sunnybrook with a 90.

   Steve Wetherill Jr. captured the Amateur Division with a 1-over 73. Frank Natale was the runnerup with a 5-over 78.