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USA Today
10-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Golfweek Super Senior, Legend, Super Legend National Championship all feature tight leaderboards
A final-round horserace has taken shape at the Golfweek Super Senior National Championship at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta. Through 36 holes, two men are tied atop a loaded Super Senior division. Greg Goode of Salina, Kansas, and Mark Benefield of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, each followed opening rounds of 71 with a round of 2-over 73 in the second round. For Goode, the top-ranked super senior in the Golfweek National Senior Amateur Rankings, the day got off to a bit of a rough start. Goode birdied the par-4 12th but made a double bogey and two bogeys after that. He recovered with a 2-under 34 on the front nine. Benefield sprinkled three bogeys and two birdies into his round. The two men are even par and two shots ahead of a pair of chasers, Jeff Belk of Marietta, Georgia, and Emile Vaughan of Pike Road, Alabama. After that, a group of four men at 3 over includes defending champion Stevie Cannady, who got his breakthrough win at this event last year. The most interesting round of the day, perhaps, belonged to Greg Kennedy in the senior division. Kennedy, from Peachtree Corners, Georgia, started on the back nine with a birdie but made two bogeys and then lost ground with a double-bogey on the 18th. He redeemed himself on the front nine with back-to-back eagles at Nos. 8 and 9. Kennedy's resulting round of 72 was enough to help him leapfrog first-round leader Todd Doss and take the lead heading into the final round. Kennedy, who played collegiate golf at the University of Georgia in the late 1980s, is now at even par and Doss, after a second-round 75, is 1 over. The Legend and Super Legend divisions are also shaping up to be entertaining in the final round. Bill Byrne of Madison, Mississippi, and Robert Allen II of John's Creek, Georgia, are tied for first at 5 over in the Legend division. They share a two-shot lead on a group of three players at 7 over. In the Super Legend division, John Osborne of Vero Beach, Florida, made up considerable ground with a second-round 72 that moved him to 4 over. He is now tied for the lead with Bill Engel of St. Augustine, Florida. The two share a three-shot lead on Sam Robinson of Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
USA Today
09-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Greg Goode, Golfweek's top super senior, in familiar spot at Golf Club of Georgia
There's a reason Greg Goode is the top-ranked super senior player in the Golfweek National Senior Amateur Rankings. On Tuesday, in the opening round of the Golfweek Super Senior National Championship, Goode, from Salina, Kansas, opened his day with two birdies at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta. He closed with one, too. The first-round 1-under 71 he pieced together was enough to leave him tied with Mark Benefield of Peachtree Corners, Georgia. From here, Goode will look to add another title to what has been a head-turning year on the senior circuit. Goode already has won the Moot Thomas and the National Senior Hall of Fame in 2025. He has a handful of other runner-up finishes, including at the Golfweek Senior National at Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina, last month and the Golfweek Senior Amateur in Palm Desert, California earlier in the spring. Goode is a three-time Kansas Senior Player of the Year who has played a busy national senior schedule the past few years. He narrowly finished second to Jim Starnes in Golfweek's Super Senior Player of the Year race in 2024. Behind Goode and Benefield, a loaded Super Senior division features plenty of challengers. Three men are tied for third at even par: Doug Stiles, Marcus Beck and Richard Kerper. Defending champion Stevie Cannady, who lives in Pooler, Georgia, is in the four-man pack at 1 over. For the first time this year, Golfweek's event at the Golf Club of Georgia also features a limited-field senior invitational. Todd Doss of Mandeville, Louisiana, leads that division after a 2-under 70 in the opening round. Doss continues to find his place in senior golf after aging into senior competition last year. For Doss, winner of the Louisiana Senior Amateur the past two years, that place is usually near the top. At the Golf Club of Georgia, Doss is two shots ahead of Greg Kennedy of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, and Allen Peake, of Macon, Georgia. In the Legend division, Bill Byrne of Madison, Mississippi, is 2 over and leads Robert Allen II of John's Creek, Georgia, by a shot. Frank Polizzi of Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, is 2 under and has a five-shot cushion in the Super Legend division. Polizzi won the Golfweek Player of the Year Classic to start the year.
USA Today
10-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Bryan Hoops in familiar spot after second-round 66 at Golfweek Senior National Championship
Bryan Hoops in familiar spot after second-round 66 at Golfweek Senior National Championship It took some second-round heroics, but Bryan Hoops is in position to extend his senior golf winning streak. The 56-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, entered the Golfweek Senior National Championship having won his last five senior starts, dating to April. Now Hoops, with a second-round 66 at Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina, is in position to extend that streak to six. Hoops began the tournament at Grandover with an uncharacteristic 3-over 75, but on Tuesday he redeemed himself with a 6-under 66 that not only shot him to the top of the leaderboard but gave him a five-shot lead entering the second round. Hoops, who plays out of Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, (often with professionals from the Korn Ferry, PGA or Champions Tours), had five birdies on the day. His only blemish was a bogey at No. 15. He added an eagle at the par-5 18th. Scores: Golfweek Senior National Championship At 3 under for 36 holes, Hoops now leads Kevin VandenBerg, the top-ranked player in the Golfweek National Senior Amateur Rankings, by five shots. VandenBerg, of Pulaski, New York, has had back-to-back rounds of 1-over 73 at Grandover. Hoops excels at many areas of the game, but perhaps picks up the biggest advantage with his distance. 'I do things that I feel are stretching my career,' he said in April after winning the Golfweek Senior Division National Championship. 'I don't know anybody that hits it farther than I do constantly. It's a big advantage.' First-round Senior division leader David Glabicki, of Cary, North Carolina, remains in the mix at 3 over after backing up his opening 72 with a 75. After Glabicki, the next-closest player is six shots back. Greg Goode of Salina, Kansas, and Randy King of Horseshoe Bay, Texas, lead the Super Senior division at 4 over after overtaking first-round leader Stevie Cannady. James Starnes, who was the Golfweek Super Senior Player of the Year in 2024, is at 9 over, one shot behind Cannady. Bob MacWhinnie of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is 2 over and has a 1-shot lead on Stephen Fox of Pinehurst, North Carolina, in the Legends division. In the Super Legends division, Pete Allen of Southport, North Carolina, has created a comfortable lead for himself. Rounds of 73-74 left him at 3 over for the tournament, which is seven shots ahead of the next-closest competitors.
