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Judd Gibb, Gary Robison Win PGA Quarter Century Championship; Wendell Coffee Earns Half Century Title
By Craig Dolch
Published on
Gary Robison and Judd Gibb proved Thursday it’s not how you start a tournament, but how you finish that matters most.
Both PGA of America Golf Professionals started the final round of the Quarter Century Championship outside the top five in their respective age divisions, but closed hotter than the South Florida weather to win at PGA Golf Club.
Robison, a 71-year-old from Port St. Lucie, shot a 5-under 30 on the back-nine of the par-71 Ryder Course for a 65 to get into a playoff with first-round leader Kirk Stauffer at 10-under 132. Robison won the 65-and-older division with a par on the first extra hole to claim his second PGA Winter Championship in the last year.
“The back side was really good,” said Robison, who teaches at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana during the summer. “I didn't miss a green or a fairway. Everything was really good. Hitting it close really helps.”
Gibb, who started the final round tied for sixth, made five birdies in a six-hole stretch for a 5-under 67 on the Wanamaker Course to win the 50-to-64 division by three shots at 8-under 136. It was his first PGA Winter Championship title on a day when the temperature reached 80 degrees.
“My putter got really hot on the back nine,” said Gibb, a PGA Instructor at Hanson’s Custom Golf in Fort Dodge, Iowa. “The birdie putts were all inside 10 feet, except for a 20-footer at 15. It was a strange two days. (Wednesday), I hit it close all day, and really didn't putt well, and then today the putter got hot.”
On the playoff hole, Robison and Stauffer both missed birdie putts of about 20 feet. Robison made his 4-foot par putt, but Stauffer missed his 3 ½-footer.
“I was kind of sad about that, because he played so well,” Robison said of Stauffer. “You hate to see that. We've all been there. I got lucky.”
There was nothing fortuitous about the 65, though. Robison has proven he can go low, shooting a 60 in last year’s Senior Stroke Play Championship. He also has eclipsed 20-under in a pair of 54-hole PGA Winter Championships.
“It always feels good to win,” Robison said. “It's a matter of working on your game and trying to get better at it. At my age, trying to stay healthy and not lose ground.”
Matt Seitz (68) of Hutchinson, Kan., was third at 133. Four players tied for fourth at 135: Bill Schumaker (67) of Columbia City, Ind., Jerry Tucker (68) of Stuart, Fla., Jeff Marsh (68) of Vancouver, Wash., and Kirk Hanefeld (68) of Reading, Mass.
Gibb was one of only three players to shoot in the 60s on the Wanamaker Course. He was even par through 11 holes before he got on the birdie train to steadily pull away.
“My friend, Chad Proehl, won this division a few years ago, so I've been jealous of him,” Gibb said of his fellow Iowa resident. “I've always wanted to have my name up there in that clubhouse.”
Frank Esposito (71) of Florham Park, N.J., finished second at 5-under 139. Four players tied for third at 3-under 141: David Paeglow (70) of DeKalb, Ill., Mark Brown (70) of Hobe Sound, Fla., Rick Morton (71) of Jacksonville, N.C., and Brian Cairns (74) of Milford, Mich.
Wendell Coffee of Peachtree City, Ga., won the Half Century Championship with a 2-under 69 to edge first-round leader Jay Horton of Port St. Lucie at 5-under 137. The 78-year-old Coffee bettered his age by a combined 19 shots.
But Bill Moser of Lilburn, Ga., may have topped that achievement. The oldest player in the field -- “91 and a half” – made a hole-in-one on the 127-yard fifth hole with a 9-iron. He played despite a fall before the round that resulted in a cut on his face, and he had to wear a glove on his right hand because it was bleeding.
“I thought I hit it over the green, but being the optimist, I looked in the hole and there it was,” Moser said of his third career ace. “At my age, I’m just thankful to be here.”
Rodger Hogan of Gainesville, Ga., also had a memorable day, making an albatross on the par-5 13th hole of the Wanamaker. He hit a 7-wood, thinking it landed in a bunker before he, too, found it in the hole.
The PGA Winter Championships are Presented by GolfPass and On Location. The PGA Senior Stroke Play Championship starts Sunday at PGA Golf Club.
For more information about the 2026 PGA Winter Championships, visit the event website.
