Has it really been 24 years since I interviewed Billy Stewart at Llanerch Country Club following his victory in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Riverton Country Club a couple of days earlier before the ink was dry on his Malvern Prep diploma?
Has it really been 13 years since Stewart sweated it out all day before ultimately capturing the title in the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic at Sunnybrook Golf Club back when a victory in the event that has the biggest top prize of any PGA Section event in America was worth only $50,000?
The results from this year’s 28th annual Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic say that Stewart is 42-years-old. How is that possible?
Those same results said that Billy the Kid, maybe not among the very best players in a Philadelphia Section PGA brimming with talent these days, could still rip off a bogey-free 6-under-par 66 at Sunnybrook to once again capture the title in the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic and its jackpot that has risen to $100K in the ensuing 13 years since Stewart first won the tournament.
An instructor at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course, Stewart was the Philadelphia Section’s Player of the Year in 2018. He has had his share of wins on the Philly Section circuit as well as major local championships like the Philadelphia Open in 2018 at St. Davids Golf Club and the Pennsylvania Open in 2015 at Rolling Green Golf Club.
But Tuesday at Sunnybrook, the traditional day-after Memorial Day spot on the calendar for one of the most widely-anticipated events on the Philly Section schedule each year, Stewart proved he hasn’t forgotten how to play.
“I was definitely nervous, but it is the best feeling in golf when you are able to overcome those nerves and pull it off,” Stewart told the Philadelphia Section website. “The key to my round was getting it up and down on the first two holes and then I was able to birdie three and four and regain my rhythm.”
Stewart followed up those back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes with a sudden birdie burst in the middle of his round. Consecutive birdies at the ninth, 10th and 11th holes followed by another birdie at 13 got Stewart to 6-under and he was able to grind out pars on the final five holes.
Stewart’s victory put an exclamation point on a really eventful spring for the Philadelphia Section, highlighted, of course, by the fact that Philadelphia was the host section for a PGA Championship for the first time since 1962.
It was at Aronimink Golf Club then, when South Africa’s Gary Player won the third of his nine major championships and it was back at the Donald Ross masterpiece in Newtown Square earlier this month when Englishman Aaron Rai claimed his first career major win.
I was able to sneak in a couple of posts from the PGA Professional Championship and the remarkable final-round rally at the Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coastline by Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, that gave the Philly Section one of its own in the field at Aronimink as part of the Corebridge Financial Team.
At Sunnybrook, the spotlight belonged to Stewart as his sparkling round enabled him to overtake Joanna Coe, the head of instruction at Merion Golf Club, and claim the big jackpot.
Coe, the reigning four-time Rolex/Haverford Trust Women’s Player of the Year in the Philly Section, put up a 4-under 68 early in the day and it held up for a long time.
Rob Wolfers, who works out of the pro shop at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club, and Brian Bergstol, the talented instructor at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, were another shot behind Coe in a tie for third place, each posting a 3-under 69.
Heading a group of six players tied for fifth place at 2-under 70 were a couple of the Philly Section’s senior stalwarts, John Pillar, the reigning two-time Robert “Skee” Riegel Senior Player of the Year, and Frank Bensel, one of the top club pros in the country who joined the Philly Section when he accepted a position at Galloway National Golf Club at the Jersey Shore.
Pillar, the director of golf at the Country Club at Woodloch Springs, had one of the highlights of the spring for the Philly Section when he made the cut and played the weekend in the Senior PGA Championship, a major on the PGA Tour Champions.
Pillar was a member of the Corebridge Financial Team teeing it up in the Senior PGA Championship, which wrapped up April 19th at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. on the strength of his tie for 32nd-place finish in last fall’s Senior PGA Professional Championship at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Frank Bensel also earned a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team at Concession, but was unable to survive the 36-hole cut at Concession.
Pillar added a 2-over 74 in the second round at Concession after matching par in the opening round with a 72 to make the cut on the number at 2-over 146. He struggled on the weekend with rounds of 77 and 79 that gave him a 14-over 302 total.
Also in the group at 2-under in the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic was defending champion Trevor Bensel, an assistant pro at LuLu Country Club.
Trevor Bensel very nearly joined Shattuck in the field for the PGA Championship at Aronimink as he finished just outside the top 20 in the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes.
Rounding out the gang of six tied for fifth place in the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic were Logan Hay of Burlington Country Club, Will Scarborough of The Peninsula Golf & Country Club and Parks Price of Bent Creek Country Club.
Merion’s Coe and The Peninsula’s Scarborough also represented the Philly Section in the field in the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes.
Pillar captured the big prize in the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic two years ago and Bent Creek’s Price was the winner in 2021.
Pillar and Bensel shared the top spot in the Senior division at Sunnybrook with their matching 2-under 70s.
Hugo Mazzalupi, representing the Radnor Golf Foundation, was alone in third place among the seniors with a 5-over 77.
Coe’s 4-under 68 gave her the top spot in the Women’s division.
Coe’s closest pursuer was Megan Leineweber, the hard-working head pro at Stonewall who finished in second place with a 5-over 77.
Finishing first in the amateur division was Francis Vaughn, the head coach at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy who registered a solid 1-over 73.
Had a chance to caddy in a group that included Vaughn at Stonewall’s Old Course and the guy has a wealth of knowledge about the golf swing and other aspects of the game. It was a learning experience for me and I wasn’t even the guy he was advising.
The Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic is one of the few Philly Section crowns that has eluded Shattuck, the Section’s reigning four-time Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year.
Shattuck only managed to match par with a 72 at Sunnybrook Tuesday to finish among a large group tied for 16th place.
But it’s certainly been a memorable spring for a guy I covered in my days with the Delaware County Daily Times when he was playing high school golf at Sun Valley almost 15 years ago.
When I posted about Shattuck’s determined bid to qualify for the PGA Championship at Aronimink in the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes, I mentioned that Shattuck had tuned up for the National Club Pro by capturing the title in the Philly Section’s first Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year points event of the season, the Radnor Golf Foundation Tournament Players Division Championship at Galloway National on a chilly April 20th.
Shattuck would be the last person to make excuses for himself, but he was clearly in the spotlight in the days leading up to the PGA Championship. The kid from Aston teeing it up in a major championship at storied Aronimink. Trust me, in the newspaper biz we used to call that a story.
After hitting the first tee shot of the PGA Championship, Shattuck struggled in an opening-round 81 on a golf course that left many of the best players in the world grumbling about pin placements and wind.
Shattuck bounced back with a 5-over 75 in the second round and failed to make the cut, but he certainly was a classy representative of the Philadelphia Section at Aronimink.
The Monday following his appearance in the PGA Championship and unburdened by all the hoopla that surrounded it, Shattuck ripped off a bogey-free 6-under 65 at Scotland Run Golf Club in Williamstown, N.J. to capture the title in the Delaware Valley Open.
Looks like Shattuck has his sights set on a fifth straight Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year honor.
Earlier in May, Andrew Cornish, playing out of the pro shop at Llanerch Country Club, recorded a bogey-free 7-under 63 to edge Shattuck by a shot and capture the title in the Conestoga Classic, a Rolex/Haverford Trust Player of the Year points event at Conestoga Country Club in Lancaster County.
Got a chance to carry Cornish’s bag in Stonewall’s annual Partner-Pro last summer when he was working in the pro shop at Green Valley Country Club.
The guy who came from California to play college golf at Penn State-Berks and reached the quarterfinals of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Stonewall in 2019 seems to have found a home in the Philadelphia Section.
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