Shattuck's 2023 gets even better as he captures Philadelphia Open title at Lookaway by two shots

 

   The tremendous 2023 for Braden Shattuck got a little bit better last week.

   Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, became just the second Philadelphia Section PGA professional to win the PGA Professional Championship in early May when he holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72^nd hole at the Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.

   The victory in New Mexico also earned Shattuck his first start in a PGA Tour event and it was his major championship debut as well as he teed  it up in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course in Pittsford, N.Y.

   Last week Shattuck, who was a scholastic standout at Sun Valley a little a more than a decade ago, came on strong in the second round with a sparkling 6-under-par 66 at Lookaway Golf Club in Buckingham to beat what is annually the region’s very best field by two shots and claim the title in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s 119^th Philadelphia Open.

   This one came with a little taste of redemption for the talented Shattuck. He had stood on the 18^th tee at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course a year ago tied for the lead going into the final hole of the Philadelphia Open.

   Shattuck blew his tee shot to the right and his ball finished all of a foot out of bounds. Cricket Club veteran amateur John Brennan took advantage of Shattuck’s misfortune to claim the title on his home course.

   This time Shattuck led amateur Campbell Wolf, a USGA/GAP entry, by a shot standing on the 18^th tee at the 6,889-yard, par-72 Lookaway layout.

   Shattuck drilled a 2-iron right down the middle at Lookaway’s finishing hole, stiffed a 7-iron from 166 yards away to five feet and made the putt to finish with a birdie. The second-round 66 in Thursday’s final round, combined with his 4-under 68 in Wednesday’s opening round gave Shattuck a 10-under 134 total.

   Shattuck’s 10-under total tied the Philadelphia Open record in relation to par set by Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz in 2009 at Bent Creek Country Club.

   In putting his name on the John J. McDermott Trophy, Shattuck also claimed the low-pro prize of $7,000.

   “Of course it obviously felt great to get some redemption from last year since I completely messed that one up,” Shattuck, the reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section, told the GAP website. “I played well both days and just felt good to get it done.”

   As regular readers of this blog are aware, I covered Shattuck’s scholastic career at Sun Valley in a previous life at the Delaware County Daily Times and I am absolutely reveling in the success he is finding in 2023.

   Shattuck got it done against a tremendously talented field that includes Philadelphia Section pros like himself and all the top amateur players that frequent the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) circuit. Jay Sigel always seemed to get a special kick out of beating the Philadelphia Section pros in the Philadelphia Open, something he did six times as an amateur

   Shattuck’s opening-round 68, highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 third hole and four birdies, left him in a tie for fourth place, three shots behind opening-round leader Trevor Bensel, an assistant pro at Sandy Run Country Club who fired a nearly flawless 7-under 65.

   After opening his second round with a birdie at the first hole, Shattuck separated himself from the field by rattling off four straight birdies at the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10^th holes.

   Shattuck stopped a sand wedge from 110 yards away at the 399-yard, par-4 seventh hole 10 feet from the stick and converted the birdie try. He bombed a 2-iron into the 542-yard, par-5 eighth hole and was right in front of the green from where he made an easy up-and-down for a birdie.

   Shattuck dropped a 20-foot birdie putt at the 352-yard, par-4 ninth hole after finding the green with a pitching wedge from 45 yards away. Shattuck completed his birdie run by driving it into the greenside rough at the 308-yard, par-4 10^th hole and converting another easy up-and-down by dropping a four-foot putt.

   Wolf, playing one group ahead of Shattuck, was never far behind and actually pulled even with Shattuck with a two-putt birdie from 90 feet at the 520-yard, par-5 17^th hole.

   Wolf was the runnerup in the 2016 PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Cumberland Valley before embarking on a college career that started at DePaul, continued at East Tennessee State, and concluded this past spring at Northern Illinois, where he did some graduate work while taking the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to make up for the spring of 2020 lost to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

   Wolf closed with a 5-under 67 after opening with a 3-under 69 to take low-amateur honors and finish in second place, two shots behind Shattuck with an 8-under 136 total.

   Shattuck regained sole possession of the lead as he reached the putting surface at the par-5 17^th hole with a 5-iron from 220 yards away and two-putted for birdie. His closing birdie sealed the deal.

   Bensel was unable to maintain his momentum from his sizzling opening round as he matched par in the second round with a 72 to finish in a tie for third place with Elmhurst Country Club’s Billy Pabst, each landing on 7-under 137.

   Pabst, the PIAA Class AAA Championship runnerup as a senior at North Pocono in 2021 who was coming off a solid freshman season at Penn State, matched Shattuck’s sparkling 6-under 66 in the second round after opening with a 1-under 71.

   Alex Knoll, an instructor at Glen Brook Golf Club and a two-time winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship, also recorded a 6-under 66 in the second round after matching par in the opening round with a 72 as he finished alone in fifth place with a 6-under 138 total.

   Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club and one of the Philadelphia Section’s top players, trailed Bensel by just two shots after opening with a 5-under 67. Oakley matched par in the second round with a 72 to finish a shot behind Knoll in sixth place with a 5-under 139 total.

   Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course, headed a group of seven players tied for seventh place at 4-under 140, a shot behind Oakley. Stewart, winner of the Philadelphia Open in 2018 at St. Davids Golf Club, bounced back from an opening round of 1-over 73 with a 5-under 67 in the second round.

   Another pair of the Philadelphia Section’s top players, Michael Little of Clubhouse 54 and Brian Bergstol, an instructor at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, were also in the group at 4-under.

   Little, not all that far removed from a stint as the head pro at Lookaway, matched par in the opening round with a 72 before finishing up with a solid 4-under 68. Bergstol, the reigning Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship winner, registered a pair of 2-under 70s.

   Loyola of Maryland senior Mike Crowley, winner of last month’s BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, headed a foursome of amateurs that landed at 4-under. Crowley, playing out of Briarwood Golf Club, matched par in the second round with a 72 after opening up with a solid 4-under 68.

   Rounding out the quartet of amateurs at 4-under were Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Andy Butler, LuLu Country Club’s Kevin Lydon and the Country Club of York’s Rij Patel.

   Butler, a former Villanova standout who starred scholastically at Manheim Township, opened with a 3-under 69 before adding a 1-under 71 in the second round. Lydon, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in 2021 as a senior at Central Bucks West who is coming off a solid freshman season at La Salle, matched Butler’s splits, adding a 1-under 71 in the second round to an opening-round 69.

   Patel, a collegiate standout at Harvard, was in the hunt after opening with a 5-under 67 before backing off a little with a 1-over 73 in the second round.