Seniors – Page 4 – Syndication Server

At the top of elite senior amateur rankings, John and Greg Osborne remain brothers first

John Osborne and his brother Greg top their respective age categories to start the year.

No shortage of competitive fire burns within John Osborne – nor his brother Greg Osborne, for that matter. It’s just that neither Osborne directs that competitiveness at the other. As it turns out, five years is the perfect age difference to quell sibling rivalry on the golf course.

“It was a little bit too much of a gap,” said Greg Osborne, of Lititz, Pennsylvania. “When I was 10, he was 15. He was way better than I was.”

Now in their seventies, John and Greg Osborne still keep an eye on each other’s respective tournaments. Even when they compete together, they aren’t in the same age division. They often aren’t in the same geographic location either given that Greg plays actively in Golf Association of Philadelphia events (he was the Super Senior player of the year in 2022) while John, who maintains a house in Virginia but spends most of his year in Vero Beach, Florida, plays national senior events largely in the southeast.

Still, a month into the new year, the Osborne brothers find themselves in similar territory as they both top their respective age divisions in Golfweek’s rankings for senior amateurs. John, 75, is the top-ranked player in the Super Legends division (ages 75 and older) while Greg is perched atop the Legends division (ages 70-74). They are believed to be the first time two brothers to ever do such a thing.

More: Golfweek Senior Amateur Rankings

John led the Super Legends division after 36 holes of the Golfweek Player of the Year Classic at the Omni Orlando (Florida) Resort at ChampionsGate last month, and ultimately finished runner-up to Frank Costanzo. He also was second at the Gateway Senior Invitational two weeks earlier.

Greg reached the top of the rankings on the strength of winning the Legends division title at the Heron Creek Invitational and finishing runner-up at the Plantation Senior Invitational at the start of January.

Both men are headed to the Florida Azalea Senior and Moot Thomas Invitational in Central Florida next month.

Being older, John debuted on this senior circuit first. After years of playing corporate golf while working for PepsiCo, John got back into competition after he retired in 2006. Greg followed suit.

“It didn’t take much convincing,” said Greg, who is also now retired after a career first in lawn care and then in furniture sales. “I like to compete.”

Both aim to compete in roughly 15 to 20 events per year. It’s a lifestyle now.

The Osbornes are originally from Blacksburg, Virginia, and spent their formative years playing laps around the nine-hole municipal course in town now called The Hill. It’s the same golf course PGA Tour winner Lanto Griffin grew up playing.

“We were literally right across the street,” Greg said. “We’re talking 20 feet from the driveway to the golf course. I played just thousands of rounds on that golf course.”

As always, the age difference was too wide for them to have played many of those early rounds together. Greg remembers tagging along, mostly with his dad, as a 5-year-old while John was slightly older when he picked up the game. Both would make their way onto Virginia Tech’s golf team.

And later in life, both would also play their way into U.S. Golf Association championships, which is what many amateurs consider the pinnacle of the sport.

John competed in the now-retired U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in 1976 (played at Bunker Hills Golf Course in Coon Rapids, Minnesota) after winning the Virginia Public Links Championship. He made the match-play bracket but bowed out in the first round.

Greg qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur in back-to-back years: 2011 (at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia) and 2012 (at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey). He made match play the first time but not on his return trip. He’s never forgotten either experience.

“That was incredible, the way you get treated at those USGA events is just unbelievable,” Greg said.

As they age into older divisions, qualifying for the U.S. Senior Amateur means topping younger and younger competitors on golf courses set up longer than in a tournament that includes divisions specifically for players 70 and above.

As John joked, “Every year, it’s like five more yards melt away.” But one of the things he likes about senior circuit events is that tournament directors adapt yardages for players of different ages. The idea is to set them up so that players have the same clubs in their hands as PGA Tour players would at their respective course lengths.

“Looking at the length of golf courses based on the length of the average players in our age groups, it makes it really competitive and a lot more fun when you have a course where you can reach a couple of the par 5s and every once in a while they have a drivable par 4,” he said.

It’s a small, competitive subset of players, and every win – whether it’s a qualifier or a tournament – is hard-fought. And it’s no small thing to be ranked No. 1.

“It is very competitive and when you get a chance to win, that tightness creeps in there and it’s hard to get it home,” John said. “Everybody who wins one of these senior events will tell you the same thing: They’re hard to win. At every level of golf, to win is really hard but to be competitive is what’s really a lot of fun.”

Mid-tourney tune-up puts Steve Sharpe over the top at Golfweek Senior POY Classic

After winning the super senior division of the Golfweek Senior POY Classic, Steve Sharpe now has four top-5 finishes to start 2024.

Even as he was doing it, Steve Sharpe thought, I’ve got to be crazy. Nobody takes a swing lesson in the middle of a tournament and comes out with a win, right?

But Sharpe, who turns 67 later this week, couldn’t resist the opportunity to have Sean Hogan at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy at the Omni Orlando (Florida) Resort at ChampionsGate look over his swing. So after a first-round 74 at ChampionsGate for the Golfweek Senior POY Classic, Sharpe made an appointment with Hogan. The next day, he shot a 1-under 71 – one of only eight rounds under par all week in the tournament’s four divisions – and took the lead in the super senior division. He bookended that round with another 74 on Thursday and walked away with the division title. He was 3 over for 72 holes and four shots ahead of Doug Harris from Vero Beach, Florida.

“I wasn’t turning enough in my backswing,” Sharpe said. “I was kind of lifting it with my arms. I’ve been knowing it forever but I didn’t know how to fix it. I just put it right in play and it was shaky a couple holes but overall, my ballstriking really got a lot better there.”

Scores: Golfweek POY Classic

Sharpe drove home to Greensboro, North Carolina, the next day where he works in construction for P&S Grading LLC, after playing four January senior events. He won the Plantation Senior Invitational, was runner-up at the Gateway Senior Invitational, finished fifth at the Heron Creek Senior and won again at the POY Classic.

When work is slow in the winter, Sharpe likes to go south and load up on tournaments. He’ll play more local events and Carolinas Golf Association events the rest of the year.

Sharpe has made seven career U.S. Golf Association starts, most recently at the 2016 U.S. Senior Amateur. He played the U.S. Mid-Amateur twice and qualified for the U.S. Senior Open in 2007 and 2009.

Remarkably, Sharpe didn’t begin playing golf until he was 30. Once he started, he found that he loved the individual nature of the sport and loved to compete, so he started working more and more at his game.

“Keeps me busy,” he said.

Sharpe is still sorting out the nuances of competitive golf, notably the pressure that comes with the lead. Starting on the back nine in his final round, Sharpe birdied the first hole. Then he could feel that pressure closing in on him. He played Nos. 5-7 in 4 over, but birdied No. 8 to seal the deal.

“When I’m up around the lead, I just try to control myself,” he said. “I know I can do it if I don’t get too emotional.”

All four divisions featured tightly grouped leaderboards, but the senior division was perhaps the closest race – especially early week. Matthew Avril of Vero Beach, Florida, took a share of the lead in the second round and won by three shots on the strength of a final-round 2-under 70. Despite its difficulty, he played the back nine in 2 under the final day.

“I made my only bogey of the day unfortunately on 7 but I bounced back, made birdie on 8 and parred 9 and so I knew with a good solid even par, again with the conditions, if I could play solid on the back, somebody was going to have to do something pretty good to do it,” Avril said. “So it was in my hands. But that back nine has a stretch there from 13 to 16 that is really tough.”

Matthew Avril, senior division winner of the 2024 Golfweek Senior POY Classic.

Avril was 1 over for 54 holes, which was three better than Rick Cloninger of Rockhill, South Carolina. Doug Hanzel of Savannah, Georgia, and Mike Lohner of Southlake, Texas, tied for third another shot back.

The key to his win, Avril thought, was a birdie on the long par-3 14^th, which played 195 yards. He pulled driver there in the second round but used a hybrid on Thursday and stuck it to 20 feet for the birdie.

On No. 16, a par 4, Avril hit it to 4 feet from a downhill lie in a back bunker and made par.

Avril noted that each day of the tournament had its own set of challenges, from wind and cold temperatures to saturated conditions from an early-week rain to a rye grass overseed that allowed for little roll.

Avril is not a particularly long player, but he makes up for it in accuracy.

“The goal is always to hit fairways and greens and I put the ball in play, which is really the strength of my game,” he said. “I hit 41 out of 42 fairways over the three days, and so I got off to a good start.”

Avril hasn’t competed as much in the past year, but he did win the Florida Senior Azalea in 2023.

“I’ve got a full slate coming this year,” he said. “Really looking forward to playing as much golf as my body will let me. All of us get a little beat up at this age.”

Bev Hargraves of Little Rock, Arkansas, won the legends division at 5 over.

Notably, in the super legends division, Frank Costanzo of Savannah, Georgia had the round of week – a final-round 68 that included six birdies – and won his division by six shots over John Osborne of Vero Beach, Florida.

From Michigan triple crown to national senior crown: Kevin VandenBerg’s 2023 golf marathon was POY-worthy

“I know I’d like to become one of the better players in what I call the senior circuit, that’s what I’d like to do,” Kevin VandenBerg said.

Back in the summer of 2000, Kevin VandenBerg swept Michigan’s three major amateur tournaments: the Michigan Amateur, Golf Association of Michigan Championship and the Michigan Mid-Amateur. He still remembers a conversation from the next spring. A younger player approached VandenBerg, in his mid 30s at the time, and questioned why, after that hat trick, he hadn’t turned pro – everyone just assumed he would but VandenBerg, who played college golf and baseball at Kalamazoo College in Michigan and was nearly drafted as a catcher, never had those pro aspirations.

Fast forward to 2021 when VandenBerg turned 55 and entered the senior amateur division. He still harbors no pro dreams, but there is something else now.

“I know I’d like to become one of the better players in what I call the senior circuit, that’s what I’d like to do,” he said. “I’m just trying to focus on my game, take care of the things I can do and improve my game the best I can.”

You get there by playing tournaments. Lots and lots of tournaments. In 2023, VandenBerg, a money manager who owns his own company, Apogee Investment Management, teed it up in competition 44 times between Golfweek senior events, Society of Senior events, local tournaments and USGA qualifiers.

Plus, he said, “I played more in 2022.”

But while 2022 ended with VandenBerg runner-up to Rusty Strawn for Golfweek Player of the Year honors in the Senior division (players aged 55-64), VandenBerg did one better in 2023 and took the title for himself. He finished 144 points ahead of Bob Royak, winner of the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur, courtesy of a T-2 finish at the Ralph Bogart Tournament at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida. He knew he needed a finish of third place or better at Copperhead to top Royak.

“I didn’t look at the scoreboard until the last day we were on 17,” VandenBerg said, “and I looked at the scoreboard and I think I was fourth or tied for third. I knew I needed to make a birdie on one of the last two holes, probably, and I made a 20-foot birdie putt on the last hole and that put me over the top.”

VandenBerg, now 57, was motivated by the realization he had a limited window of time on the low end of the senior age bracket.

“I wanted to try and play in as much as I could to try and take advantage of it,” he said, “so I just wanted to play in stuff when I’m earlier and when I’m healthier.”

Knowing his health would play a big role in his golf, VandenBerg lost 60 pounds in 15 months. It went a long way in taking pressure off his back and knees so that he could keep up with such a demanding tournament schedule. It’s possible to play too much, and VandenBerg felt that a few times in the past two years.

An equipment switch to PXG also briefly set back his game this past spring, bringing his handicap from +4 to 0 in a span of two months, but by April he had begun to figure out his new clubs.

“I’m still working on trying to hone in my putting,” he said, “but I’m really satisfied with where my game is now that my equipment is kind of settled in.”

Notably, VandenBerg won the Two Rivers Senior Invitational in 2023 and reached the quarterfinals of the Golfweek Senior National Match Play. Having won the Plantation Senior Invitational and finished third at the Gateway Senior Invitational to start 2024, VandenBerg now counts 13 top 5s in his last 20 starts.

VandenBerg splits the year between Naples, Florida, and Pulaski, New York. In 2023, his wife Nikki took a year off from her job as a middle school special education teacher so she could travel the senior amateur circuit with her husband. They often traveled by RV – an unusual method among VandenBerg’s competitors.

Golf is always a part of VandenBerg’s daily routine – whether it’s work in the morning and play in the afternoon or vice versa – and he recognizes the good fortune in that. A recent goal has been to get his game to the point that he can be competitive in the major events, and 2024 could be the year for that breakthrough.

“I think it’s helped – a couple of people have talked with me and said that I should feel confident in trying to play in some bigger events and really trying to do better in some of the events,” he said.

Marcus Beck was the Golfweek Super Senior Player of the Year in 2023.

Marcus Beck, 66 and winner of Golfweek Player of the Year honors in the Super Senior division (for ages 65-69), is trying to get back there too. He last competed in the U.S. Senior Amateur in 2016, at Old Warson Country Club in St. Louis, and made match play.

For Beck, who works for Merrill Lynch, this past season was about testing the water to see how many events he’d like to play. In 2023, he competed in not quite 20. Beck anticipates he may play fewer times in 2024 – instead picking his favorites and returning to those spots – though the pull of the competition schedule is hard to ignore.

“It’s kind of contagious if you do well, you know? You want to go on to the next one,” he said. “You make a lot of friends and you see them again at the next one and then my wife might travel with me, she’s got friends now. So it turns out to be a nice thing.”

Beck won the Florida Senior Azalea and the Reynolds Senior Invitational. A runner-up at the Senior Porter Cup and a third-place finish at the North & South Senior also make the highlight reel.

Beck was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, and still resides there, playing out of Capital City Country Club. His bunker game is sharp, he’s tough inside 100 yards and his distance stacks up well in his age division. The big difference in his game in 2023, though, came from a putting lesson he took with Mike Shannon at TPC Sawgrass.

“Same lesson I got when I was 14 years old,” Beck joked, “but it clicked pretty well and I was happy with that.”

In the Legends division (ages 70-74), George Walker of Fairhope, Alabama, won the Player of the Year title with 7,475 points, which was 1,393 better than Peter Allen of South Port, North Carolina, in second. Walker reached the semifinals of the Golfweek Senior National Match Play.

For the second consecutive year, John Blank of Frostburg, Maryland, won the Super Legends division (ages 75 and over) Player of the Year title, this time by 1,635 points over Bill Engle of St. Augustine, Florida.

Jim Popa wins Yancey Ford Award, adding another chapter to a full life in golf

For as long as he can remember, golf has been Jim Popa’s life.

For as long as he can remember, golf has been Jim Popa’s life. It has been the family game and the family legacy for the Popas, bringing as many memories in services rendered as rounds played. Jim Popa has left his mark primarily in the former way.

Popa, 69, not only led both the Ohio Golf Association and the Columbus District Golf Association, but was the longtime Executive Director of the Society of Seniors. Despite all that, Popa, now fully retired, never imagined himself a candidate for the Yancey Ford Award, annually presented by Golfweek to an individual who has made significant contributions to senior-amateur golf.

When Ford himself called to tell Popa he was this year’s award winner, Popa was speechless. Near the beginning of Popa’s 24-year tenure with the Society of Seniors, Ford was president of the organization. The two men have remained friends since.

“He’s a wonderful human, he’s a great old Virginia gentleman who just epitomizes what you would hope all golfers would be,” Popa said. “Gentle, competitive, nice guys who just really reflect what we’d like to have as models for senior amateur golfers.”

Jim Popa (Courtesy Ohio Golf Association)

Popa and Ford had shared a vision for the Society of Seniors, and Ford was in Popa’s corner when it came to Popa’s rise to the role of Executive Director. Notably, the two men worked to raise money for and launch a scholarship fund for the sons or daughters of full-time employees of the golf courses where the Society of Seniors hosted its events. To date, nearly 20 scholarships have been awarded.

Popa, an Ohio native, followed in his father Nicholas Popa’s footsteps as the executive director of the Ohio Golf Association, taking up the reins after his father’s death in 1993. In 1998, Jack Hesler, an original member of the Society of Seniors who knew Jim Popa as a board member of the Ohio Golf Association, asked Popa to attend a Society event and provide some feedback. Once there, it took Popa all of five minutes to realize he wanted to be a part of it.

Popa took over as Executive Director in 2014 but maintained the executive director role for both the Ohio Golf Association and Columbus District Golf Association for the next few years. After the summer tournament season in Ohio, he would often take his help on the road in the winter to run the Society’s events.

“I was very honored to have that job,” Popa said of his work with the Society, even though it kept him busy.

The Yancey Ford Award follows Popa’s induction into the Ohio Golf Hall of Fame earlier in 2023. He also has been awarded the Southern Ohio PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in and the USGA’s Ike Granger Award for longtime commitment to golf.

Clearly, Popa’s contributions to golf have been great, even though he didn’t originally intend to make it his job. After graduating from high school, and having done drafting and layout work for his father’s ad agency in Columbus, he enrolled at Ohio State to study commercial art with aspirations of becoming a cartoonist. Upon learning he’d need to take a few chemistry courses when he transferred into the fine arts program, Popa – not a science guy – decided instead to take some time off. He spent the next two and a half years caddying on the PGA Tour, most notably for his brother-in-law Ed Sneed, whose four Tour victories included the 1977 Tallahassee Open with Popa on the bag.

With Sneed, Popa had the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the game’s greats in that era, including Arnold Palmer, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Weiskopf and Jack Nicklaus. He gathered enough stories for a lifetime – or a least a thick memoir.

And when it was all over, he landed back in Ohio, once again with golf as his north star.

“After I came back to town, I went to work for my father doing layout work,” Popa said. “One thing led to another, and pretty soon I was going to tournaments with him. We had other people to run the advertising agency, and he and I sort of started running golf in Ohio.”

Popa and his wife Martha – who Popa describes as the “great woman” behind his story – raised three children as Popa guided golf in Ohio for three decades. With that service largely behind him, Popa now reserves a place for golf in his life with a weekly game that’s strictly for fun.

“Golf is the greatest game of all,” he said in reflecting on the game to which he gave so much. “I’m convinced that it’s a game where we have taught the young players to be gentleman on the golf course, to shake hands, to wear their hats forward, have their shirttails tucked in. They respect the game, they respect the traditions, that’s what I always try to impress on the young people in my tournaments.”

“When you get to the senior level, these guys, this is the life they’ve led and it’s second nature to them to just be that courteous to each other and to respect the rules and the golf course and respect the people who run the tournaments. That’s what I like the most about the Society.”

He has done more than his share to shape it.

Vance Welch leads tightly contested 2023 Golfweek Senior Tournament of Champions

Scoring was hard to come by Wednesday.

Wednesday’s second round at the Golfweek Senior Tournament of Champions at The Forest Golf and Country Club in Fort Myers, Florida, saw wind gusts up to 30 miles per hour, making scoring a premium all day long.

Among those who took advantage of the adverse conditions was Maryland’s Vance Welch. Already twice a Golfweek events winner in 2023, Welch has an opportunity to cap off a four-win season before the calendar flips to 2024.

Welch began the day one stroke back of first-round leader John Barry at 1-over par.

Even on the day and 1 over for the tournament through 27 holes, Welch turned up his game while the winds churned off the nearby Gulf Coast. Three birdies on his first four holes to start the back nine dotted Welch’s scorecard to quickly put him at 2-under par.

A tee shot on the par-3 fifth hole rode the right to left wind a bit too hard, finding trouble just 6 inches out of bounds. A double bogey dropped Welch back to even, but back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 6 and 7 put him back in the hole with a four-shot swing back to 2 over in just three holes.

Finishing strong with birdies on Nos. 8 and 9 to cap off his round, Welch was pleased with how he finished, despite the hiccup.

“As soon as I saw the ball go out of bounds, I said ‘You know what, I’ve had some good breaks today, this is the bad one…I’m not going to let it bother me.’ I just came off three birdies, so I can’t complain too much.”

A big reason as to why Welch was able to rebound and keep the throttle down late into the round?

“I videotaped my practice rounds,” Welch said. “It’s something I’ve never done before…I was watching it and as the round went on, I was not finishing my swing. I don’t know if I was tired [or what], but it really showed me some flaws in my game that I need to fix. I’ve hit the ball fantastic the past two days, I’ve only hit one bad shot.”

Welch’s film study has paid off as he now holds the 36-hole lead, two shots clear Jim Doing (3 over). Patrick Stayer (4 over), Ken Kinkopf (5 over) and round 1 leader John Barry (5 over) all look to give chase on Thursday to take the title in what will be a windy and rainy final round.

Super Seniors (65-69)

Overnight leader, Greg Goode, grew his one-shot lead with a three over 75. Duke Delcher (5 over), Mike Arter (6 over), James Starnes (7 over) and Golfweek No. 2 Steve Humphrey (8 over) are all vying to close out a come-from-behind victory.

A win for Goode would secure a top-five finish in the Golfweek Player of the Year race, while a runner-up finish for Humphrey would put him ahead of No. 1 Marcus Beck for the PoY Super Senior title with one event remaining in the season.

Legends (70-74)

Pete Allen continues to sit on the top of the leaderboard in the Legends division. Enjoying a three-shot lead after the first round, Allen (6 over) now holds a four-shot lead following a second-round 76.

Paul Schlacter (10 over), Vince Scarpetta (11 over) and Sam Robinson (11 over) round out the podium with 18 holes remaining.

Super Legends (75+)

Despite gusty conditions, 18-hole leader Gary Hardin (3 over) bested his age, bouncing back from an opening-round 75 with an even-par 72 on Wednesday. He holds a four-shot lead on Jack Marin (7 over). Cole Henry (8 over) sits in third place after a double bogey on his final hole cost him the low round of the day of 71.

Plenty of low scores highlight Golfweek Senior Amateur first round

A handful of players shot their age or better.

After a thrilling finish at the 2023 Golfweek Senior Division National Championship, the West Coast senior swing continues in Palm Desert, California.

Seniors from ages 55 to 75 and up hit the links in four different age brackets for 54 holes to crown champions. With prime scoring conditions at the Firecliff Course at Desert Willow Golf Resort, a handful of players shot their age or better.

Three men lead the way in the Senior division (ages 55-64). Stan Humphries, Kirk Maynord and Steven McPherson all carded rounds of 1-under 71. Seven players slide in behind them at even par. 55 players are within seven shots of the leaders.

In the Super Senior division (65-69), Scott Masingill and Jeff Burda share the top of the leaderboard after matching rounds of 2 under. A trio of players trail by three shots while another 11 players are within five of the leaders.

Three players in the Legends division (70-74) found the fountain of youth. Tom Yellin, Kerry Booth and George Walker scored in red numbers with a combined 12 birdies.

In the Super Legend division, five men shot their age or better. Led by Jim DuBois’ 1-over 73, Denny Atkins, John Blank, Bob Lutz and John Seehausen all reached the incredible feat on Thursday.

If you want to play alongside the best senior amateur golfers in the United States, check out the Golfweek senior amateur schedule here.

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Gary Albrecht wins 2023 Golfweek Senior Division National Championship

For Albrecht, the win is one of the biggest of his career.

One of the most highly-touted fields in all of amateur senior golf lived up to its billing this week. The 2023 Golfweek Senior Division National Championship needed an extra hole to crown a winner.

Following a one-hole playoff, 66-year-old Gary Albrecht came out on top at Desert Willow Golf Club in Palm Desert, California. The 36-hole leader was able to stave off Kory Frost for his first national championship win with a 2-under 214 total.

Typically a super senior, Albrecht dropped an age bracket to play, as it’s right down the road from where he winters in Indian Wells.

“I was comfortable coming in,” Albrecht said. “I was hitting the ball well and the first round I thought I didn’t putt real well but I was right there. I putted real well in round two and made a move up the leaderboard and then today was really just a matter of holding it together.”

Albrecht needed a bit of duct tape early after recording three bogeys through his first five holes. Never hitting the panic button, Albrecht quietly worked his way back toward 1 over on the day as he hit the final stretch.

“My game wasn’t all working, but it all worked at different times,” Albrecht recalled.

One group ahead of Albrecht were his top two challengers.

Jon Lindstrom and Kory Frost both had shots to track down Albrecht. Lindstrom bowed out after making par on the par-5 18th for a final-round 69. Frost however, birdied the hole to get himself to 2 under for the tournament and 6 under in his final 10 holes.

After an Albrecht par on No. 18, the pair were deadlocked at 2 under and headed to the first tee for a sudden-death playoff.

Both men found themselves in the left rough off the tee. Albrecht played first and nearly got to the green in two. Frost countered with a shot that was also a near miss, just left of the green.

With about 40 feet left, Albrecht elected to use the Texas wedge to try and knock it close.

Fortunately for Albrecht, the flagstick saved him from running by as his ball kissed the flagstick and nestled up well inside a foot. Frost left his birdie putt short and was unable to knock down a five-foot slider to extend the playoff.

For Albrecht, the win is one of the biggest of his career.

How’s the semi-retired attorney going to celebrate the victory? Well he’s going to tee it right back up on Thursday at the Golfweek Senior Amateur.

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Gary Albrecht leads 2023 Golfweek Senior Division National Championship

It’s one of the deepest fields in all of senior amateur golf.

The 2023 Golfweek Senior Division National Championship has become a battle in the desert.

Gary Albrecht takes a two-shot lead into the final round at Desert Willow Golf Club in Palm Desert, California, following a 4 under 68 on Monday. The California native carded just one bogey on the day to leapfrog 18-hole leader, Robert Funk, to take the 36-hole lead.

Funk was able to work off an early-round double bogey, closing his scoring with a birdie on No. 17 to get himself back to even on the day and remain 1 under for the tournament. He and Joe Palmer sit at 1 under and lead a pack of players well within striking range.

Mark Lindberg and Leonard Komar are both 1 over and coming off of sub-par rounds Monday. Three more players are in a tie for sixth, just five shots off the lead.

As one of the deepest fields in all of senior amateur golf, the tournament is living up to its billing. Six players, including 2021 U.S. Senior low amateur Billy Mitchell, are just 3 over and six shots back. With such an elite field, the championship is still anyone’s ball game.

For 2022 Golfweek Challenge Cup captain Craig Hurlbert, the week comes to an abrupt end with a WD. Other notables: Jerry Gunthorpe (T17), Craig Larson (T17), Kevin VandenBerg (T29) and Vance Welch (T39).

If you want to tee it up with the best senior amateurs in the game, check out the Golfweek senior amateur schedule here.

Play tournament golf in Ireland, The 2023 Golfweek Emerald Isle Championship

This is Your Chance to Play Tournament Golf in Ireland – Don’t pass it up! Regarded as one of Ireland’s best golf courses, the championship course at Galway Bay Golf Resort is a perfect combination of natural beauty and golfing adventure. The course …

This is Your Chance to Play Tournament Golf in Ireland – Don’t pass it up!

Regarded as one of Ireland’s best golf courses, the championship course at Galway Bay Golf Resort is a perfect combination of natural beauty and golfing adventure. The course blends a stunning backdrop of Galway Bay along with the rugged and unpredictable curves of the Atlantic coastline. With ever changing wind speeds and directions, Galway Bay Golf Resort will pose a considerable yet fair challenge for our group of Elite Senior Amateurs.

NOTE: This is a limited field tournament so make plans early!

This tournament is certified by the World Amateur Golf Rankings – WAGR

**For complete tournament information follow the registration link**

Rusty Strawn looks to cap off 2022 with Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup captaincy

Since 2020, Strawn has 12 wins, including the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur.

Ranked atop the Golfweek rankings and a captain at Golfweek’s upcoming Senior Challenge Cup, Rusty Strawn is a force to be reckoned with on the senior amateur circuits.

Taught by his father, Strawn began playing at seven years old with a set of Chi-Chi Rodriguez golf clubs. He quickly fell in love with the game.

Growing into a pretty good player, Strawn played for Georgia Southern all throughout college. Although a solid player, Strawn opted to keep up with the family business.

Heading Strawn & Co. Insurance and growing a family, golf took a back seat.

“It was very, very difficult to juggle all three things,” Strawn said. “Obviously, if I wanted a healthy marriage and be the father to my kids that I thought I should be and want my company to grow, there was no way I could put the time and effort into golf that I would’ve needed to to compete at that (national) level.”

Although not playing on a national scale, Strawn kept his game in good enough shape to take home Georgia’s state mid-amateur title when he was 29 and followed it up with a runner-up finish the next year. It wasn’t until his late 40s that he decided to really work towards his dreams of competing on the biggest stages amateur golf has to offer.

“I didn’t want to wait until I was 55,” he said. “I wanted to start getting prepared for senior golf when I was five or six years before then. I was like ‘Ok, let’s see how good I can get.’”

With his kids in college and his company operating like a well-oiled machine, Strawn was finally able to begin chasing his dream.

“I wasn’t torn at the end of the day,” Strawn said. “Sometimes when I was playing golf early in my career I felt like I should’ve been home or I should’ve been at work. But I was really focused in my late 40s and early 50s about what I wanted to do.”

No one was a bigger supporter of Strawn’s dreams than his wife, Jennifer.

“She (Jennifer) played a big part in that,” recalled Strawn. “She really encouraged me and said ‘Hey you know what, you’ve got this last shot to compete.'”

With his wife pushing him and his willingness to put in the work, Strawn blossomed when he reached the senior amateur game. Not only did Strawn compete once he reached the senior amateur stage, he dominated.

Since 2020, Strawn has 12 wins topped by a win at the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur.

Winning the crown jewel of senior amateur golf is not lost on Strawn. But the win is more than just claiming the Frederick L. Dold trophy — it’s what comes with it.

“I’m very appreciative of the trophy I’ve got and the gold medal and everything but I tell you, that 10-year exemption into the senior amateur is the number one prize you win when you win a USGA event,” said Strawn.

With a USGA crown under his belt, four individual wins, a team win at the East West Matches and a trip to the Concession Cup in Spain, Strawn will close out a career year as a captain at the Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup.

Although winning is preferred, Strawn’s favorite part of being a part of a team? The friendships.

“I love the camaraderie. It reminds me of college golf,” Strawn said. “Sharing those opportunities, the victories and even the defeats together, that’s what I really like about team events.”

Strawn will be facing off against former Golfweek Player of the Year, and good friend, Craig Hurlbert, and his team at the Challenge Cup. The event takes place on the East Course at Jacaranda Golf Club, in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, Dec. 14-16.

More Challenge Cup information along with registration can be found HERE.

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