Braden Shattuck was five years old the first time he swung a golf club. Shattuck was 10 years old the first time he played in a golf tournament. He was in his twenties when a car accident had him thinking he would never play competitive golf again. Yet on May 3rd of this year, the now 28-year-old, finished -9 in the PGA Professional Championship to win by one stroke in a field of plus 300 golfers.
When asked where winning this year’s PGA Pro Championship ranked in his life’s accomplishments Shattuck did not hesitate.
“Number one by far, just because of what it gets you,” Shattuck said on a recent day at his current place of employment, Rolling Green Golf Cub in Springfield, PA.
“It gets you into the major and you get six PGA Tour stops,” Shattuck explained. “And I get into the second stage of the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying tournament. So, I get to skip prequalifying and first stage and go right to the second stage. Of all those things, it’s by far the biggest one I’ve won. The value is great. The money is great, but more importantly what it gets you is really cool.”
Part of that cool was collecting $60K in prize money. Next was venturing a couple of hours north to participate in the PGA Championship, just ten days after his “by far number one win.”
Playing in one of golf’s four majors had the chance of being life-altering, and Braden knew it.
“I show up. I do registration,” he said. “They give me a bunch of stuff at registration. They give me a bunch of stuff in my locker. Then I registered for my courtesy car. They gave me a brand-new Escalade to drive around for the week, so I am driving a $120K car around. For winning the club pro out in New Mexico, they gave me a custom Rolex and did a Rolex presentation for me. I wear it all the time. I feel weird wearing it. I never owned something that nice.”
Braden shot a 79 in round one. He shot a 73 in round two and did not make the cut. Still, the experience was priceless, on and off the course.
“The course was super hard, obviously. I’ve never played in rough that was that nasty. I wasn’t really ready for it. But the good thing was after one day I dropped my score six strokes. If I had more rounds out there, I would have figured it out and gotten it under par, but that’s experience.
“They invited me to the champions dinner. It is a dinner for all the past PGA Championship winners, and they are all at one table. So, Justin Thomas, Rory McElroy, Jason Day, Phil Mickelson were all sitting at the table and then me, and some PGA officials. I went and sat down next to Phil Mickelson, had dinner with him and talked for three hours. He was awesome. Super nice guy with great stories. Then in the practice round, I played with Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. The golf course was immaculate. You don’t really get to play courses that are conditioned that well. The fact that these guys get to play that all the time is crazy.”
The goal for Braden is to one day be part of the craziness. The immediate plan is to continue being a teaching pro at Rolling Green through this season. In November he will go to his wheel-earned stage two qualifying event for the Korn Ferry Tour. If all goes well, Rolling Green will be having a farewell party for Shattuck with the same enthusiasm they had a watch party when he was vying for the championship in New Mexico on May 3rd.
“If I make it through the second stage, I am automatically in the final stage,” Shattuck said. “Once you are in the final stage you are automatically a conditional Korn Ferry Tour member; you are just competing for starts. Next year I could be on the Korn Ferry Tour and have six PGA Tour starts.
“The only reason I would leave Rolling Green is if I make it on tour which is a good reason to leave. I feel that would be acceptable.”
Acceptable is an understatement. Between now and then Shattuck does have another goal and that is to defend his Player of the Year for Philadelphia’s section of the PGA.
“It’s a point standing similar to what they do on the PGA Tour with the FedEx points standings,” Shattuck said. “So certain events are weighted differently depending on how important. Our section championship is weighted way higher than a normal one-day event. The more days the tournament is, the more value they place on it. So based on those points is how you get Player of the Year.”
Shattuck finished with the most points in 2022. When asked where he is currently in the standings, Shattuck smiled and said first.
I wasn’t surprised.
