TAMPA, Fla. – The 46th Florida Senior Open Championship will head to Lakewood National Golf Club. The event is co-hosted by the FSGA and South Florida PGA Section, featuring a $65,000 professional purse.
Here are five things to know before the championship begins on Monday.
By the Numbers
Nearly 500 entries were received for this year’s Florida Senior Open, with more than 360 senior competitors attempting to qualify. Ninety-nine players qualified at six sites around the state, joining the 57 exempt competitors at Lakewood National.
In total, 78 professionals and 78 amateurs will tee it up in the championship, with a cut to low 60 and ties after 36 holes. Peter Oakley and Jerry Tucker will be the most experienced player in the field at 73 years old, while John Balmer will be the youngest player in the field at 50 years old, becoming Senior eligible in April.
PGA Tour Winner and FSGA Hall of Famer in the Hunt
Gary Koch, who was inducted in the FSGA Hall of Fame in 2006, has his eye on another Senior Open win, his first since 2014. Koch was a six-time winner on the PGA Tour and won the 1972 Florida Amateur Championship. He finished tied for 20th at the 2022 championship.
Koch recently celebrated a retirment from his "second career". With over thiry year's in the booth, starting with ESPN in 1990, then NBC Sports from 1996 til his retirement at the end of the 2022 PGA Tour Season, Gary was one of the most recogonizable voices of golf on TV. Most noteably Koch was known for his "Better than most" call of Tiger Woods' putt on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass in the 2001 PLAYERS Championship, but was praised by boht players and fans for his perspective and analysis as both an on course reporter and in the booth.
Amateurs in the Hunt
This year's field will feature 78 amateurs, all looking to become the first Amateur Champion of the event since Mike Weeks at Willoughby in 2016.
- In 2022, Todd Franks, who secured low amateur honors, finishing runner-up in a playoff, will look to get the job done this year.
- Miles McConnell, the 2021 and 2022 FSGA Senior Player of the Year, is another leading candidate to contend. McConnell captured low amateur honors in 2018 and 2021, and finshed fourth in the 2022 edition, one stroke out of the play-off. His 2022 season included qualfying for the 2022 U.S. Senior Open Championship and earning medalist honors in stroke play at the 2022 U.S. Senior Amateur.
- Michael McCoy, who captured the 61st Senior Amateur Championship in 2022, will look to add a second state title at the Florida Senior Open, while he also prepares to lead the US Team in the Walker Cup this September at St. Andrews.
- Joe Alfieri, the four-time Amateur Player of the Year, and 15-time FSGA champion will be making his third Senior Open appearance and has finished tied for third and tied for 25th in the previous two championships.
Past Champions Back for More
Including Koch, the 2022 field includes five past Florida Senior Open Champions: Eduardo Herrera, Koch, Mike San Filippo, Jerry Tucker and Pete Williams. Mike San Filippo has captured four Florida Senior Open titles in his career, the most by a player in Championship history, winning most recently won in 2011. Tucker, the 2009 champion, qualified for this year’s championship, carding a 1-over 73 at Santa Lucia River Club.
Lakewood National to Host
Lakewood National Golf Club is no stranger to hosting golf events at the highest level. The facility annually hosts the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic and the Florida Senior Open will be the fifth FSGA championship to be held at the club. Additionally, the Commander Course played host to the 2022 Florida Junior Tour - Tour Championship and will host again this October 16-17.
The Florida Senior Open will be played on the Commander Course. An Arnold Palmer design, the Commander Course is a par-72 that meanders through the community and will force players to hit proper tee shots to avoid the many penalty areas on the golf course. The finishing stretch will allow for birdie opportunities.
The generous fairways make the golf course a true second shot test. Hitting a green in regulation does not always lead to an easy par, or birdie opportunity, as they large complexes feature many shelves and plateaus, with a variety of hole locations.
The short par 4, 13th, playing approximately 315 yards from the back tee will likely present itself as drivable to most of the field in two of the rounds. This should give players an opportunity to make birdies and eagles, but the challenging green complex may also yield bogeys or worse.
