LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY | Braden Shattuck, the director of instruction at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, Pennsylvania, earned the distinction of having the best finish among 21 club professionals in the PGA Championship, shooting 1-under-par 283 to finish 72nd at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday.
He was one of two club pros to make the 1-under 141 cut, joining Jeremy Wells on the weekend.
“This week has been obviously awesome,” said Shattuck, who won the 2023 PGA Professional Championship and finished 16th in the club pros’ event to earn a return trip to the PGA Championship. “This is the first cut I've made on the PGA Tour, and I just happened to do it in a major. I couldn't do it in the [four previous] opposite-field events, but I did it this week. So, it was an amazing week to see what the weekend was like.”
After being part of the trophy presentation at Valhalla on Sunday afternoon, Shattuck planned to make a 10-hour drive to play in a Philadelphia Section event.
“I think I'll probably get a lot of questions about what was it like to play in a major and what were the nerves like and what was it like to play the weekend,” said Shattuck, who played in the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic, Corales Puntacana and Myrtle Beach events this year. ‘Were you nervous? What did you do to kind of keep yourself calm?’ I get a lot of those kind of questions, especially from students and members, so I'll be able to have all the answers for them.”
Wells, the director of instruction at Cypress Lake Golf Club in Fort Myers, Florida, made two pars early Saturday morning to finish the suspended second round and make the cut. Though he finished with a pair of 75s on the weekend for a 6-over 290 and 77th place, being part of a major championship was the reward.
“I'm glad people can experience it, the grind, the ups, the downs, how difficult it is playing a major-championship golf course when you're struggling,” said Wells, who tied for eighth at the PGA Professional Championship to join Shattuck in making a second consecutive start in the PGA. “But then how fun it is when you get it going and you can make some birdies and the crowd gets loud.”
A total of 21 club professionals competed in the PGA Championship, one more than usual because Michael Block qualified by virtue of his top-15 finish at the 2023 PGA Championship. Block couldn’t duplicate his magic from a year ago. He missed the cut after posting rounds of 76-73.
This was the first time since 2021 that more than one club professional qualified for the weekend at the PGA Championship.
Ron Green Jr.