Bob Sowards, Director of Instruction at Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club in Powell, Ohio, finished the Kitchenaid Senior PGA at Oak Hill last month in a tie for 21st place with fellow PGA Club Pro, Mark Brown to win Low Club Pro honors.
Sowards has competed in 10 PGA Championships, but had failed to make the cut in his previous major championship appearances. He is the current Senior PGA Professional Champion and Senior PGA Professional Player of the Year.
He strung together nine pars, bogeyed No. 10, then ran in a 40-foot birdie putt from the front of the green at 11. Sowards struggled coming home, with a double bogey at 12, and bogeys at Nos. 14 and 16. He did catch a break at 17, when his chip shot from the deep rough hit the flagstick and stopped six inches away for a tap-in par.
He also added a dramatic par on the 477-yard, uphill 18th, to match Brown for Low Club Professional honors.
It appears that Sowards has completely recuperated from a hip injury he suffered over the winter.
“I started hitting it well probably two weeks ago. My body started feeling better. But, I now feel like I’m ready for the rest of the year. I’m looking forward to defending my Senior PGA title in October, in Austin.”
Brown and Sowards were among eight PGA Club Professionals that made the cut and competed on the weekend.
Sowards also finished T-25 in the PGA Professional Championship at the beginning of May at Belfair Country Club in Bluffton, South Carolina.
The win also earned Sowards a spot on the U.S. PGA Cup Team that will meet the GB&I team. The 29th PGA Cup will be held at the Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, September 27-29.
More recently, Sowards won the Ohio Senior Open on Firestone’s West Course.
