Justin Hicks, Gary Robison Win PGA Senior Stroke Play Championship

On the day he was named the 2025 Senior PGA Professional Player of the Year, Justin Hicks showed why Tuesday.

The Wellington, Fla., resident fired a 5-under 66 on the Ryder Course to cruise to a 4-shot victory in the 50-59 division of the PGA Senior Stroke Play Championship at PGA Golf Club.

Talk about validation.

“You hope that it works out that way, but there's really nothing in this game that you deserve,” said Hicks, a PGA Teaching Professional at Stonebridge Country Club in Boca Raton. “You just go out there and play your best and add it up at the end. Soon as you start thinking you deserve something, you probably end up coming on the short side of the stick.”

Hicks instead finished on the top side of the leaderboard. He started the final round with a one-shot lead and ended it with a four-shot advantage over Omar Uresti (69) of Austin, Texas, at 13-under 201. They were the only two players to shoot in the 60s all three days.

Hicks and Uresti were tied after 13 holes, before Uresti made double bogey on the par-4 14th hole. Hicks added birdies at the 15th and 18th holes to finish off the win.

“Omar’s double in the middle of the back side really kind of separated things,” Hicks said. “I just kind of stayed patient, knew that I was going to have chances. I've been putting it really well this year.”

Gary Robison carded a 4-under 68 on the Wanamaker Course to defend his title in the 60-and-older division of the Senior Stroke Play with a one-shot victory over Brian Cairns of Milford, Mich., at 10-under 205. It was the third victory in this event in the last four years for the Port St. Lucie resident.

Unlike last year, when Robison shot 20-under to win by three shots, his title wasn’t clinched Tuesday until the final green. Robison and Cairns were tied at 10-under, but Cairns missed a tricky 8-footer for a bogey.

“Brian had the same putt I had – mine broke about three times more than I thought,” said Robison, 71, who also won the 65-and-older division in last week’s Quarter Century Championship and has three PGA Winter Championship titles in the last year

Robison believes his victory could be traced back to a bogey he made on the par-4 15th hole. After his drive went into the water, he skulled a sand wedge 30 yards over the green. He somehow chipped it to 6 feet to make the improbable bogey.

“I was just trying to throw it as high, as soft as I could, up on top of that ridge, and let it come down to the hole,” Robison said. “That was probably the best putt I made all day. You could have a shag bag from there and not get that one up and down.”

Cairns (71) has been in contention the last two weeks for that elusive first PGA Winter Championship. He finished T3 in the Quarter Century Championship.

“I’m probably trying too hard down the stretch to get my name on the wall (at PGA Golf Club,” Cairns said. “I missed that putt on 18 today, but I missed a lot more putts before that. I couldn’t get the ball to the hole.”

Mark Anderson of St. Simon’s Island shot the low round of the PGA Winter Championship, a 9-under on the Ryder Course that included two eagles, six birdies and a bogey on the final hole. It was the 65-year-old’s lowest competitive round.

“I had all parts of my game working until that last hole,” said Anderson, who improved from T36 to T6. “I was thinking about a 59 until I left my putt on the next-to-last hole on the edge.”

The PGA Winter Championships are presented by GolfPass and On Location. The Senior-Junior Team Championship starts January 26 after taking next week off for the PGA Show in Orlando.

For more information about the 2026 PGA Winter Championships, visit the event website.