Tampa, FL – As the 2024 Winter Series season came to a close, players took on the difficult Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club. Although the points champions were already secured in the Mid-Amateur and Senior divisions by Ryan Prokay and Chad Ibbotson, the Super-Senior points champion is up for grabs as well as Senior Amateur Championship exemptions.
Mid-Amateur
Tight fairways at Tampa Palms proved to be a great test for players this week, with only one under par score coming in the Mid-Amateur division. It was Joshua Winchell who came out of the gates swinging starting one-under par in his first six holes. A double bogey on the seventh brought him back to the field, however his final score of 74 was enough to hold the lead over Shankar Natarajan by one.
Round two came and Winchell held the lead strong through the front nine. After a great finish of three straight birdies, he ran away with it over Natarajan by six strokes.
Senior
In the Senior Division, Adam Creighton had a very up-and-down first round, which included five birdies, four bogeys and a quadruple bogey on the par-five 5th. However, his first round 75 was enough to give him a share of the lead with Danny Turbide who also had a very eventful round consisting of five birdies, three bogeys, a double bogey and a triple bogey.
Although Creighton and Turbide shared the first round lead, neither of them were able to walk away with the trophy. Kevin Janiga who sat one stroke back of the lead built himself up a solid lead 14 holes into the final round. Although he bogeyed three of his last four holes, he was still able to scrape out a victory by one stroke over Steve Pitts who had the round of the tournament in the Senior-Division.
Super-Senior
Kevin Macy and Bill Hardaker each fired a first round 76 to take a one stroke lead over six players tied for second place. With 17 players within six shots of the lead, it was lining up to be an exciting finish at Tampa Palms.
Ken Kirchner of Bradenton fired a very clean round of 72 with four bogeys and four bogeys, which with the out of bounds lined fairways, is no easy task. Two other players joined him in the lead, Earl Lanoue and Kevin Macy, to send the three of them to a playoff. After a birdie on the first playoff hole, Kirchner finished off the 2024 Winter Series season with a bang. The playoff was enough to secure Macy as the Super-Senior points champion.
