Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico — Penn club pro Braden Shattuck capped his professional PGA Championship debut by putting a 12-foot putt on the final hole for a 2-under 70 and a one-shot victory that sends him and 19 others to the PGA Championship in two weeks.
Shattack won by one shot over Matt Cahill (68) and Michael Block (69) at the Twin Warriors Golf Club. The top 20 are exempt from the PGA Championship, which takes place May 18-21 at Oak Hill in Pittsford, New York.
Alex Beach is tied for 11th and will go to the PGA Championship for the fifth year in a row. Block, Wyatt Worthington II and Colin Inglis played last year at Southern Hills.
Shattuck is the Director of Instruction at Rolling Greens Golf Club in Springfield, Pennsylvania, and considers himself lucky to be playing. He was in a car accident four years ago that severely injured his back. After taking a few years away from golf, he changed his swing and equipment to compensate for injuries.
“I came into the week hoping I could make the cut,” said Shattuck. “I didn’t know what to expect. To walk away with a cup and get a spot in a major, I’m really lucky.”
It helped get a hot racket. Shattuck took the lead by hitting an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-5 16th and then missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the par 17 that would have given him a cushion. On the closed hole he pushed his approach well to the right, and with the pin on the right side of the green the best he could do was push it 12 feet from the hole.
“My eyes were welling up over that slam dunk,” he said. “I could hardly see straight.”
But he reached 9-under 279, sided with the Walter Hagen crystal trophy and began making plans for the PGA Championship, which usually has the strongest field among all the majors.