It may not have been the U.S. Senior Amateur, but it definitely had the star power.
Gene Elliott, 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur champion, and 2021 Senior Am runner up Jerry Gunthorpe duked it out once again at the Golfweek Senior Tournament of Champions at The Forest Country Club Bear Course in Ft. Myer, Florida, on Friday.
A part of the penultimate group, Gunthorpe carded his second 2-under 70 of the tournament. Beginning the day five shots back of Elliott, the Michigan native may have thought he had a chance at finally tracking down his U.S. Senior Am foe.
Unfortunately for Gunthorpe, Elliott had just enough juice to stave off his run.
“I thought I had a one shot lead,” Elliott said about playing the last hole. In actuality, Elliott had a two-shot lead. Thanks to a scoring error by his playing partner, Elliott indulged himself into a bit more pressure than what he really needed to. Forcing a shot he probably wouldn’t have if he knew he had two shots to play with, Elliott thought he needed to get up-and-down from 80 yards.
“I looked at my phone again and I saw that he bogeyed 18… I thought I won by one, but I actually won by two. That’s not a great way to finish a tournament,” Elliott said through a laugh. “I played just well enough to win.”
Despite being twice the bridesmaid to Elliott’s bride, Gunthorpe’s second-place finish is nothing to scoff at. Coming from Michigan, Gunthorpe had minimal practice and relied on hitting balls in his upstairs simulator room as his main source of practice.
“The guy is a great player,” Elliott said. “I talked to one of the guys he played with today and he said ‘Wow! I was impressed’ and I said ‘Hell yes he’s good!’… He’s a wonderful guy and a hell of a player. I’m lucky he didn’t finish out the tournament!”
With a tournament total of even par 216, Elliot has now won back-to-back Golfweek Senior Tournament of Champion events and three total since its inception in 2018.
In the Super Senior division, it was Edward Turner who went wire-to-wire despite never having full control of the lead. Sharing the lead following both rounds one and two, Turner pulled away from the field and staved off a late run by Robin Rubrecht, who took second place just one shot off of Turner’s pace of 8 over.
David Bates of Newburgh, Indiana, took home the Legend’s top spot. Tying defending champion Jim Rollefson, the pair went to the par-4 10th to decide a winner. Rollefson dumped a ball in the water while Bates rolled in a par to claim the title over the defending champ.
Super Legend Gil Stenholm maintained his 36-hole lead over North Carolina’s Jack Marin to claim the top spot in the 75-and-over age bracket. Stenholm, a native of Illinois, took claim of the Tournament of Champions with a score of 12 over as previous winners Marin and Charlie Busbee finishing second and third, respectively.
