Wheeldon in position to make field for PGA Championship at his home course at Aronimink

 

   Riley Wheeldon, the head of instruction at Aronimink Golf Club, enters Wednesday’s final round of the PGA Professional Championship at a windblown Bandon Dunes Course at the Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coastline with a very real chance at representing his new home course in next month’s PGA Championship at Aronimink.

   Wheeldon battled winds that grew increasingly fierce as the day wore on Tuesday to card a 3-over-par 75 at Bandon Dunes that left him in a tie for 12^th place at 1-over 216 going into the final round.

   Wheeldon is four shots out of the lead shared by Austin Hurt, the head pro at Wing Point Golf & Country Club in Washington, and Charlie Beljan, once a winner on the PGA Tour who is now an instructor at Torrean Golf Club in Arizona.

   A win would be nice, but the ultimate goal at the PGA Professional Championship – I’ve always preferred its old-school moniker, the National Club Pro – is to finish among the top 20 and become a member of the Corebridge Financial Team that will represent club pros from across the country in professional golf’s next major, the PGA Championship, which tees off May 14 at Aronimink.

   The classic Donald Ross layout at Aronimink in Newtown Square will host the PGA Championship for the first time since Gary Player won it in 19 and 62. Yeah, it’s been a while.

   Wheeldon is in a group of 12 players tied for 12^th place at 1-over with another five guys sitting at even-par 215. The battle for a top-20 finish is going to be as wild as the weather frequently gets on Oregon’s southern coast.

   Caught the tail end of The Golf Channel’s coverage of the PGA Professional Championship late Tuesday night and the players were alternately adding and shedding layers between shots and the caddies were in full cold-weather gear, gloves and all. It looked really cold.

   The forecast for Wednesday is for a deceptive high of 59 degrees with increasing winds. More wind is just going to make the proceedings all the more unpredictable.

   Wheeldon, a native of Canada who starred collegiately at Louisville, arrived at Aronimink last year and promptly contended for the title in the Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship at Concord Country Club, which was the qualifier for a trip to Bandon Dunes.

   He settled for a runnerup finish, ending up two shots behind Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club and the reigning four-time Rolex/Haverford Trust Philadelphia Section PGA Player of the Year.

   Wheeldon opened with a sparkling 3-under 68 in relatively tranquil conditions Sunday at Pacific Dunes, the scenic Tom Doak design at the Bandon Dunes Resort, that had him in a tie for sixth place.

   A 1-over 73 at Bandon Dunes Monday dropped him back into a tie for 17^th place at the halfway point.

   Caught the tail end of the replay of Monday’s coverage of the PGA Professional Championship on The Golf Channel when I had an early wakeup call Tuesday for a Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Inter-Club Match at Stonewall and they did a nice little feature on Wheeldon’s quest to tee it up in a PGA Championship at the place of his employ, which would be a first for a Corebridge Financial Team member.

   Tuesday was a struggle for Wheeldon, and just about everybody else.

   After making an early birdie at the third hole, Wheeldon made a bogey at six and a double bogey at seven before righting the ship with another birdie at nine to make the turn at 1-over.

   Wheeldon made a bogey at the 11^th hole and a birdie at 13 before a couple of bogeys down the stretch at 15 and 18 dropped him back to 3-over for the round.

   Shattuck, a Sun Valley graduate, appeared to be in great shape to earn a third trip to the PGA Championship – and this one would be special for the Delco native – when he opened with a 4-under 67 at Pacific Dunes and matched par with a 72 at Bandon Dunes in Monday’s second round, leaving him in a tie for fifth place at 4-under at the halfway point.

   But Tuesday’s difficult conditions took their toll on Shattuck as he made a pair of double bogeys and five bogeys before finally making his lone birdie of the day at the 17^th hole. It added up to an 8-over 80 that dropped him into a tie for 43^rd place with a 4-over 219 total.

   Don’t count him out just yet, though. He is just three shots out of the projected cut for the Corebridge Financial Team and the final-round weather will make for some wild swings in momentum.

   Shattuck became just the second Philly Section player to claim a PGA Professional Championship crown three years ago at the Twin Warriors Golf Club in Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M.

   A year later, he made the Corebridge Financial Team on the number in the PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s headquarters in Frisco, Texas and went on to make the cut and earn low-club pro honors in the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.

   Shattuck got a little taste of the kind of weather that would await him in Bandon Dunes when he captured the title in the first Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the points event of the 2026 season in the Radnor Golf Foundation Tournament Players Division Championship in cold conditions April 20^th at Galloway National Golf Club, across the bay from Atlantic City, N.J.

   Shattuck piled up 29 points in the Modified Stableford scoring to finish two points ahead of Wheeldon and Andrew Cornish, who has moved from Green Valley Country Club to the pro shop at Llanerch Country Club.

   Shattuck was joined by fellow Philly Section player Trevor Bensel, an assistant pro at LuLu Country Club, in the large group tied for 43^rd place at 4-over at Bandon Dunes.

   The talented Bensel had matched par in the opening round with a 71 at Pacific Dunes and added a 2-over 74 in Monday’s second round at Bandon Dunes to survive the 36-hole cut, which came at 3-over 146. He added another 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s third round, a number that was good enough in the challenging conditions to enable him to move up the leaderboard.

   Hurt had grabbed the lead with a spectacular opening round of 8-under 64 at Bandon Dunes. He still held a three-shot lead after matching par in Tuesday’s second round with a 71 at Pacific Dunes.

   He struggled to a 5-over 77 in Tuesday’s third round, but still maintained a share of the lead at 3-under.

   Beljan had opened with a 1-over 73 at Bandon Dunes and surged into contention on the strength of a sparkling 6-under 65 at Pacific Dunes in Monday’s second round. A 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s fierce winds back at Bandon Dunes enabled him to join Hurt at the top of the leaderboard at 3-under.

   Ben Kern, the general manager of Hickory Hills Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio, took full advantage of  an early tee time Tuesday, before the wind really kicked up, to post a 5-under 67 as he rocketed up the leaderboard and landed among a trio tied for third place at 2-under 213 that included Derek Berg, an instructor at the Pacific Northwest Academy in Washington, and Jesse Doermer, an instructor at Riverbend Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas.

   Kern had opened with a 2-over 73 at Pacific Dunes before adding a 1-over 73 at Bandon Dunes in Monday’s second round.

   Berg had it to 4-under after opening with a 2-under 69 at Pacific Dunes and adding a 2-under 70 at Bandon Dunes in Monday’s second round. He got it in at 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s difficult conditions to get his share of third place.

   Doermer was also 4-under at the halfway point as he opened with a 2-under 70 at Bandon Dunes and added a 2-under 69 at Pacific Dunes in Monday’s second round. Like Berg, Doermer gutted out a 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s third round.

   Two other Philly Section players, Brett Walker, an assistant pro at Chester Valley Golf Club, and Dave Quinn, one of the Section’s outstanding senior players who works out of the pro shop at Laurel Creek Country Club, survived the 36-hole cut, but missed the 54-hole cut, which fell at 7-over 222.

   Walker opened with a 1-over 73 at Bandon Dunes before matching par with a 71 at Pacific Dunes in Monday’s second round. A 6-over 78 back at Bandon Dunes in Tuesday’s third round left him a shot off the cutline with an 8-over 223 total.

   Quinn had opened with a 2-over 74 at Bandon Dunes and added a 1-over 72 at Pacific Dunes in Monday’s second round to make the 36-hole cut on the number at 3-over 146. Quinn struggled to an 81 back at Bandon Dunes in Tuesday’s third round for a 227 total.

   The Philly Section contingent to Bandon Dunes was 13 men and one woman strong.

   Zach Barbin, the talented young pro at the Chesapeake Bay Golf Club in Rising Sun, Md., came up just short of surviving the 36-hole cut that followed Monday’s second round.

   After opening with a solid 1-over 73 at Bandon Dunes Sunday, Barbin, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion in 2020, added a 3-over 74 at Pacific Dunes in Monday’s second round to end up one shot off the cutline with a 4-over 147 total.

   Zac Oakley, an instructor at Bidermann Golf Club who has had some success in the PGA Professional Championship, also landed in the group a shot off the cutline with a 4-over 147 total.

   Two years ago, Oakley earned a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team for the PGA Championship at Valhalla by finishing in a tie for 16^th place in the PGA Professional Championship at Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco in Frisco, Texas.

   Oakley opened with a 2-over 73 at Pacific Dunes Sunday before adding a 2-over 74 at Bandon Dunes in the second round.

   Tony Perla, working out of the pro shop at Huntingdon Valley Country Club, opened with a 5-over 77 at Bandon Dunes and added a 4-over 75 at Pacific Dunes in Monday’s second round for a 9-over 152 total.

   Frank Bensel, who winters in Jupiter, Fla., but took a position at Galloway National last year, opened with a 7-over 78 at Pacific Dunes and added a 3-over 75 at Bandon Dunes in Monday’s second round to finish with a 10-over 153 total.

   Sam Ambrose, the head pro at Chester Valley, opened with a 2-over 73 at Pacific Dunes and added an 8-over 80 at Bandon Dunes in Monday’s second round to join Frank Bensel at 10-over 153.

   Brian Bergstol, the talented instructor at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, opened with a 2-over 74 at Bandon Dunes, but struggled with an 81 at Pacific Dunes in Monday’s second round for a 155 total.

   Bergstol finished in a tie for third place in the PGA Professional Championship a year ago at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. and earned a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team for last year’s PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C.

   Joanna Coe, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club and the four-time reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Women’s Player of the Year in the Philly Section, opened with a 7-over 78 at Pacific Dunes and added a 6-over 78 at Bandon Dunes for a 156 total.

   Will Scarborough, who works out of the pro shop at the Peninsula Golf & Country Club, opened with an 8-over 79 at Pacific Dunes and added a 7-over 79 at Bandon Dunes in Monday’s second round for a 158 total.

   Chris Krueger, who works out of the pro shop at Kings Creek Country Club, rounded out the Philly Section contingent at Bandon Dunes as he opened with a 9-over 80 at Pacific Dunes and added a 7-over 79 at Bandon Dunes in Monday’s second round for a 159 total.