While the win might look large, Strawn arrived for the final round at the Copperhead Course with a one shot lead over Jack Larkin, but he also had some recent memories of a loss to Larkin. Larkin and Strawn have become rather familiar with one another; this was their fifth round together in their last two tournaments. At the Georgia Senior Amateur last week, Larkin beat Strawn by two shots. After Larkin birdied Copperhead’s first hole to pull even, Strawn said he felt like Larkin was going to snatch another tournament from him, but birdies on holes 3, 4, and 5 helped give Strawn some breathing room.
Strawn and Larkin separated themselves from the field as the only players under par; Steven Maddelena and Richard Kerper rounded out the top 3 with matching scores of 3-over.
It feels appropriate that a player like Strawn won the Dale Morey Championship, given the tournament’s namesake was a prolific winner on the amateur circuit, tallying over 260 wins in his career, including two US Senior Amateurs. "I'm honored to have my name on a trophy with his name on it," Strawn said.
This win was Strawn’s fifth of 2021. He’s won the Reynolds Senior Invitational, SOS Spring Classic, Golfweek Senior POY Classic, and the Golfweek Senior National Match Play.
“The Society of Senior events are extremely organized, the purses are good, and they take us to great golf courses,” Strawn said. “This event feels like our big championship; the competition is stiff.”
As his busy golf season winds down, Rusty Strawn has a few more events, and then he’s looking forward to “putting them up” for a bit and enjoying some time freshwater fishing and bird hunting, his other passions aside from golf.