PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida – Chad Pfeifer, Ryanne Jackson and Eli Villanueva were repeat winners last week in the seventh PING USDGA Championship Presented by PGA of America.
No surprise there.
What was shocking was the 8-under 63 Villanueva shot on the Ryder Course at PGA Golf Club to win the Senior Division for the second time in three years. That’s correct, a disabled golfer shot an 8-under 63 to win by 14 shots.
“I’m speechless,” said Villanueva, a 58-year-old Fayetteville, N.C. resident who injured his left elbow in a paratrooping accident 30 years ago. “Nothing went wrong. I made short putts, long putts. That’s the best I’ve ever hit the ball in my life.”
Villanueva’s previous career-best score was a 66, but he bettered that round with a bogey-free performance that was by three shots the low round of the 54-hole tournament. He missed just one green Wednesday and shot 4-under on both nines, finishing at 4-under 209.
“I was in the zone like Michael Jordan was when he was making shots from everywhere,” Villanueva said. “I was making everything. It was crazy.”
Kenny Bontz (73-223), who finished second, marveled at Villanueva’s performance. He started the final round five shots back, shot even on the front and was eight back at the turn.
“It was insane,” Bontz said of Villanueva. “For a disabled golfer to shoot that number is incredible. I don’t care what tees he played from (the yardage was 5,730), he was phenomenal today. It was fun to watch, and it was tough to watch.”
Pfeifer of Nampa, Idaho won the men’s overall championship for the third consecutive year and fourth in the last five. He shot 2-under 69 to overtake 36-hole leader Mike Browne of England and win by two shots at 1-over 214.
Pfeifer made three consecutive birdies twice during his final round, thanks to a hot putter. The first birdie trifecta came on holes 3, 4 and 5 to move him into a share of the lead.
“I knew I was going to have to come out firing and make some birdies, because I knew Mike wasn’t going to back up,” said Pfeifer, who lost his left leg above the knee in 2007 while serving as an Army Specialist in Iraq. “It was quite the battle.
“It means a lot to win this tournament for the third straight year. This is one of our big tournaments that we look forward to playing in every year. Jason Faircloth and John Bell do such a great job of running this tournament. It’s a big showcase for adaptive golf and I’m always proud to lift that trophy.”
Browne led by two shots entering the last round, but couldn’t play defense as Pfeifer made a series of long putts on the front nine. They were tied with three holes left, but Browne bogeyed the 16th and 18th holes.
“Chad holed a lot of long putts, and I didn’t hole anything,” said Browne, who has his lower left leg amputated after a military accident in 2011 led to more than 30 surgeries. “Nothing wrong with finishing a shot behind Chad.”
Robert Walden, who matched Pfeifer’s 69, finished third, a shot ahead of Chris Biggins (74-222)
Jackson defended her title with a final-round 76, pulling away to win by seven shots over Cassie Sengul at 21-over. They were tied with six holes left, but Sengul played her last five holes in 6-over.
“It’s never good to watch your competitor struggle, but I made some birdies at the end to win it,” said Jackson, the assistant coach of the Western Michigan women’s golf team, who has muscular dystrophy. “I don’t usually get emotional when I win, but I’m extremely happy because I haven’t won a tournament in a year.”
Jackson, a St. Petersburg native, also won the 2023 U.S. Adaptive Open. Sengul (81) finished third, two shots ahead of 18-hole Natasha Stasiuk (81).
They’ll be talking about Villanueva’s 63 for a long time. Not because of what he did, but what he’s overcome.
“Disabled golfers, we come out to compete,” he said. “Everybody’s got different disabilities out here, but we’re here. We went through a process to get out here. Yeah, we can play.”
The PING USDGA Championship is run by the U.S. Disabled Golf Association and Presented by the PGA of America.
Here are the other division champions. They received plaques from the U.S. Disabled Golf Association”:
Men’s G1 (impairment affecting one leg): Pfeifer.
Men’s G2 (impairment in lower leg, less impactful than G1: Shea Taylor.
Men’s G3 (impairment in both legs): Erik Bowen.
Men’s G4 (impairment affecting one arm): Vince Biser.
Men’s G5 (impairment affecting one arm in use of the swing): Robert Walden.
Men’s G6 (impairment in both arms): Joshua Philbeck
Men’s G8 (neurological impairments): Biggins.
Men’s G9 (seated golfers): Mariano Tubio.
Men’s G10 (near to normal trunk control): Max Togisala.
Men’s G14 (short stature): Ricky Reilly.
Men’s G15 (intellectual disabilities): Andrew Berglund.
Women’s G1 (impairment affecting one leg): Kelsey Koch.
Women’s G2 (impairment in lower leg, less impactful than G1): Meredith Dwyer
Women’s G3 (impairment in both legs): Cynthia Lawrence
Women’s G4 (impairment affecting one arm): Kellie Valentine.
Women’s G5 (impairment affecting one arm in use of the swing): Sophia Howard.
Women’s G8 (neurological impairments): Jackson.
Women’s G15 (intellectual disabilities): Stasiuk.
— By CRAIG DOLCH, Special to the USDGA
