Former U.S. Senior Am champ Bob Royak finds way to top of Golfweek Pirate's Classic leaderboard
Bob Royak spent Tuesday at the Golfweek Pirate's Classic clawing back into contention. Royak, the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, was the only man in any division to break 70 in the second round at TPC Tampa Bay, and it moved him to the top of the leaderboard in the Senior Division.
Royak, of Alpharetta, Georgia, left himself with some work to do after opening this tournament with 74. It was a round in which the 63-year-old played the last two holes in 3 over. He had played the previous five holes in 3 under.
Still, on Tuesday, Royak bounced back with only two bogeys to take away from his five birdies.
Royak wound down 2024 with a team win at the International Senior Invitational before competing in the prestigious East West Matches. He also reached the third round of match play at the U.S. Senior Amateur last year and was a semifinalist in 2023.
This week, Royak is teeing it up at the inaugural Pirate's Classic just days after a T-2 finish at the Gasparilla Senior Invitational, played just down the road at Palma Ceia Golf and Country Club.
Even though Royak broke away for the solo lead at the end of the day, the senior division was close for most of the second round, with as many as three players tied for the lead at one point. Jerry Slagle of Southlake, Texas, the second-round senior leader, had a second-round 73 that included an eagle at the par-4 12th. He is 1 over for the tournament and one shot behind Royak. Bryan Hoops of Scottsdale, Arizona, and Brian Keenan of Tampa, Florida, are 2 over and tied for third while Todd Doss of Mandeville, Louisiana, is 3 over in fifth.
In the Mid-Master division (for players aged 40-55), Thad Hudgens of Longwood, Florida, only pulled farther ahead. After opening with an eagle on the first hole on Monday, Hudgens cruised to 67. On Tuesday, he came back with 70 and now leads his division by 18 shots.
Byron Whitman of Bonita Springs, Florida, leads by one shot in the Super Senior division after back-to-back rounds of 75.
The leaders in both the Legend and Super Legend Divisions managed to distance themselves on Tuesday. Greg Osborne of Lititz, Pennsylvania, is 2 over and up by five shots in the Legend Division. Frank Polizzi of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, is 3 over and also has a five-shot cushion among the Super Legends.
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USA Today
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- USA Today
Kevin VandenBerg, Pat O'Donnell go low at Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior Amateur
The night before the final round of the Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior Amateur, Kevin VandenBerg spent more than a half hour on the practice putting green. Despite feeling like he had made hardly any putts all week, VandenBerg was only four off the lead. 'Made a little adjustment in my ball position on my putting and I putted very well today,' VandenBerg said Thursday after making five birdies in his final six holes to win the tournament by four shots. 'That was the difference.' VandenBerg finished 54 holes at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Washington, at 6 under. His final-round 67 catapulted him ahead of second-round leader Craig Larson from Kapalua, Hawaii. Larson, who won the inaugural Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior back in 2022, was 2 under after rounds of 71-68-75. 'The putter really kicked in on the back side,' VandenBerg said of his final round, though he also gave himself plenty of good birdie looks in the closing holes. 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VandenBerg put new Callaway irons into play earlier in the spring to great effect and also feels that the extra attention he has put on his tee shots is beginning to pay off. For now, VandenBerg is trying to build to a crescendo as the U.S. Senior Amateur approaches next month. He'll play a few smaller events in addition to the Sunnehanna Senior Amateur in the meantime. Players certainly benefit from experience at Wine Valley, and VandenBerg noted that he hit some shots in the final round that went into the memory banks for next year's tournament. Plenty of local Pacific Northwest talent rose to the top of the leaderboard in all three divisions of the Golfweek event, like Portland's Greg Chianello, who was third in the Senior division at 1 under. That was especially true in the Super Senior division, where Pat O'Donnell of Happy Valley, Oregon, and Scott Masingill of Payette, Idaho, both finished at 6 under. The two men, who are in the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Hall of Fame and the Idaho Golf Association Hall of Fame, respectively, played all three rounds together at Wine Valley. They both posted rounds of 68-71-71 to stay neck-and-neck throughout regulation. As the final round began to draw to a close, O'Donnell keyed into the standings. Masingill has been inputting live scores and O'Donnell asked where they stood. O'Donnell birdied Nos. 17 and 18 and Masingill birdied No. 18. 'I've known Scott quite awhile. We play in some of the PNGA events against each other,' O'Donnell. 'Such a class guy.' O'Donnell claimed the title on the first playoff hole. 'It's hard to putt out here,' O'Donnell said when asked for an assessment of his play for the week. 'With it getting windy the last two days, it really was hard to get it close, at least for me. Some of the greens because of the pin placements, they were just hard to get it close. 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USA Today
03-06-2025
- USA Today
Golfweek Pacific Northwest Amateur returns to Wine Valley GC, where owner Jim Pliska will tee it up
Golfweek Pacific Northwest Amateur returns to Wine Valley GC, where owner Jim Pliska will tee it up It's important to Jim Pliska that there are opportunities for the top seniors in the Pacific Northwest to showcase their talent locally, get World Amateur Golf Ranking points and play with the best talent in the world. Luckily Pliska, the owner of two top courses in Washington and Oregon, is in a position to do something about that. Pliska runs Space Age Fuel, one of the largest independent fuel marketers in Oregon, and is also the owner of Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Washington, and Emerald Valley Golf Club in Creswell, Oregon. The courses, roughly 350 miles apart, frequently host championships – and that was one of Pliska's motivations for getting involved in the golf industry as a course owner. Tournaments range from Oregon Golf Association events to Pacific Northwest Golf Association events to college events, considering Emerald Valley is home to the University of Oregon Golf teams. Perhaps most notably, Wine Valley served as a U.S. Open Final Qualifying site on June 2. Next month, Wine Valley will host the Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior Amateur for the fourth time. The 54-hole event draws top amateurs from around the country. Last year, former U.S. Senior Amateur champion Doug Hanzel took home the trophy. 'I like to give back in that respect because I feel supporting the competition and competitive golf helps overall golf in general,' Pliska said. 'I think it's such a great game I want to keep it in existence.' Pliska, at 66, is an accomplished player himself. He competes six or seven times a year and is constantly working on his game. Lately, that means working out daily and also working through swing issues with instructor Mike Mitchell in La Quinta, California. 'My game, I can feel it's getting better but getting it consistently better,' Pliska said, 'it's still got work to be done.' Pliska, who will tee it up at the Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior, played on the University of Oregon roster for a year in the late 1970s after transferring in from Mt. Hood Community College. He continued to stay sharp in the game and has won the OGA Tournament of Champions a handful of times. Pliska, a veteran of several USGA championships, is still pursuing a U.S. Senior Amateur berth. As he works to get his game to the level that he can meet that goal, the majority of his time continues to go to Space Age. Meanwhile, the day-to-day of golf course operation largely falls to the general manager at each facility. 'I've got some good people that have worked for us for a long time,' Pliska said of his golf course staffs. And despite being hands-off in most respects, he's still involved in major decisions. Pliska's history with Emerald Valley goes back to his days at Oregon but Wine Valley, site of the Golfweek event, is a relatively new course. Wine Valley opened in 2009 and was designed by Dan Hixson. It is ranked No. 3 in the state of Washington on the Golfweek's Best Public Courses list and also appears on the Golfweek's Best Top 200 Modern Courses list. Pliska thinks golfers love playing Wine Valley because it's a challenging-but-fair layout. He calls it a second-shot golf course. Because many holes have multiple sight lines, a player can be out of position and still have a chance to recover. That there's no standard way to play the course is one thing that Pliska thinks makes it great. 'It gives you a lot of different opportunities out there,' he said. 'There's not a tree on the golf course so it's kind of open, big features, big greens, lot of movement on the greens. It's a fun course to play because you can play different shots, it's not standard shots – it's not a traditional golf course. It's more of the newer links type of golf course. I think the beauty of it, too, is great.' The Golfweek Pacific Northwest Senior Amateur will be played July 1-3 at Wine Valley and registration remains open across all four divisions: Senior (age 55-64), Super Senior (Age 65-69), Legends (age 70-74) and Super Legends (age 75 and over).
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Long-hitting Massa, aka 'Bobby Speed,' among Byron Nelson qualifiers
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