Golf: Washington Senior Men’s Amateur Championship Ends With An Ace In A Playoff

ByTyler Hergert

Jun 5, 2025 Golf

6/6/25

(Clarkston, WA) The 39th Senior Men’s Amateur Championship was held at Red Wolf Golf Club in Clarkston this week. The 54-hole competition took place from June 3-5, but this year required a playoff to determine the winner.

Paul Hogben from Seattle won the Championship, but he did it in one of the rarest forms possible. After three rounds, Hogben and Craig Larson from Lakewood were tied at even par after three rounds of play, and went to a playoff. In the three-hole playoff, the pair stepped up to the third playoff hole, where Hogben recorded a hole-in-one to win the title. An ace to win a playoff has only happened once in the history of the PGA Tour (Jonathan Byrd, 2010). Hogben recently won the 59th PNGA Senior Men’s Amateur last September. Hogben hit a pitching wedge on the 127-yard, par-3 3rd hole for the winning shot.

Hogben was trailing by three shots after the first round, but began his comeback with an even par 72 in the second round, and shot a 2-under 70 in the final round. Larson was up one shot going to the last hole, after an eagle on the 17th, but bogeyed the last hole to set up the three-hole playoff. Hogben birdied three of the first five holes, but played the remaining 13 holes one over in the final round.

Brett Curtis from Sammamish finished third at three-over par. Neil MacLeod from Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, finished fourth at six over. Erik Hanson from Kirkland took fifth after holding a share of the first-round lead.