SOS Spring Classic: Kinkopf emerges from pack on final day

In the first Society of Seniors (SOS) event of 2020, Ken Kinkopf picked up where left off in 2019, emerging from a tightly-packed leaderboard with a bogey-free final round and winning by two shots. Kinkopf, who won four SOS events in 2019 on the way to a runner-up finish in the AmateurGolf.com Senior Player-of-the-Year points race, started the day in a four-way tie for the lead at Abacoa Golf Club in his adopted hometown of Jupiter, Fla. He was joined at one under through 36 holes by Robert Funk (Canyon Lake, Calif.), Stevie Cannady (Pooler, Ga.) and Michael Kelley (Westerville, Ohio) who was playing in his first national senior event. Keith Decker (Martinsville, Va.), who started the day one shot behind the leaders, made the first move with two early birdies to grab the lead, but Kelley made two of his own at 3 and 4 to forge ahead. Kinkopf pulled into a tie with Kelley after birdies at 7 and 8, and then pulled ahead for good with a birdie on the par-5 10th hole. Kelley was 1 shot back throughout the back nine, but could never find the birdie he needed to pull even, and when he bogeyed the final hole, Kinkopf's winning margin was two shots. Kinkopf finished with a bogey-free 3-under 69 and a 4-under total. Kelley (71) was second at 2 under, with Decker (71) and Funk (72), and Cannady (72) tied for third at 1 under par. The defending champion Jim Lehman (Minneapolis, Minn.) finished tied for 13th at 9 over. In the Super Senior division, Marc Fried (Solon, Ohio) won a three-way playoff over James Castagna (Sandy Spring, Md.) and Murphy Mitchell (Scottsdale, Ariz.) with a birdie on the first playoff hole. A playoff was also required in the Legends division, with John Blank (Frostburg, Md.) deefeating John Osborne (Vero Beach, Fla.). Jim DuBois (Coral Springs, Fla.) won the Grand Masters division by three shots over Walt Martin (St. Augustine, Fla.), while Charles Busbee (Stockbridge, Ga.) won the Super Grand Masters by fifteen shots, easily breaking his age in all three rounds.