See You in Valhalla

Meet the 20 club pros who punched their ticket to Valhalla. They range in age from 29 to 61 (!!) and are from PGA sections from all across the country. Former PGA Tour members, maybe the longest hitter in golf and a former junior star are just a few of the stories from the 20 players. Off we go.

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Ben Polland 

Club: Shooting Star of Jackson Hole, Jackson, Wyoming‍

Notes: A former Korn Ferry Tour member, Polland was the only player to finish under par for the week. He was also the only player to have three rounds under par. His final round 76 gave him a 72-hole total of 286 (-2). Polland has a win on the Latin American Tour, and his last full season on the KFT was in 2019 when he made 12 of 21 cuts and finished 141st in points. He has been at Jackson Hole for nearly four years, the last two as Director of Golf. 

Andy Svoboda

Club: Butler National, Chicago, Illinois

Notes: The 44-year-old Svoboda just took over the assistant pro job at Butler National, replacing Jeff Kellen. Kellen also qualified for the PGA Championship. Svoboda has 80 career PGA Tour starts, with a career-best finish of T2 at the 2014 Zurich Classic. He finished 94th that year in FedEx Cup points. The native New Yorker also owns three career KFT wins. 

Jared Jones

Club: River Oaks, Houston, Texas

Notes: Jones played four years at Ohio State before becoming the assistant pro at Muirfield Village for nine years. Jones caddied for Jack Nicklaus in his first round on the Scarlet Course at Ohio State after Nicklaus redesigned it for $1. This will be Jones' second PGA Championship. 

John Somers

Club: Southern Hills Plantation, Clearwater, Florida

Notes: Somers may be the longest player at the PGA Championship. Last year at the PGA Championship, he was on the range with Bryson, and Somers' 188 ball speed was 9 mph faster than Bryson. The smooth-swinging lefty has a win on the Latin American Tour and has 19 career KFT starts.

Jesse Mueller

Club: Grand Canyon University Club, Phoenix, AZ

Notes: Mueller is a mini-tour legend in the West. The Gateway-Grey Goose Tour was a prominent and well-run mini-tour in the Phoenix area for a long time. If there was an event, it was likely that Mueller was leading; his 17 wins were a record on the tour. Mueller has played 14 career PGA Tour events, making three cuts, including the 2012 U.S. Open. 

Tyler Collet

Club: John's Island Club, Vero Beach, Florida

Notes: This will be Collet's third PGA Championship. Earlier this year he made the cut at the Puerto Rico Open, his first made cut in six career PGA Tour events. Collet attended the PGM program at Eastern Kentucky University but did not play on the golf team. 

Brad Marek

Club: Corica Park, Berkeley California

Notes: The lanky Marek made a name for himself at the 2021 PGA Championship when his unusual stretching routine was caught on TV. That year, he was also one of just two club pros to make the cut at Kiawah Island. Marek runs a teaching school that focuses on helping juniors. 

 Evan Bowser

Club: LaPlaya Golf Club, Estero, Florida

Notes: Bowser owns Oakland University's (MI) all-time best career scoring average of 73.58. He made a run at professional golf for a few years, making 34 starts on the Canadian Tour. There, he made 15 cuts with three top-10s. Bowser has numerous South Florida PGA Section event wins. 

Jeremy Wells

Club: Cypress Lake, Estero, Florida

Notes: Wells shot a final round 70 on the East Course at PGA Frisco, moving him up 37 spots and into a qualifying position. It was the only round of the day under par, beating the field average by nearly seven strokes. It was the second consecutive year that Wells had the best final-round score. Last year, he shot a final round 66 to move up 25 spots and earn a place in the PGA Championship. Last year, Wells shot 74-78 to miss the cut. 

Jeff Kellen

Club: North Shore Country Club, Rockford, Illinois

Notes: Kellen was the Assistant Pro at Butler National before taking over at North Shore this season. It will be his first PGA Championship. Kellen played professionally before becoming a club pro and, in 2014, shot a back-nine 27 in a mini-tour event. It was done without an eagle, as Kellen birdied all nine holes. 

Josh Speight

Club: The Club of Viniterra, Locust Hill, Virginia

Notes: This will be Speight's third PGA Championship appearance, qualifying in 2016 and 2023. Speight played college golf at Methodist, and the team won a DIII National Championship, which was one of thirteen the schools had won. He shot one-under on his closing nine, one of the best of the day, to secure his spot at Valhalla. 

Larkin Gross

Club: Westwood Country Club, Center Cross Virginia

Notes: Gross eagled the par-five closing hole at Frisco in the closing round to earn a spot in the PGA Championship by one shot. Like Speight, Gross played his college golf at Methodist University. This will be his second PGA Championship (2021) and his third PGA Tour event; he played in the 2022 Wells Fargo, where he missed the cut. 

Preston Cole

Club: Quail Hollow, Charlotte, North Carolina

Notes: Cole won the 2023 Assistants National Championship to earn a spot in this field and now heads to his first Major Championship. At the assistants championship, he played the last five holes in six-under, including holing a wedge on the last to win by three. He played college golf at Furman.

Tracy Phillips

Club: Cedar Ridge, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Notes: Phillips qualified for his first PGA Championship…at the age of SIXTY-ONE!!! Phillips has played five Senior Majors, making the cut in four. His best finish was a T17 at the Senior PGA in 2022. That year, he also finished T24 at the Senior U.S. Open. Phillips was the top-ranked junior in the country and won his first college event at Oklahoma State by ten shots. 

Josh Bevell

Club: Profectus Golf, Nashville, Tennessee

Notes: Bevell made it a little tougher on himself than he should have, making triple bogey on the 72nd hole, but he had enough of a cushion to earn a spot. The 38-year-old was the Tennessee section player of the year in 2023. He played college golf at Mississippi State, and this will be his first Major Championship. 

Matt Dobyns

Club: Meadow Brook, Glen Head, New York

Notes: The 46-year-old Dobyns birdied the last hole to finish on the number to get through and earn a spot in his sixth PGA Championship. Dobyns has won the PGA Professional Championship twice (2012 and 2015). He is one of only five players to ever win it twice. 

Zac Oakley

Club: Bidermann Golf Club, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

Notes: Zac is the son of Peter Oakley, who was also a long-time club pro in the Philadelphia area and won the Senior British Open in 2004. Zac was the Philadelphia Player of the Year in 2021 and this year won the Section Championship by one over Braden Shattuck, who also qualified for Valhalla. 

Kyle Mendoza

Club: Hacienda Golf Club, Oceanside, California

Notes: Mendoza has earned over $100,000 in the Southern California Section, including winning the Section Championship twice. This will be his second PGA Championship. He also played in the 2021 Farmers, making the cut and finishing T65. 

Braden Shattuck

Club: Rolling Green Golf Club, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania

Notes: Shattuck was the defending champ last week and birdied the final hole to earn his second consecutive start in the PGA Championship. The 29-year-old was in a bad car accident in 2019, which caused him to take a few years off from playing and forced him to rebuild his swing. Shattuck has made two starts this year on the PGA Tour, missing both cuts. 

Wyatt Worthington II

Club: Eastside Golf, Reynoldsburg, Ohio

Notes: Worthington II earned a start in his fourth PGA Championship and third consecutive, but it didn't come without some stress. He was 9-under through two rounds and comfortably led, but a 78 in the third round and an 80 in the final round dropped him to 20th. This will be Worthington's fifth career PGA Tour event. He also has one start on both the Canadian Tour and Korn Ferry. 

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