TAMPA, Fla. – The top senior players from around the state will make their way to Lakewood National this week for the 46th Florida Senior Open Championship. Among those players will be Peter Oakley and Jerry Tucker.
Oakley and Tucker will be the most experienced players in the field at 73 years old, but this isn’t stopping these two players from chasing down the cut and the trophy this week at Lakewood National.
For Peter Oakley, the love and passion for the game of golf all started when he was 11 years old. His mom would drop him and his older brother David at International Town and Country Club in Fairfax, Virginia, where they would spend hours learning the ins and outs of the game from local golf professionals. When Peter headed off to college, he hoped to qualify for the University of Florida men’s golf team. After coming up just short and then seeing limited success on different mini-tours, he became less eager to pursue a career in playing professionally.
After finishing school, Oakley found his way back to where his golf story began and started working at International Town & Country Club. As a cart boy, Oakley qualified for the 1975 U.S. Open and became infamous at his home club. When he transitioned to becoming an assistant pro, he became more involved in competitions and he contributes his resurgence back into professional golf to his former boss and mentor, Charlie Staples. Through PGA club pro events, Peter was able to play in three U.S. Opens and eight PGA Championships.
When Peters’ brother David went to play in the European Senior Tour and won four events, Peter was close behind in following him to Europe. This move ultimately led him to what he calls “the defining moment in my entire life.” In 2004, Oakley won the British Senior Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club, beating the likes of Tom Kite, Tom Watson, and other notable legends of the game.
After winning a major like this, one of the first things that crossed his mind was how he would be able to pay for his kid’s college education. “It was like winning the lottery,” Oakley states. “It improved my family’s lives and gave me a years’ worth of play in the Champions Tour and five years of playing in Senior Majors.” One win gave Oakley the chance to continue doing what he loved for years at a high level.
This year marks nearly 15 years of playing in the Florida Senior Open for Peter. “I love the event. I look forward to it each year. I have the same goal as I did nearly 20 years ago in the Senior British Open, make the cut.” That is what Peter loves about the game of golf to this day, “you can keep playing and be competitive longer than any other sport.”
Oakley continues to be an example of that and we hope to see him competing in the final round at Lakewood National this week. Joining Peter in his vast golf experience is another player that continues to show his dedication and love for the game of golf with nearly 50 years of being a golfing professional.
Born and raised in southern Illinois, where he played his first rounds of golf on “dirt and crabgrass” courses, Jerry Tucker has experienced one of the most interesting journeys within the sport he loves so dearly.
After serving in the Air Force for four years, Tucker played college golf at Southern Illinois University while earning a degree in journalism, which he believed to be his future career path. However, in his final year at school, the professional at SIU’s home golf course prompted Tucker to assist him with adult educational clinics, causing him to, “accidentally fall backwards,” into becoming a golf professional. These days, after 47 years of being a golf professional, Tucker still provides lessons every week to people of all ages and skill levels.
“It’s fun to still teach and work with some young people. It keeps you young too.” Tucker even divulged that he occasionally listens to a current hits station on the radio to, “relate to them and be cool.”
The Illinois native was a member of the USGA National Rules Committee for six years, Teacher of the Year in both the Gateway and South Florida PGA Sections, a South Florida PGA Hall of Famer, and has even played with some of the game’s legends in Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Sam Snead. Even with everything Tucker has given to the game of golf and to those who have been under his tutelage he is most grateful for what golf can still provide for him, the ability to play.
“If I didn’t have the tournament play and the desire to try and get better every day, I don’t think I’d be in the golf business, I would have probably been a writer, so that’s what keeps me motivated. I still believe I can get better.”
This week, Tucker will tee it up at the 46th Florida Senior Open Championship at Lakewood National Golf Club, his 11th time participating in the event, after qualifying with a score of 73 at Santa Lucia River Club. This was just the second time Tucker has had to qualify to get into the Championship.
“I actually still believe that I could win this. I’m not just going to be thrilled if I barely make the cut, I definitely want to compete. I don’t care who you are. Even if you’re the best player and want to win, everything has to go right.”
