PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Tyler Collet never had an easier time getting to a major, closing with an even-par 72 on Wednesday to win the PGA Professional Championship by a record 10 shots to lead 20 club pros who qualified for the PGA Championship.
Collet started the final round on the Wanamaker course at PGA Golf Club with a seven-shot lead and that was never challenged. His goal was not to have a round over par, and he achieved that by making an 18-foot bogey putt on the final hole.
“My mindset the whole week was not to move backward,” said Collet, the assistant pro at John’s Island Club about 15 miles away in Vero Beach.
He finished at 15-under 272 and will be playing for the fourth time in the PGA Championship, which starts May 15 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Michael Block, the California club pro and feel-good story from the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, made it to the PGA Championship for the third straight year. Collet, John Somers and Larkin Gross earned a spot for a second straight year.
As usual, far more drama was toward the bottom of the leaderboard.
Four players who finished at even par were in a sudden-death playoff for the 20th and final spot at Quail Hollow. Andrew Svoboda was eliminated on the first hole with a bogey, while Dakun Chang three-putted on the next hole to get bumped.
It came down to 60-year-old Brad Lardon and Michael Kartrude, who made bogey on the 18th hole in regulation and thought that might cost him.
Lardon had a 7-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole that stopped one turn from dropping.
Lardon couldn’t reach the green in two at the par-5 13th — the fourth playoff hole — and his wedge to a back pin trickled off the back. He used putter and began to celebrate when the putt hit the center of the flagstick and somehow banged out.
Kartrude chipped to 4 feet and had that birdie left for the win, and Lardon removed his cap to congratulate him as soon as the ball left Kartrude’s putter. But it missed, and they were on to the fifth playoff hole.
Kartrude sent his tee shot far to the right and into the trees, dropping his driver at impact. But it hit a tree and came back into play, just barely. Still blocked by trees, he hit a power fade around the trees and onto the green, setting up a par.
Lardon chipped to 7 feet and missed the par putt, allowing Kartrude to advance.
“The best moment of my golfing life, for sure,” Kartrude said. “I’m going to play a major.”
That might not have been possible if not for a meltdown by Jesse Mueller, who won this tournament three years ago. He was among the top 20 and looked to be in good shape at 2 under for the tournament and playing the par-5 16th, the easiest on the course.
He put his tee shot just into the hazard, with enough of the golf ball showing he decided to remove his socks and shoes to stand in the muddy creek. The shot came out clear — perhaps too clean — and sailed into a palmetto bush.
Mueller couldn’t find it and had to return to the spot of his previous shot. This time he took the penalty drop, hit that left of the green, took two chips to get on and made a quadruple-bogey 9. That ultimately allowed the four players at even par to have a chance, including Kartrude.
Kartrude, an assistant at The Bear’s Club, is among 12 professionals who qualified for the PGA Championship for the first time.
