Tag: Joe Pavoni

2023 Senior Amateur season tees off in Tampa at Golfweek Senior Player of the Year Classic

The quest for Player of the Year honors commenced Monday at Tampa Palms Golf and Country Club in Florida.

The 2023 Golfweek senior amateur season is officially underway. 

The quest for Player of the Year honors commenced Monday at Tampa Palms Golf and Country Club in Tampa, Florida. But first, let’s take a moment to honor the four men who earned Player of the Year honors in 2022.

Senior division player of the year Rusty Strawn had a fantastic 2022. The Georgia native began his year with a win at the Florida Senior Azalea in March. Picking up another win at the Senior Trans-Miss, Strawn took down fellow Georgian Doug Hanzel in the U.S. Senior Amateur.

Not done yet, Strawn followed the USGA major victory with a win North of the border, winning the Canadian Senior Amateur a week later. Capping off his 2022 season with a winning captaincy at the Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup, Strawn ran away with Player of the Year in the senior division.

Super Senior Marc Fried, like Strawn, had a dominant 2022. Starting his season with three straight top-five finishes, Fried built momentum towards a winning effort at the U.S. Super Senior National Championship. Per AmateurGolf.com, Fried’s worst finish on the year was T-18 in 17 starts.

Pennsylvania native Don Donatoni nabbed Legend player of the year honors thanks in part to a win at the Super-Senior Amateur. Playing strongly throughout the year at Golfweek events, the 74 -year-old was able to secure the top spot at year’s end.

After a season that included a win at the Golfweek Senior National Invitational, John Blank earned the Super Legend player of the year honor.

With all four age division winners and 2022 Yancey Ford Award winner Joe Pavoni, all honored on Monday, the 2023 race for Player of the Year is officially underway.

Mike Finster leads the senior division through round 1. The Florida native carded the lone under-par score of the day with a 1 under 71. Georgia’s Danny Nelson lurks two shots back at 1 over while Rusty Strawn is in a two-way tie for third after posting an opening 74.

In the Super Senior division, it’s Marcus Beck holding a two-shot lead at 3 over. An even par front nine was marred by a lone double bogey on the par-5 15th. Mike Poe and Steve Humphrey matched each other with 77s to finish the day two back of Beck.

Arkansas’s Bev Hargraves impresses with an opening 4 over 76. With 36 holes left to play, Hargreaves will have to be weary as Don Donatoni trails by just one shot.

In the 75+ age bracket, Gene Bingman commands an early lead. The super legend carded an 8 over 80 to take a one shot lead over Gil Stenholm.

Round two of the Golfweek Senior Player of the Year Classic continues on Tuesday. For more information on how to play Golfweek events, click here.

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Joe Pavoni named Golfweek’s 2022 Yancey Ford Award winner

Few match the game-changing impact that 2022 recipient Joe Pavoni has made.

The Yancey Ford Award is awarded to those in senior amateur golf who have made a lasting impact on the game.

Few match the game-changing impact that 2022 recipient Joe Pavoni has made.

Growing up, Pavoni and his brother were introduced to the game by their father and spent most summers playing municipal courses in and around Chicago. Pavoni became good enough to earn a partial golf scholarship at Notre Dame, where he earned a degree in civil engineering. Upon graduation, Pavoni went on to run his own civil and environmental engineering company, leaving competitive golf behind.

It wasn’t until 2004 that Pavoni began playing national-level senior tournaments. Playing in the first-ever Golfweek senior event, Pavoni raised concerns about the yardages and setups. Almost immediately he was heading a three-man committee that would oversee yardages and course setups for every Golfweek senior event. 

Helping revolutionize how competitive senior amateur golf is played is deserving enough for the Yancey Ford Award, but Pavoni didn’t stop there.

He created his own senior tournament at Persimmon Ridge Golf Club, his home course, in Louisville, Kentucky. Pavoni was also an advisor tasked with helping create a points system to rank senior amateurs throughout the country and was instrumental in instituting four different age brackets in senior golf that are now widely used across the Society of Seniors, Golfweek events and countless other tours and events nationwide. Most recently, Pavoni was the tournament chairman for the Society of Seniors from 2015-2020.

Using his engineering background, Pavoni helped come up with yardage breakdowns and age breakdowns used regularly in elite senior events.

“What we tried to do was to adjust the yardages so players in different age brackets all hit the same clubs on their second or third shots,” Pavoni told Golfweek. “It’s not a perfect science, but you do the best you can.”

Of course, the reasoning behind adjusting yardages for senior golfers is simple – Pavoni wants everyone to enjoy the game of golf for as long as possible.

“My dad taught this to me when I was 6, 7 years old: the best thing about the game is I can play it until I’m no longer around,” Pavoni said. “You can play it with your friends and enjoy yourself your whole lifetime. What other game can you do that with?”

The adage is something Pavoni has taken to heart. Not only does he play golf, he plays it well. Most recently, the 78-year-old took home a win at the Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup in the Super Legend division, shooting his age or better in two of the three rounds. With the win, Pavoni ended his winless streak after a couple of close calls leading up to the 2022 finale. 

As we turn the page to 2023, Pavoni’s legacy in the game continues to grow and now with the Yancey Ford Award, his legacy is cemented.

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Team Strawn completes comeback win at 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup

Rusty Strawn closed out 2022 by captaining his team to an incredible come-from-behind victory at the Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup.

Capping off one of the most dominant years in recent senior amateur golf history, Rusty Strawn closed out 2022 by captaining his team to an incredible come-from-behind victory over Team Hurlbert at the Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup.

Carding a team front-nine score of 7 over, Strawn’s team did enough to chip away at Team Hurlbert and get within one shot. It wasn’t until the pressure turned up on the back nine where Strawn’s team felt the most comfortable. 

As one of the top three scorers on his team, Strawn combined with John Wright and James Starnes for a wild 10-under par back nine. The incredible loop, in addition to six of the 10 counting scores being at or under par, opened up a nine-shot lead for the Strawn Men.

Captains Craig Hurlbert (L) and Rusty Strawn at the 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup

While Team Strawn flourished down the stretch, 2021 Golfweek Player of the Year Craig Hurlbert and crew couldn’t hold on to their vanishing lead. 

Combining for 12 over on the front nine, Hurlbert’s team saw their lead quickly shrink. Grasping for straws, Team Hurlbert was 5 over through 15. Needing a miracle push, eight of the 10 counting scores birdied the par-4 16th, giving Hurlbert’s crew a glimmer of hope with two holes to play.

Unable to muster any more magic, Team Hurlbert carded a 9-over 739. The finish resulted in a comeback win for Rusty Strawn’s crew. Closing out strong, Team Strawn’s final-round 704 was the lowest team score of the week.

Aside from the team championship, four individual titles were awarded.

Ken Kinkopf was able to fend off a slew of challengers to hold on to the Senior division title. Kinkopf’s bogey-free, final-round 67 was the lowest round of the week in the senior division. The win makes it back-to-back Golfweek senior event victories, as Kinkopf took home the Tournament of Champions title in early December.

Rusty Strawn and Mike Combs couldn’t overcome speed bumps from early in the week, tying for second place at 2 over.

54 holes wasn’t enough to settle the Super Senior division. Steve Humphrey and Tim Vigotsky traded blows throughout the second and third rounds, but it was Humphrey who was able to ride the momentum from a final round 1 under 70 to take the championship on the first playoff hole.

Peter Van Ingen closed out a wire-to-wire victory in the Legend division with a final-round 72. The win closes out a strong finish to Van Ingen’s 2022 season, as he finished second in the Golfweek Tournament of Champions and followed that up with a third-place finish in the Society of Seniors last weekend.

2022 Yancey Ford Award winner Joe Pavoni also went wire-to-wire in his Super Legend win. Pavoni used rounds of 76, 80 and 74 to close out a four-shot victory in the 75+ age division.

With Team Strawn hoisting the Challenge Cup, the 2022 Golfweek senior amateur season comes to a close. The 2023 season begins January 16-18 at the Golfweek Senior Division National Championship in Palm Desert, California. Registration is still open here.

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2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup features stacked field

The 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup is more than just the penultimate event of the season.

The 2022 Golfweek Senior Challenge Cup is more than just the final ranking tournament of the season. It’s an opportunity to share camaraderie, stories and plenty of healthy rivalries.

The 54-hole stroke play event will be at Jacaranda Golf Club just outside of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and features four different age groups ranging from 55 to over 75 years old. Aside from crowning individual medalists in each age division, the Challenge Cup features a team aspect as well.

Not only are bragging rights and player of the year points up for grabs, but crucial World Amateur Golf Rankings points. The top 20 ranked senior amateur men in WAGR are exempt into the 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur. Although the points race for the U.S. senior am ends in August, every event matters.

Captaining the two teams are 2022 Golfweek/USA Today Sports Player of the Year Rusty Strawn and 2020 Golfweek/USA Today Sports Player of the Year Craig Hurlbert. Strawn is coming off an incredible year that was highlighted by wins at the U.S. and Canadian senior amateurs. Hurlbert is getting back in the playing saddle after taking time off to upstart a venture, raising over a billion dollars in investment capital for his newest company, Local Bounti.

Backing them is plenty of firepower: 2021 U.S. Open low amateur Billy Mitchell, Golfweek No. 2-ranked senior am Kevin Vandenberg and 2022 Yancey Ford Award winner Joe Pavoni.

If you want to play premier courses across the country and test your skills against the best senior amateur golfers, check out the 2023 Golfweek senior amateur golf schedule.