Final Results |Cantwell and Martin Photos

By CRAIG DOLCH

Special to PGA of America

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (Feb. 2, 2023) – If you finish ahead of Bob Sowards and Ben Kern in a team PGA Winter Championship, you’re going to have a good week.

Tim Cantwell of Palm Beach Gardens and Jason Martin of Naples did exactly that Thursday. They shot 9-under-62 to hold off a charge from Sowards and Kern to win the Senior-Junior Team Championship at PGA Golf Club.

Cantwell and Martin, who met at Seminole Golf Club two decades ago, shot 36-under-250 to split the $10,000 first prize. Sowards and Kern (59-252) were two shots back in second place after winning the championship the last two years.

“It amazes me how low the scores are in this tournament,” said Martin, the PGA Director of Golf at Old Collier Golf Club. “We did a good job of staying in the present and being focused. When you’re playing well, it’s easier to stay in the present.”

“We covered each other really well,” said Cantwell, a PGA Teaching Professional at PGA National Resort and a caddie at Seminole. “Jason holed a chip on the 11th hole, and that was big for us. We birdied the next two holes after that to keep the lead.”

Sowards and Kern started the day five shots behind leaders Cantwell and Martin, but Sowards and Kern birdied the first four holes and then Kern got hot. They birdied 15, 16 and 17 to pull within a shot of the leaders, but Cantwell also birdied the 17th to give the champs a cushion.

“We just didn’t make enough birdies the previous two days,” said Sowards, the PGA Director of Instruction at Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club in Powell, Ohio who had won his last three starts at PGA Golf Club. “I knew we needed to shoot something in the 50s today to have a chance, but it wasn’t enough.”

Said Kern, the PGA Director of Golf at Georgetown Country Club in Texas: “We didn’t quite have the firepower we’ve had over the last couple of years. It was still a good tournament for us. We are definitely the focal point of the tournament. It’s nice to be on top and have everybody chase you. That makes you a better player.”

The 52-year-old Cantwell has played some impressive golf recently. He won last year’s South Florida PGA Section Championship to earn a spot in the PGA Tour event in Puerto Rico this spring.

Mick Smith of Summit, WI., and Jamie Christianson of Egg Harbor, WI., shot 64 and were third at 33-under-253, a shot ahead of Sonny Skinner (62) of Sylvester, GA., and Rob McClellan of Butler, PA., and Chad Proehl (64) of Urbandale, IA., and Jay Giannetto of Marshalltown, PA.

The PGA Winter Championships are presented by GolfPass, On Location. The Four-Ball Stableford Team Championship starts Sunday on the Ryder and Dye courses, with Sowards and Kern again the defending champions.

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