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Steve Humphrey held a three-shot lead heading into Thursday’s final round of the Golfweek Super Senior National Championship at The Golf Club of Georgia.
Earning the lead with rounds of 76 and 67, the 66-year-old from Ocala, Florida, stuck to his game plan, immediately making birdie on the reachable par-5 1st. Turning on his cruise control after birdies on holes Nos. 3 and 7, Humphrey put the championship away with a trio of birdies to start the back nine, including a near ace on the par-3 13th.
With a six-shot lead through 13, Humphrey made just one bogey the rest of the home to card a 5-under 67 to take the national championship trophy by eight shots and a 7-under 209 total for the week. The win marks his 12th win since turning 65.
After the round, Mike Arter, who played the final round alongside Humphrey, came up to him with a statistic that would leave a smile on Humphrey’s face.
“After the round, Mike [Arter] said ‘You should want to play with me more often.That’s three times we’ve played in the final group and you’ve won all three tournaments,’” Humphrey told Golfweek,
“I said, well I’m going to the Hesler [Society of Seniors] in two weeks, you wanna go? He’s been a bit of a good luck charm for me.”
Arter finished third (3 over) behind Chris Hall (1 over).
With the win, Humphrey stays in second place in the Golfweek Super Senior rankings but has made plenty of headway towards the top spot, currently held by Marcus Beck.
“The goal is always to be number one,” he said.
After losing out on the Player of the Year honor by just 77 points, Humphrey is glad he’s able to take advantage of ranked tournaments when he can.
“It all comes down to one tournament, making 75 points instead of 150…so each tournament you play in [is important], the higher you finish, the more points you get.”
With Beck walking away with 250 points on the week (T-13, 12 over), Humphrey closes the gap from over 1,500 points heading into the tournament, to just a 588 point difference. With each shot making a difference, Humphrey will look to overtake the top spot at the Society of Seniors Jack Hesler Tournament in two weeks.
Legends (70-74)
Bob Casamento closed out the Legends National Championship with a final round 73. Opening with a 2 over 74 and grinding his way into the lead with a moving day 71, Casamento took a five stroke lead into Thursday’s final round. The margin would hold as he cruised to the winner’s circle with a tournament total of 2 over, 218.
Don Russell (7 over) and Charley Yandell (8 over) round out the podium.
Super Legends (75+)
Alabama’s Wayne Gardner bested his age twice this week en route to victory. Carding 74, 78, 74, Gardner (10 over) bested California’s James Saviar by two strokes to take home the Super Legends National Championship trophy.