Sean Knapp, Rick Stimmel among state golf postseason award winners
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When Sean Knapp wins a golf tournament, he often finds a way to contend for the same title the following year. He has an olfactory sense for finding the top of leaderboards on the amateur circuit.
The Oakmont native and Hannastown Golf Club member also has a penchant for raking in successive postseason awards.
Knapp was named the Pennsylvania Golf Association Senior Player of the Year for the fourth straight year, finishing ahead of longtime friend and foe, David Brown, in the points standings.
“It’s a special award to win because it recognizes your body of work for the year,” Knapp, 58, told the PGA. “I think one of the things that makes winning an award like this precious is that there is a limited window to achieve it as a senior. There’s also more and more quality players coming into the senior ranks, and you’ve got to try and grasp every opportunity.”
Knapp won the Art Wall Jr. tournament and the Senior Four-Ball (with Brown), took second at the Senior Amateur, qualified for the U.S. Senior Four-Ball with Rick Stimmel and played in the U.S. Amateur.
Stimmel, meanwhile, another Pittsburgh area product who plays out of Diamond Run Golf Club, finished as the points leader to take the William C. Fownes, Jr. Amateur Player of the Year. A former professional who regained his amateur status in 2012, Stimmel, 53, was second at the R. Jay Sigel Amateur Match-Play Championship and the Amateur Championship, was third at the Art Wall and took seventh at the Middle-Amateur Championship.
A third award, the Super Senior Player of the Year, was a draw between Lee Lykens and Vince Zachetti.
Lykens, 74, is a Clearfield native, while Zachetti, 70, is from Greensburg and also is a member at Hannastown.