Zac Oakley and Braden Shattuck were colleagues in the pro shop at Bidermann Golf Club two years ago when they finished 1-2, respectively, in the season-long race for the Philadelphia Section PGA’s Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year honor.
Oakley is still at Bidermann while Shattuck has moved on to be the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club. Once again, they will be 1-2, respectively, going into Wednesday’s final round of the 102nd Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at the Country Club of Scranton.
Oakley backed up his Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year season by finishing in a tie for sixth place in the 2022 PGA Professional Championship at the Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas to earn a trip to the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Shattuck, a Delco guy who was a scholastic standout at Sun Valley, was the Philadelphia Section’s Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year last year and he backed that up by winning the PGA Professional Championship at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. in the spring and making his debut in a major championship in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y.
The top finishers in this week’s Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship will represent the Philadelphia Section in next spring’s PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Texas, although Shattuck, by virtue of his dramatic victory at Twin Warriors, is exempted into the field.
Once again, the top 20 finishers at Fields Ranch will form the Corebridge Financial PGA Team that will represent club pros all across America in the PGA Championship a few weeks later when it returns to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.
Oakley was typically solid Tuesday, adding a 5-under-par 67 at the Country Club of Scranton to his opening round of 5-under 67 at nearby Elmhurst Country Club for a 10-under 134 total that left him a shot ahead of his old Bidermann colleague Shattuck.
It looks like a two-horse race as Shattuck is three shots ahead of Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz, the Philadelphia Section’s reigning Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, and Michael Meisenzahl of Little Mill Country Club, both of whom landed in a tie for third place at 6-under 138. But hey, it’s golf, so we’ll see.
Oakley made birdies at the fourth, eighth, 10th, 12th and 14th holes with nary a bogey on his scorecard in setting the pace.
“I putted (well) from six feet and in, I made all of those,” Oakley told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “These Scranton greens have a lot more slope and were more difficult to judge then (Monday at Elmhurst).”
Shattuck had toured the somewhat more difficult Country Club of Scranton layout in 2-under 70 in Monday’s opening round.
In Tuesday’s second round, Shattuck went off, making birdies on four of the first six holes at Elmhurst. He had four more birdies on the card against a lone bogey for a sizzling 7-under 65 that left him a shot behind Oakley with a 9-under 135 total.
Shattuck made birdies at the second, third, fifth and sixth holes before briefly stumbling with a bogey at seven. He quickly got back on track with birdies at the eighth, 10th, 16th and 18th holes.
Steinmetz backed up his opening round of 1-under 71 at Elmhurst by matching Oakley for the low round of the week at the Country Club of Scranton with a 5-under 67 that got him to 6-under.
Meisenzahl added a 3-under 69 Tuesday at Elmhurst to the 3-under 69 he posted in Monday’s opening round at the Country Club of Scranton to join Steinmetz at 6-under.
No question about the shot of the day during Tuesday’s second round.
That belonged to Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course and winner of the 2018 Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.
Billy the Kid, who starred scholastically at Malvern Prep and collegiately at Saint Joseph’s, faced a 240-yard second shot into the par-5 18th hole at the Country Club of Scranton, his ninth of the day. Stewart bombed a 3-wood onto the green and right into the cup for a double eagle.
The albatross helped Stewart register a 2-under 70 at the Country Club of Scranton after he had opened with a 3-under 69 at Elmhurst as he was alone in fifth place, a shot behind Steinmetz and Meisenzahl with a 5-under 139 total.
Alex Knoll, an instructor at Glen Brook Golf Club and a back-to-back winner of the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship in 2019 and ’20, headed a group of three players tied for sixth place at 4-under 140, a shot behind Stewart.
Knoll matched par at the Country Club of Scranton with a 72 Tuesday after opening with a 4-under 68 at Elmhurst.
Knoll was joined at 4-under by Robert Fenton of Sunnybrook Golf Club and Trevor Bensel, the talented assistant pro at Sandy Run Country Club.
Fenton added a solid 2-under 70 at the Country Club of Scranton in Tuesday’s second round to his opening-round 70 at Elmhurst. Bensel matched those splits, carding a 2-under 70 at the Country Club of Scranton Tuesday after opening with a 2-under 70 at Elmhurst.
Retirement seems to agree with longtime Bucknell Golf Club head pro Brian Kelly as he added a 2-under 70 at Elmhurst to his opening round of 1-under 71 at the Country Club of Scranton, leaving him alone in ninth place with a 3-under 141 total.
The field was cut to the low 60 and ties following Tuesday’s second round with the cut coming at 9-over 153. The survivors will all tee it up at the Country Club of Scranton in Wednesday’s final round, which will be well under way as I post this.
The Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship is presented by Club Car, Corebridge Financial and Rolex and is supported by The Golf Channel, Gallagher, the PGA Tour, Titleist, FootJoy, Callaway, Nike, TaylorMade Golf and SCNS Foods.
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