Shattuck grabs share of the lead as he opens defense of his Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship title

 

   Braden Shattuck, the head of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club, struck the opening drive in the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in May.

   It was a proud moment for Shattuck personally and for the Philadelphia Section PGA, which was hosting the PGA of America’s major championship for the first time since the PGA was played at Aronimink in 19 and 62.

   Shattuck, a product of Sun Valley High School in Aston, earned his spot in the field at Aronimink by finishing in a tie for eighth place in the PGA Professional Championship at the Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coastline.

   The top 20 finishers in the PPC each year form the Corebridge Financial Team and get to represent club pros all across America in the PGA Championship. It was the third time in the last four springs that Shattuck had earned a spot on the Corebridge Financial Team and got to tee it up in the PGA Championship.

   This one, at Aronimink, so close to home, was special.

   Shattuck took the first step on what could be a return trip to the PGA Championship in 2027 by firing a sizzling 8-under-par 64 Monday at Sandy Run Country Club to get a share of the lead in the 105^th Philadelphia PGA Professional Championship.

   After three straight runnerup finishes in the Philadelphia PPC, Shattuck broke through and captured the title a year ago at Concord Country Club.

   He opened defense of that title by grabbing a share of the lead with Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Tony Perla, who matched Shattuck’s 64 at Sandy Run, and Joe Kogelman of GOLFTEC Moorestown, who posted a sizzling 8-under 64 of his own at nearby Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, the George C. Thomas Jr. classic that once upon a time hosted a regular stop on the PGA Tour.

   The players will switch courses for Tuesday’s second round and the field will be cut to the low 60 and ties with the survivors of the cut teeing it up in the final round at Whitemarsh Valley Wednesday.

   The top 10 eligible finishers will earn a trip to the PGA Professional Championship next spring at the Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla. The top 20 finishers at Streamsong will form the Corebridge Financial Team for the PGA Championship, which will be held at the Fields Ranch East Course at PGA Frisco at the PGA of America’s new headquarters in Frisco, Texas.

   Shattuck, the Philly Section’s four-time reigning Rolex/Haverford Trust Company Player of the Year, and Brian Bergstol, the director of instruction at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort, are exempt into next spring’s PPC at Fields Ranch East.

   I have not been able to keep up with the Philly Section circuit as much as I'd like during this busy summer, but Shattuck has been his typically solid self.

   Shattuck was coming off a third-place finish in the 50^th annual Pro-Am for Wishes earlier this month with a 4-under 138 total at Penn Oaks Golf Club.

   In early July, Shattuck put together a blistering 14-under 128 total in rounds over Berkleigh Golf Club and Moselem Springs Golf Club to take the title in the Golf Association of the Lehigh Valley’s Reading Open.

   Did manage to get a little roundup of Shattuck’s victory in the Delaware Valley Open at Scotland Run Golf Club a few days after he failed to make the cut in the PGA Championship at Aronimink.

   Shattuck had tuned up for the PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes in April with a victory in the Radnor Golf Foundation Tournament Players Division Championship at Galloway National Golf Club.

   Shattuck was flawless Monday at Sandy Run as he made birdies at the fourth, seventh, ninth, 10^th, 12^th and 14^th holes before adding an eagle at the par-5 15^th.

   Perla got off to a nice start at Sandy Run with birdies at the fourth, sixth and ninth holes on the outgoing nine before turning it on on the back nine, going back-to-back with birdies at 11 and 12, going back-to-back again with birdies at 15 and 16 and finishing up his round with a birdie at the last.

   Kogelman blitzed Whitemarsh Valley with seven birdies in his first 11 holes. He went back-to-back with birdies at the first and second holes, went back-to-back again with birdies at four and five and then ripped off consecutive birdies at nine, 10 and 11.

   A double bogey at the 13^th hole slowed Kogelman’s roll a little, but he got back on track with a birdie at 15 and the finished strong with back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18.

   Billy Stewart, an instructor at the Union League’s Liberty Hill Course, was a shot behind the three co-leaders with a sparking 7-under 65 at Sandy Run.

   Stewart, the 2018 Philadelphia PPC champion, cashed the biggest check offered by any Section tournament in the country when he won the Haverford Philadelphia PGA Classic and its top prize of $100,000 the day after Memorial Day at Sunnybrook Golf Club.

   Whitford Country Club assistant pro Anthony Sebastianelli, who captured the title in the Philadelphia Assistant PGA Professional Championship at Laurel Creek Country Club earlier this summer, was a shot behind Stewart in fifth place after signing for a 6-under 66 at Sandy Run.

   Sebastianelli was the runnerup to Chesapeake Bay Golf Club’s Zach Barbin in the Pro-Am for Wishes earlier this month at Penn Oaks with a 5-under 137 total.

   Chester Valley Golf Club’s Brett Walker, a two-time winner of the Philadelphia PPC, most recently two years ago at Rolling Green Golf Club, was a shot behind Sebastianelli in sixth place with a 5-under 67 at Sandy Run.

   The trio of Aronimink Golf Club instructor Riley Wheeldon, Tavistock Country Club’s Mike Meisenzahl and Bent Creek Country Club’s Parks Price were in a tie for seventh place, each ending up at 4-under.

   Wheeldon, the runnerup to Shattuck in the Philadelphia PPC a year ago at Concord, and Meisenzahl both carded their 68s at Sandy Run while Price recorded his 68 at Whitemarsh Valley.

   Wheeldon nearly earned a spot in the field in the PGA Championship at his home course, but struggled in the final round in the PPC at Bandon Dunes to finish in a tie for 51^st place.

   Rounding out the top 10 following the opening round of Philadelphia PPC were the Shawnee Inn’s Bergstol and Jake Gerney of Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia as they ended up in a tie for 10^th place at 3-under.

   Bergstol, the Philadelphia PPC champion in 2022, opened with a 69 at Whitemarsh Valley while Gerney’s 69 came at Sandy Run.

   Bergstol finished in a tie for third place in the PPC in the spring of 2025 and represented the Philadelphia Section as a member of the Corebridge Financial Team in the  PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C.