Jim Shaw Fires Flawless Final Round To Win PNGA Super-Senior Championship
Seattle’s Paul Hogben Surprises Himself By Winning Senior Championship
By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf
In these waning days of summer, Jim Shaw really enjoyed his final day at the Beach. Make that Beach Grove Golf Club. Shaw played a near-perfect round of golf, a bogey-free two-under 69, to win the Pacific Northwest Golf Association’s Super Senior Men’s Championship at the Tsawwassen layout.
“Two birdies and 16 pars,” Shaw said proudly of his closing round in the 54-hole championship for players aged 65 and over. The Sooke resident, a longtime member of Mission Golf Club, was proud of the way he battled down the stretch to secure his two-shot win over Michael Johnson of Sammamish, Wash. Shaw finished his round with 12 straight pars.
“I found out I was in the lead on No. 13 or 14, so I really feel good about finishing with all of those pars coming in under the pressure,” Shaw said.
“I just ground it out and hit some really good shots when I needed to. And I hit some poor shots and recovered.” A clutch par save on the tough par 4 15th hole stood out for Shaw. “On 15, I putted it about eight or nine feet past the hole and I sunk it coming back down the hill, so that was the TSN turning point,” said Shaw, who finished at 10-over par for the week.
“It feels really good to win a title like this. It’s very hard to win these. You don’t do it very often. It will probably take a while to sink in, but it feels really good. Shaw completed his round just as the leaders in the Senior competition (age 55 and over) were making the turn.
For a time, it looked like current B.C. Senior Men’s champion Steve Savage of Surrey and past champions Andrew Pinette of Surrey (2023) and Mike Kennedy of North Vancouver (2021) were going to battle it out for the PNGA championship. But all three players had rough back nines and Seattle’s Paul Hogben ended up winning by four shots.
Savage’s troubles actually started on the par 5 ninth hole, when he bladed an attempted flop shot into the fence behind the green. He made a double-bogey and just like that his two-shot lead was gone. “I was two-under after eight holes and probably could have been four,” Savage said. “Then I made a mess of No. 9. I was pretty ticked off about No. 10 because that was the best drive I hit all week and I made a bogey.”
Savage, who won the B.C. Senior Men’s Championship at Revelstoke in July, said he was actually surprised to contend at Beach Grove. “My focus was gone this week,” Savage said. “If they had said to me at the beginning of the week, you will have a top five, I would have said. fine. I’m tired and am looking forward to hockey season.” Savage actually tied for second with Kennedy at seven-over par.
Savage closed with a five-over 76, while Kennedy fired a six-over 77. “Paul played very steady the whole way,” Kennedy said. “None of us were looking at leaderboards. We were just trying to play our own game.”
Hogben shot his third straight one-over 72 to win the championship. To say he was surprised to win would be something of an understatement. “This is absolutely shocking,” said Hogben, a 56-year engineer at Boeing. “This was my first real tournament in decades. Honestly, I am just thrilled I didn’t humiliate myself. I don’t know what just happened.”
Hogben played a lot of junior golf and then joined the golf team at the University of Washington, where he said was primarily “a bench guy.” A couple of Seattle Amateurs two decades ago were Hogben’s only tournaments since college. He has played lots of casual golf with friends. “It felt weird not to be drinking on the back nine,” he said with a laugh.
Hogben and many others had considerable praise for the great condition of Beach Grove. “I didn’t get a bad lie all week,” Hogben said. “I didn’t get a bad roll on the greens all week. It’s just immaculate.”
CHIP SHOTS: Pinette and Scott Humphreys of Kelowna tied for fourth place at eight-over par. Humphreys closed with an even-par 71
Click HERE for complete final scoring.