Story courtesy of Julie Williams of Golfweek

Gregory Seelinger, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, Illinois, and now winters in Boca Raton, Florida, has never really considered himself much of a “mudder” or foul-weather player.

Despite that feeling, he prevailed in those conditions on Dec. 15 at the Golfweek Tournament of Champions. The wind blew all week at PGA National’s Fazio Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and Saturday’s second round featured rain and squalls. Seelinger had an even-par 72 that day that included three birdies.

“It was windy so I just really just tried to keep the ball in play, just in front of me and not try to make too many miraculous shots,” he said of that extremely difficult second round. “Toward the end of the round, it got really windy, and the last three or four holes, which was my front nine, were very difficult.”

Seelinger bookended that round with scores of 74 and 73 to finish at 3 over for the tournament. He never made higher than a bogey and finished four shots ahead of runner-up Todd Doss of Mandeville, Louisiana.

Favorites Craig Hurlbert, a former Golfweek Senior Player of the Year from The Woodlands, Texas, and Kevin VandenBerg, the Pulaski, New York, player who repeated as Golfweek Senior Player of the Year, tied for third at 8 over.

Seelinger is the first to note what a turn-around he has experienced in competition this year. In April, Seelinger, 58, finished last in the Florida Senior Amateur played at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Eight months after that tough week at Copperhead, Seelinger is on a completely different side of things.

“It’s just funny how I finished last in that and then just really turned it around the second half of the year.”

Seelinger, who didn’t pick up the game until he was in his early 20s, retired from his career as a project manager at EcoLab in mid-2024. As he was winding down his career, friends introduced him to the senior amateur golf circuit.

Once he was able to spend more time working on his game this summer post-retirement, Seelinger went on a top-10 spree at the Senior Porter Cup, Two Rivers Senior Invitational and Dixie Senior Amateur over the past four months.

The Golfweek TOC is his first national title. He has also won local Chicago-area events in recent years, including the Illinois Senior Four-Ball.

“I always thought when I started playing, I just have to just get better and keep playing,” Seelinger said. “It’s a really great feeling to know I can do it in tough conditions.”

Bill Boockford, winner of the Legend division, has a story similar to Seelinger's. Boockford also grew up in the Chicago suburbs (though northwest of Seelinger, in Glen Ellyn). The 71-year-old only played two national senior events this year, including the TOC.

“A friend of mine said I should play and the tournaments were in the area where I’m living so I said you know what I’ll go out and try,” he said. “I just decided to get back and play, I missed the competition.”

The poor weather seemed to work in Boockford’s favor.

“I think it gives me a little bit of an advantage,” he said. “I’ve played in Florida for a while so the wind, it does not bother me. Those types of conditions do not bother me. My best round was the second day when it was rainy and blustery. I seem to concentrate a little better and I seem to have the type of shots that I can hit in that type of weather.”

Boockford, who is retired from the insurance business and now lives in Tequesta, Florida, has played golf all his life and been quite competitive. He grew up working at Village Links, a public golf course in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, played on his high school team and played a little when he attended the University of Miami.

In his mid-50s, Boockford twice qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur. This year, he missed qualifying for the tournament by a shot.

“I feel like I can be fairly competitive so that’s good,” he said of winning the TOC.

Asked for his latest tournament victory, Boockford named the club championship at the various clubs to which he has belonged. He won the club championship at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, in 2021.

At PGA National on Sunday, he battled all the way to the finish. Starting on No. 10, Boockford made a bogey but then played the next five holes in 4 under to create a cushion for himself. That helped him overcome an 8 on the par-5 17th and three more bogeys in the last 10 holes.

“I think it was a combination of a bad swing and nerves,” he said of the triple-bogey, which included a ball out of bounds.