Reigning SDGA Sr Player of the Year Hobika Captures Senior Stroke Play Title

Luke Hobika, a two-time NYSGA state champion and recently minted Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Famer, added another trophy to his case at Cazenovia Country Club on Tuesday as he narrowly captured the 2025 SDGA Senior Stroke Play title.

Related: Results

The Drumlins Golf Club member was one of two players in the field to card a round under par across 36 holes of competition, which came in the first round when he logged a 70. He buried three birdies against two bogeys to hold a share of the lead with Tim Scheemaker (Beaver Meadows Golf Club) headed into the final round. 

Scheemaker would fall out of contention on day two. It quickly became a two-horse race between Hobika and fellow Drumlins member, John Wessels, on Tuesday. Separated by two strokes as each approached the first tee, Hobika and Wessels each traded a bogey on hole one and a birdie on hole two to start. Wessels dropped a stroke on the fourth hole with a bogey, though Hobika gave it right back with a bogey on the fifth. 

Hobika’s two-stroke advantage would hold as each golfer made the turn. Wessles cut the deficit to one stroke with a birdie on the tenth, but let it go with a bogey on the next hole two give Hobika a two-stroke lead once again. 

Each of them birdied 12 and bogeyed 13. Wessels bogeyed 14, then birdied 15 to keep the deficit at two strokes. Hobika was able to par 14, 15 and 16. Despite dropping a stroke on the 17th to cut his lead to one, Wessels was unable to cash in on the final three holes, giving Hobika his one-stroke, wire-to victory. 

In the Super Senior championship, Thomas Fletcher also went wire-to-wire. A first-round 65 gave him more than enough momentum to clear the field, winning by eight strokes and finishing at one-under par. 

​​In the Legends championship, Randy Young came back from a nine-stroke deficit with a final-round 74.