PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida – Mike Stone of Perrysburg, Ohio, and Patrick Wilkes-Krier of Ann Arbor, Mich., could sense Thursday’s victory coming.
After all, in the last three PGA Senior-Junior Team Championships, the duo finished T12 in 2022, T10 in 2023 and T3 last year.
“We had our eyes set on winning,” said Wilkes-Krier, a self-employed teaching pro at Kendall Academy of Golf in Michigan. “We’ve been climbing the ranks.”
The climb finished Thursday when the pair combined for a 5-under 67 on the Wanamaker Course to win the Senior-Junior Team Championship by two shots at PGA Golf Club. They finished the 72-hole tournament at 30-under 257 for their first PGA Winter Championship. The winners split $10,000.
“The last couple of years, we would make a mistake like a double bogey that would cost us,” said Stone, a PGA Assistant Professional at Belmont Country Club who has qualified for three PGA Championships. “We just kept it in front of us, and Patrick played really well today.”
And who said golfers from Michigan and Ohio can’t get along?
Stone and Wilkes-Krier finished two shots ahead of Scott Berliner of Queensbury, N.Y.. and Shawn Warren of Falmouth, Maine (69), and the team of Walt Chapman and Casey Flenniken (64) of Knoxville, Tenn.
The teams of Stone-Wilkes-Krier and Berliner-Warren started Thursday’s final round tied for the lead at 25-under 190. They fired rounds of 62 and 61, respectively, Wednesday to gain a three-shot advantage over the rest of the field.
Each team was 3-under through their first 10 holes on the Wanamaker Course to continue to share the lead at 28-under. A bogey by Berliner-Warren at the 11th enabled Stone-Wilkes-Krier to take a lead they would never relinquish.
“It was a combination of both,” said Warren, the PGA Head Professional at Old Marsh Country Club in Maine. “The Wanamaker Course was playing tough with the firm greens and the wind, and we didn’t have it like the previous three days. You’re trying not to force it, but we just kind of ran stale there. If you had told us we would have won with a final-round 6-under, we would have taken it.”
Chapman and Flenniken shot the day’s third-lowest round, an 8-under 64. They were 7-under after 10 holes but a bogey at the par-3 11th slowed their momentum.
“We made five bogeys this week, and you can’t do that in this competition,” Chapman said.
It didn’t hurt the rest of the field that Bob Sowards and Ben Kern took the year off. The two-time defending champions didn’t have a chance at a three-peat because Kern is taking a break from competition. Sowards instead teamed with Alex Beach to finish tied for fourth, thanks to a final-round 62, with Mark Brown and Matt Dobyns (63) at 26-under 261.
The PGA Winter Championships continue Sunday with the Four-Ball Stableford Team Championship on the Wanamaker and Dye Courses. The PGA Winter Championships are Presented by GolfPass, On Location.
For more information about the 2025 PGA Winter Championships, visit the event website.
