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The 2023 AGC Senior Player of the Year: Bob Royak
24 Dec 2023
by AmateurGolf.com Staff

see also: , Bob Royak Profile

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Bob Royak (Jeff Haynes/USGA photo)
Bob Royak (Jeff Haynes/USGA photo)

After a year of consistent high finishes and big wins, Bob Royak of Alpharetta, Ga., is the 2023 AmateurGolf.com Senior Player of the Year.

The AmateurGolf.com Senior Player of the Year is awarded based on a point system earned through performance in major senior events throughout the course of the year. This year, the former U.S. Senior Amateur champion won the points race for the first time, and by a convincing margin.

The key to winning a points race is racking up consistently high finishes, and the 62-year-old Royak did just that. How good was his year? He played in ten national senior ranking events in 2023, and finished in the top 5 in all ten.

AmateurGolf.com
Players of the Year
2023 Bob Royak
2022 Rusty Strawn
2021 Gene Elliott
2020 Craig Hurlbert
2019 Doug Hanzel
2018 Gene Elliott
2017 Doug Hanzel
2016 Doug Hanzel
2015 Bob Kearney
2014 Brady Exber
2013 Doug Hanzel
2012 Chip Lutz
2011 Chip Lutz
2010 Chip Lutz
2009 Ted Smith
2008 Jerry Hudgins
2007 Paul Schlachter
2006 Michael Bell
He started his season at the Gasparilla Senior, finishing second by one shot, and followed it up with perhaps the highlight of his year at The Jones Cup Senior at Sea Island. There, he shot the lowest score in the final round to get into a playoff with Jeff Knox, and rolled in a curling putt to win the championship generally regarded as No. 2 in field strength behind the U.S. Senior. It was Royak's second Jones Cup Senior title.

It was the first of three major wins in 2023, all of which came at inspiring venues. After winning at Sea Island, Royak would win the Lupton Invitational in May by three shots at The Honors Course, and the North & South Senior in August by a shot over four players at Pinehurst.

In June, Royak finished as joint runner-up in the National Senior Hall of Fame tournament in High Point, N.C., and received the honor of being the Hall of Fame inductee for 2023.

It was one of four runner-up finishes for Royak, along with the Gasparilla, the Crump Cup Senior at Pine Valley, and the Huddleston Senior in Dallas. He had two other top-5s at the Chanticleer National Senior and the International Senior Invitational.

Royak's record in the U.S. Senior Amateur is right up there with anyone playing senior golf today. He won in 2019, has made match play every year he has been eligible, and this year at Martis Camp in California he ran his U.S. Senior match play record to 18-6, advancing to the semifinals for the second straight year.

The cherry on top of Royak's season was pairing up with longtime four-ball partner Doug Hanzel for their fifth consecutive Georgia Senior Four-Ball title, shooting 24 under for a 9-shot win.

Final Senior POY Points Standings, 2022
Bob RoyakAlpharetta, GA6100
Jon LindstromW. Des Moines, IA4600
Doug HanzelSavannah, GA4125
Jack HallSavannah, GA4100
Mike CombsRoswell, GA3850
Kevin VandenBergPulaski, NY3800
Rusty StrawnMcDonough, GA3400
Dennis MartinLos Angeles, CA3325
Randy HaagOrinda, CA3250
10 Mike FinsterSt. Petersburg, FL3050
In his first full year as a senior competitor, Jon Lindstrom (Broomfield, Colo.) finished as the runner-up in the points race, on the strength of winning the Trans-Mississippi Senior and the Heron Creek Senior. And for the third straight year, the 66-year-old Hanzel finished third, en route to repeating as the AmateurGolf.com Super Senior Player of the Year.

Also for the third straight year, five of the top ten points earners were from the state of Georgia. Hanzel's fellow super senior (and Savannahian) Jack Hall was fourth in the standings, while Mike Combs (Roswell, Ga.) rounded out the top five.

Last year's Player of the Year, Rusty Strawn, finished 7th in the standings.

Related: The 2022 AGC Senior Player of the Year: Rusty Strawn

Complete 2023 Points List (529 players) | AmateurGolf.com Senior Rankings (two-year aggregate)

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