Tom Brandes Wins His Third Pacific Northwest Senior Men’s Amateur; Tom Kubisa Wins Super Senior Amateur
Tom Brandes of Bellevue, Wash. pulled away from the field in today’s final round to win the 52nd Pacific Northwest Senior Men’s Amateur, while Tom Kubisa of Bremerton, Wash. shot rounds of 73-71-73 to earn a victory in the 7th Pacific Northwest Super Senior Men’s Amateur.
The two championships were held concurrently at Big Sky Golf Club in Pemberton, B.C., and were conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA). The Senior Men’s Amateur includes men 55 years of age or older while the Super Senior Men’s Amateur includes men age 65 years or older.
For complete final scoring, including hole-by-hole scores, click here.
For Brandes, this is the third title in this championship, having also won in 2012 and 2013. Brandes has been named the PNGA Senior Men’s Player of the Year the past five years, and is already off to a good season this year, earlier winning the 2016 WSGA Champion of Champions Senior Men’s title.
With a 1-over par 73 in today’s final round, Brandes finished six shots ahead of second-place finisher Lance Lundy of Pemberton, B.C. who was playing on his home course.
“This is a great golf course,” Brandes said. “It really makes you golf your ball. I didn’t hear any complaints from any of the players about the condition or the layout. It’s just a really good test of golf.”
When asked how he is able to maintain his quality of play, Brandes replied, “I’m staying healthy, and just able to keep hitting them where I’m looking.” The turning point today came when Brandes birdied the long par-4 14th hole, while Gene Cook double-bogeyed the hole. Cook would end up tied for second with Lundy, six shots back of Brandes.
On a tough golf course, Kubisa played three solid rounds to eventually separate himself from the field for the four-shot victory in the Super Senior Amateur. “It actually played fairly easy for me,” Kubisa said. “I just kept it in play and made five or six long putts. I played here before so I guess I had a little course knowledge, and water comes into play everywhere here, so I just played for the middle of the fairway all the time.”
The Pacific Northwest Senior and Super Senior Men’s Amateur championships are two of 15 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.
