Pillar's $100 grand payday highlights busy spring of Philadelphia Section PGA news

 

   This is an attempt to catch up on more than six weeks of Philadelphia Section PGA action, none bigger than the 26^th Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic, played out on its traditional spot on the calendar, the day after Memorial Day, at its traditional home, Sunnybrook Golf Club.

   The Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic offers a top prize of $100,000 and there isn’t a bigger check available at any PGA of America Section event anywhere in the country.

   And this year it went to John Pillar, the director of golf at the County Club at Woodloch Springs in Hawley, proving that good things happen to good people.

   Had a chance to chat with Pillar when he was following his son Alex, then a senior at Wallenpaupack, in a PIAA Class AAA East Regional at Golden Oaks Golf Club in the fall of 2018 when John Pillar was still early in the second phase of his career as a player, that of senior golfer.

   Pillar is 57 now, but he’s still playing solid golf as evidenced by the 2-under 70 he posted at Sunnybrook that got him into a playoff with Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club and one of the hottest club pros in the country, and Kyle Early of Waynesborough Country Club.

   There are playoffs and there are playoffs, but the hands have to get a little sweatier when it’s $100 grand on the line.

   Shattuck, only a couple of weeks removed from being the low club pro at the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., bogeyed the first hole of the playoff, which left it to Pillar and Early to settle things.

   The entirety of the playoff played out on Sunnybrook’s 390-yard, par-4 18^th hole.

   Pillar proceeded to make probably the biggest putt of his life when he buried a 25-footer for birdie on the second go-round at 18 to match Early’s birdie and keep the playoff alive. When Pillar made another birdie on his fourth shot at Sunnybrook’s finishing hole, he was $100,000 richer.

   “Winning the Haverford PGA Classic is a life-changer, to be honest,” Pillar told the Philadelphia Section PGA website. “I did not know when I was going to win again. At 57-years old, it’s overwhelming and I am so grateful.”

   Pillar got off to a great start in his regulation round with birdies at the third, fifth and seventh holes. He gave a shot back with a bogey at the eighth hole, but then surged to 4-under with back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13. He struggled a little with bogeys at the 17^th and 18^th holes for a 2-under 70 that dropped him back into the playoff with Shattuck and Early.

   Pillar won back-to-back Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional Championship titles in 2019 and 2020 and also has a Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship win on his resume. So, the guy has always been able to play.

   A talented foursome that included Michael Little of Clubhouse 54, Rusty Harbold, out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, Brian Bergstol, the head of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, and Stephen Swartz, the head pro at Carlisle Country Club, finished a shot out of the playoff in a tie for fourth place, each signing for a 1-under 71.

   Four more players matched par with a 72 to finish in a tie for eighth place, including Greg Matthias of Philadelphia Country Club, Applebrook Golf Club head pro Dave McNabb, Zach Barbin of Chesapeake Bay Golf Club and Shattuck’s colleague in the Rolling Green pro shop, Anthony Sebastianelli.

   McNabb had begun the Memorial Day weekend by representing the Philadelphia Section PGA in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, a major on PGA Tour Champions, at Harbor Shores Golf Club in Benton Harbor, Mich.

   McNabb had rounds of 4-over 75 and 3-over 74 at Harbor Shores to miss the 36-hole cut by four shots with a 7-over 149 total. It was the fourth straight year McNabb had earned a trip to the Senior PGA Championship.

   McNabb punched his ticket to Harbor Shores by finishing in a tie for 20^th place in last fall’s PGA Senior Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club’s Wanamker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   Pillar continued his solid play last week with a second-place finish in the 38^th Burlington Classic Pro-Am presented by WSFS Bank, which wrapped up Monday at Burlington Country Club in Westampton, N.J.

   Pillar carded a solid 4-under 66 in Sunday’s opening round and added a 1-under 69 in Monday’s second round for a 5-under 135 total that left him two shots behind Chesapeake Bay’s Barbin, who captured the title with a 7-under 133 total.

   Barbin was the dominant player on the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) circuit in the pandemic summer of 2020, capturing titles in a pair of GAP majors, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Lancaster Country Club and the Patterson Cup at The 1912 Club.

   Barbin wrapped up his college career at Liberty in the spring of 2023 and, it appears, immediately turned pro.

   He opened with a solid 3-under 67 that left him two shots behind Shattuck, who had grabbed the lead with a sparkling 5-under 65.

   Barbin got his opening round off to a fast start with birdies at the fourth, seventh and ninth holes. He made a bogey at the 16^th hole, the lone blemish on his scorecard, before getting it back to 3-under with a birdie at 18.

   Barbin’s second round developed slowly as he made his only birdie on the outgoing nine at the fourth hole. After going back-to-back with birdies at the 10^th and 11^th holes, Barbin stumbled briefly with a bogey at 13. Barbin finished strong, though, with birdies at the 14^th and 18^th holes for a final round of 4-under 66 that got him to 7-under for the championship.

   Shattuck finally cooled off, adding a 3-over 73 to his opening-round 65 to finish in a tie for third place, three shots behind Pillar, with a 2-under 138 total.

   Shattuck was joined at 2-under by Shawnee Inn’s Bergstol, Mike Meisenzahl of Little Mill Country Club and Danny Lewis of Philadelphia Cricket Club’s St. Martin’s Course.

   Bergstol bounced back from an opening round of 1-over 71 with a solid 3-under 67 in the second round. Meisenzahl registered a pair of 1-under 69s. Lewis got off to a good start with an opening round of 3-under 67 before adding a 1-over 71 in the second round.

   Little of Clubhouse 54 shared seventh place with veteran Terry Hatch of Royal Oaks Golf Course, each landing on 1-under 139. Little and Hatch had identical splits as each opened with a 2-under 68 before adding a 1-over 71 in the second round.

   Pillar captured the top spot in the senior division with his 5-under 135 total, four shots clear of Hatch, the runnerup at 1-under.

   Jack Brennan of Mountain View Country Club and Bill Sautter, out of the Philadelphia Cricket Club pro shop, shared top honors in the super-senior division, each landing on 10-over 150.

   Brennan matched par in the second round with a 70 after struggling to an 80 in the opening round. Sautter bounced back from an opening-round 77 with a solid 3-over 73 in the second round.

   A couple of Burlington guys battled it out for the Marotto Cup, which goes to the low amateur in the Burlington Classic Pro-Am with Corey Katzen edging John Feldschnieder by a shot.

   Katzen opened with a 2-over 72 before closing with a 4-over 74 for a 6-over 146 total. Feldschnieder trailed Katzen by a shot following an opening round of 3-over 73 before matching Katzen’s second-round 74 to finish a shot behind Katzen with a 7-over 147 total.

   Shattuck was still carrying a ton of momentum when he drove from Louisville after playing the weekend and earning low club pro honors at the PGA Championship at Valhalla straight to Bellewood Country Club in North Coventry across the Schuylkill River from Pottstown and promptly set the course record on his way to a two-shot victory in the Delaware Valley Open.

   Shattuck blitzed the Bellewood layout with an eight-birdie, no-bogey masterpiece of an 8-under 63 to claim the title in the Philadelphia PGA Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year points event, which was played May 20^th. Shattuck is the two-time reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year in the Philadelphia Section.

   The Delaware Valley Open was also the second in a series of qualifiers for the Silvercrest Cup, which will be contested in September at the Union League Liberty Hill Course. The total purse for the Silvercrest Cup, sponsored by the Silvercrest Asset Management Group, is $30,000.

   But the Silvercrest Asset Management Group also has a bonus pool for the four qualifying events and Shattuck’s victory at Bellewood earned him $2,500 from that bonus pool in addition to the Delaware Valley Open winner’s check.

   I did manage to sneak in some posts from the PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco at the new PGA of America headquarters in Frisco, Texas when Shattuck and Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club, finished in a tie for 16^th place at 5-over 293 to earn a spot on the Colebridge Financial Team, the top 20 finishers who punched their ticket to the PGA Championship at Valhalla.

   Shattuck gutted out a 1-under 70 in the second round at Valhalla after matching par in the opening round with a 71 and was one of just two club pros to survive the 36-hole cut. A Delco guy who played his high school golf at Sun Valley, Shattuck then carded a solid 3-under 68 in the third round before running out of gas a little in the final round with a 3-over 74.

   Shattuck’s 1-under 283 total left him alone in 75^th place. He also pocketed $22,830 for his week at Valhalla.

   Oakley added a 4-over 75 in the second round to his opening-round 77, missing the cut with a 10-over 152 total in his second PGA Championship appearance.

   Louis Kelly of Gulph Mills Golf Club wasn’t bad at Bellewood as he tallied a sparkling 6-under 65 that left him alone in second place in the Delaware Valley Open, two shots behind Shattuck.

   Brendon Post, the head coach for the Delaware men’s golf team, and Trevor Bensel, the talented assistant pro at Sandy Run Country Club, finished in a tie for third place, each recording a 4-under 67.

   Post’s 67 gave him the top spot in the senior division and the Cricket Club’s Sautter finished atop the super-senior leaderboard with a 2-under 69.

   In the concurrent Philadelphia Assistants’ Organization (PAO) event, Kelly’s 65 gave him the victory by two shots over Bensel.

   The first of the Silvercrest Cup qualifiers was the TaylorMade Classic, which was held May 6^th at Tavistock Country Club in Tavistock, N.J. and Shawnee’s Bergstol matched the course record with a sizzling 8-under 64 that gave him a two-shot victory over the trio of the Cricket Club’s Harbold, Chesapeake Bay’s Barbin and Rolling Green’s Sebastianelli, each of whom carded a 6-under 66.

   Bergstol collected $2,500 from the Silvercrest Cup bonus pool in addition to the TaylorMade Classic winner’s check. The TaylorMade Classic was also a Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year points tournament.

   Pillar set the stage for what turned into a monster month of May by topping the senior division leaderboard with a 5-under 67.

   Bergstol’s 64 also gave him a first-place finish in the concurrent PAO event at Tavistock.

   The day after the TaylorMade Classic, May 7^th, the Philadelphia Section’s head pros gathered at North Hills Country Club in Glenside for the Connelly Cup Head Professional Championship.

   Whitemarsh Valley Country Club head pro Dave Pagett buried an eight-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff to defeat Lewis, the head pro at Philadelphia Cricket Club at St. Martin’s, after each recorded a 3-under 68.

   Aronimink Golf Club head pro Jeff Kiddie posted a 1-over 72 to finish alone in third place and land at the top of the leaderboard in the senior division. Kiddie was honored by the PGA of America with its biggest national award, PGA Golf Professional of the Year, in 2023.

   The tournament’s namesake is Jack Connelly, the head pro for years at Huntingdon Valley Country Club who is on the staff at North Hills these days. Connelly is a past president of the PGA of America in 2001 and 2002 and of the Philadelphia Section in 1983 and 1984. He was inducted into the Philadelphia Section Hall of Fame in 2000 and into the PGA of America Hall of Fame in 2005.

   The first Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year points event of the season was the Tournament Players Division (TPD) Championship, which was contested April 22^nd at Laurel Creek Country Club in Mount Laurel Township, N.J.

   Sam Ambrose of Chester Valley Golf Club registered a 4-under 67 at Laurel Creek, piling up 30 points in the Modified Stableford Scoring system in which a player gets minus a point for double bogey or worse, zero points for a bogey, one point for a par, three points for a birdie, six points for an eagle and nine points for a double eagle, to capture the title.

   Ambrose finished with a flourish, making birdies at the last three holes, to end up three points clear of Chesapeake Bay’s Barbin, who was the runnerup with 27 points.

   Shattuck, who was tuning up for his trip to the PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco, shared third place with Greyson Rossi of The Peninsula Golf & Country Club, each recording 26 points, a shot behind Barbin.

   Spring Ford Country Club head pro Rich Steinmetz earned top honors in the senior division with 22 points, one better than Chris Krueger of Kings Creek Country Club.