Shattuck comes on strong at Bandon Dunes to earn himself a starting time in the PGA Championship at Aronimink

 

   The lines on a map would tell you that Aston and Aronimink Golf Club both lie within the borders of Delaware County.

   Golf-wise, though, Aronimink might be as far away from Aston as the Moon is from the Earth.

   But with a dramatic rally in the final round of the PGA Professional Championship Wednesday at the windblown Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coastline, Braden Shattuck, the kid who was the Ches-Mont League’s individual champion as a senior at Sun Valley in the fall of 2011, the kid from Aston, earned himself a starting time when the PGA Championship tees off May 14 at Aronimink, the Donald Ross masterpiece in Newtown Square.

   Shattuck had become just the second Philadelphia Section PGA representative to capture the title in the PGA Professional Championship – you might remember it better by its old-school moniker, the National Club Pro – three springs ago at Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.

   Shattuck had just begun his new role as the head on instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, deep in the heart of Delco in Springfield, when he won at Twin Warriors.

   His PGA Professional Championship win sent him to Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y. for his first appearance in a major championship.

   A year later, Shattuck just snuck into the top 20 in the PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s headquarters in Frisco, Texas and again made the Corebridge Financial Team that represents club pros all across America in the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.

   This time, Shattuck made the cut, one of just two Corebridge Financial Team members to do so and earned low-club pro honors.

   But you knew this year would be extra special for Shattuck to play in a major championship so close to home.

   After three straight runnerup finishes in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship – the qualifier for the National Club Pro – Shattuck captured the title for the first time at another Delco course close to his heart, Concord Country Club, where he learned the ropes of what it means to be a club pro from head pro Mike Moses.

   Shattuck, the reigning four-time Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year in the Philly Section, had gotten off to an impressive start in the PGA Professional Championship with a sparkling 4-under-par 67 at the Pacific Dunes Course, the Tom Doak design at the Bandon Dunes Resort.

   It looked like he was a lock to make the Corebridge Financial Team when he added an even-par 72 at Bandon Dunes Monday and was tied for fifth place at the halfway point.

   And then the temperature dropped and the wind blew – as it is wont to do at Bandon -- and Shattuck struggled to an 8-over 80 at Bandon Dunes in Tuesday’s third round. He was tied for 43^rd place. It didn’t look good.

   I’ve often repeated a story of talking to Shattuck following his tie for 14^th place in the PIAA Championship in 2011 at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in York County when I was covering golf for the Delaware County Daily Times.

   “I’m as good as these guys,” Shattuck spat out. He didn’t have to prove it to me, only to himself.

   He proved it again Wednesday at Bandon Dunes. He shot out of the gate with birdies at the first three holes. Bogeys at the fifth, eighth and ninth holes slowed his roll a little.

   But Shattuck bounced right back with birdies at the 10^th, 11^th and 13^th holes. For the second day in a row, though, the tough par-3 15^th hole bit him, resulting in a double bogey.

   But Shattuck was determined. He birdied the 16^th hole and a 20-foot birdie try at 17 just caught the side door and went in, followed by an emphatic fist pump.

   Shattuck had only a tap-in for birdie at the par-5 finishing hole and it capped a 4-under 68. He had gone from tied for 43^rd to tied for ninth with his even-par 287 total. He would ultimately end up in a tie for eighth place and get a nice little payday of $21,450.

   The Golf Channel broadcast hadn’t even begun when Shattuck completed his round, but there were video highlights of his finish when the telecast did get under way. The leaders still had a couple of hours of golf left, but it was obvious, even then, that Shattuck was in, he was headed for Aronimink.

   There were also highlights of the only round better than Shattuck’s, the 5-under 67 fired by Tyler Collet, an assistant pro at the John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Fla., who had captured the PGA Professional Championship by a whopping 10 shots a year ago at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

   Collet’s blazing finish left him in a tie for fourth place at 1-under 286.

   Michael Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, Calif., also made a big move Wednesday with a 3-under 69 that earned him his fourth straight trip to the PGA Championship with a 1-over 288 total that left him in a tie for 10^th place.

   Block, of course, made a huge splash three years ago in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, finishing in a tie for 15^th place and electrifying the gallery and golf fans everywhere with a hole-in-one in the final round.

   The Philly Section nearly had a second representative in the PGA Championship at Aronimink as Trevor Bensel, the talented assistant pro at LuLu Country Club, carded a solid 1-under 71 that left him just a shot out of the top 20 in a tie for 21^st place with a 3-over 290 total.

   Bensel had started the day in the group tied for 43^rd place that included Shattuck at 4-over.

   It was a disappointing day for Riley Wheeldon, the director of instruction at Aronimink who was trying to become the first club pro to qualify for a PGA Championship at his home club out of the PGA Professional Championship.

   Wheeldon, the runnerup to Shattuck in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Concord last summer in his first year in the Philly Section, was in when the day began, sitting in the group tied for 17^th place at 1-over.

   But Wheeldon, a native of Canada, couldn’t get anything going in Wednesday’s final round.

   Birdies at the 12^th and 13^th holes couldn’t offset double bogeys at five and 15 and five bogeys as Wheeldon closed with a 7-over 79 that left him in a tie for 51^st place with an 8-over 295 total.

   The title went to Jesse Doermer, an instructor at Riverbend Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas who gutted out a 2-under 70 in the final round for a 4-under 283 total that was one shot better than Ben Kern, the general manager of Hickory Hills Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio.

   The weather looked considerably better than it did for Tuesday’s third round, but the wind was still blowing when the leaders teed off. The golf course is such a star of the show whenever there's a telecast from Bandon Dunes.

   After an early bogey at the sixth hole, Doermer rattled off birdies at seven, nine, 10 and 13 to get it to 5-under for the tournament. He made a bogey at the tough 15^th hole, but was able to stave off Kern.

   Stoermer put his name on the Walter Hagen Cup and pocketed the top prize of $75,600.

   Kern closed with a solid 1-under 71 that left him a shot behind Stoermer with a 3-under 284 total.

   Michael Kartrude, an assistant pro at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Fla., was another shot behind Kern in third place with a 1-under 285 total after closing with a 2-under 70.

   The top-20 finishers who make up the Corebridge Financial Team are all heading to Aronimink for the PGA Championship.

   But there will be an especially warm Delco welcome for Braden Shattuck, one of its own.

   The Rolling Green people will come out, the Concord people will be out there and, yeah, a couple of Aston people will be there, too, thrilled to see you can make it all the way from Aston to Aronimink.