GOBLECK: SECTION SENIOR PGA PLAYER OF THE YEAR

GOBLECK: SECTION SENIOR PGA PLAYER OF THE YEAR

By Bruce Berlet

Jason Gobleck earned Connecticut Section PGA Senior Player of the Year honors last week without swinging a club.

Gobleck, of the Golf Center at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, clinched his first title when PGA Life Member and record nine-time Senior Player of the Year Fran Marrello decided not to play in the Senior PGA Professional Championship at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Gobleck had a 24.5-point lead over Marrello in the POY race entering the national event, and players receive 25 points for making the 36-hole cut. So Marrello had a chance to overtake Gobleck by a half-point but it didn’t happen because he withdrew.

“Winning the Section Senior Player of the Year is a tremendous thrill for me,” said Gobleck, who missed the cut in Florida. “I played very consistently all season, and my iron play was better and my putting really came together. I did practice more over the past 12 months than ever before. The golf courses and practice facilities at Lyman Orchards Golf Club are tremendous and allow me to work on every aspect of my game.

“I also built a state-of-the-art golf studio/simulator in a barn on my property in Madison. I practice and play in there almost every night and also use my studio to play the simulatorgolftour, which in my opinion is a great way to practice.”

The 51-year-old Gobleck had 344.50 points in 11 starts thanks mainly to winning the Connecticut Senior PGA Professional Championship and earning first-place points as low Section pro in the Connecticut Senior Open, finishing second in the senior division in the Walter Lowell PGA Tournament and fourth among Section senior pros in the Connecticut PGA Championship and was sixth among Section senior pros in the Connecticut PGA Open.

Marrello, 67, a seven-time POY and one of only eight people inducted into the Section and Connecticut Golf Hall of Fames, finished with 320 points in 11 starts. He earned first-place points as low senior pro in the Connecticut PGA Championship and first-place points as low Section senior in the Connecticut PGA Open.