FRANKFORT, KY (September 1, 2020) – The tip of the mountain in Kentucky senior golf is the property of Mark Knecht. On Tuesday, Knecht won the 21^st Kentucky Senior Open at Frankfort Country Club with a resounding four-shot victory. Knecht finished the competition with a score of 136 (-8) to complete the “Kentucky Senior Slam” as champion of the year’s Senior Open and Senior Amateur, the first person to do it since 2004 when Gary Herfel completed the feat. The latter portion of the slam came two weeks ago when Knecht won at Danville Country Club.

Entering the final round, Knecht shared the lead with Jim Volpenhein. It did not take long for the tournament to sway into Knecht’s hands, as he made two birdies in the first two holes while Volpenhein bogeyed the same holes for a quick four-shot swing. Knecht would make four birdies the rest of the round and was perfect in greens in regulation through 15 holes. His only mistake of the day was his tee shot on the 16^th that went out of bounds which led to a double bogey, but his cushion was large enough where the hole’s impact was negligible. Tom Campbell would finish runner-up after shooting the low round of the day, a 67 (-5), while Volpenhein finished in third place two strokes behind Campbell.

“I had no idea it had been so long since the last time someone won both the Senior Am and Senior Open in the same year,” Knecht said. “I’m thrilled to be able to pull it off. The ball-striking really helped with that; I struck it very well and I switched putters three weeks ago. It changed me from having some ‘really nice’ scores to ‘really great’ scores and that’s been a big difference in my game these last few weeks.”

Knecht’s victory also assured him of the year’s low amateur honors. He’s the first amateur to win the championship outright since 2015. Bruce Oldendick is the low professional by virtue of a score of 143 (-1) which finished fourth place in the tournament. For the Super Senior Division, past overall champion of the event Craig RauvolaBouta came out on top by two strokes over Steve Rogers with a winning total of 141 (-3).

NOTES & STATS

• The par-three 10^th was the easiest hole of the day for the second straight round. This time, it played to a stroke-to-par average of -0.09.
• The par-four 16^th tripped up Knecht and many others on Tuesday. It was the hardest hole of the final round at +0.60.

Click here to view the final results

Click here to view the photo gallery

The Kentucky PGA Section would like to thank each competitor who teed it up this week and for their part in making the 21^st Kentucky Senior Open a great one. The Section also expresses its appreciation towards Clay Hamrick, PGA General Manager and Bruce Brown, PGA Head Professional at Frankfort Country Club and their staff for their assistance in making the tournament a success. The Section will host its next event a week from today at Boone’s Trace National Golf Club where the Mobile Pro Shop Stableford Classic will take place. Registration closes tonight at midnight eastern time and can be accessed by clicking here.