On a good day, it takes a couple of hours to drive from Spartanburg to Orangeburg.

Factor in the traffic around Columbia and the construction, it is easy to get worn out making the trip there and back to the Upstate.

When you add in a round in the SCGA Senior Championship at the Orangeburg Country Club you have a pretty full day.

Stan Sill did it for three days in a row.

He led the tournament after the first two days and won a playoff after the final round to claim his first SCGA Senior championship.

“In hindsight it probably wasn’t too smart to be driving back and forth each day,” said Sill. “I was pretty worn out by the end of the day,” said the 60 year old.

Sill had a 1:PM tee time the first day.

He opened the 54 hole championship posting a 2-under par 70 to hold a one shot lead over Todd Webber of Spartanburg.

“I made four-bogeys on the back or I could have had a really good scores,” he said.

Sill eagled his last hole to take the first round lead with him on his trip back to Spartanburg.

In the second round, Sill started on the tenth tee at 9:AM. It meant leaving Spartanburg around 6:AM.

“I can come rolling in on two wheels and be on the tee. I don’t need a lot of time to warm up,” he joked.

Sill and the rest of the field fought with the wind as well as the course during the second round. He carded four more bogeys in the wind and one double-bogey on the par-5 4th hole (his 13th hole).

“I don’t watch the scoreboard, but I figured the way I played somebody would have caught me, but I still had the lead even shooting a 76,” said Sill.

Greer’s Doug Ramey, Johns Island’s Richard Rebholz and last year’s SCGA Senior Player of the Year Eddie Hargett from Blythewood all trailed Sill by one shot.

Since Sill completed his round just after lunch. He drove back to Spartanburg to catch up on some work in his office, but he hadn’t played his last golf of the day.

He went to The Creek, his home course in Spartanburg, to play in his regular Tuesday night game with his pals.

“It wasn’t any big deal. I enjoy playing with those guys and cutting up, that’s a lot of the fun of playing for me,” he said.

After driving back and forth for two days and playing 27 holes the second day, Sill was back in the car early to make his final round 9:40:AM tee time.

Sill, Rebholtz and Hargett were in the final pairing.

Rebholtz and Ramey struggled on their first nine holes to drop back, while the championship would be decided between Sill and Hargett.

Sill added a shot to his lead over Hargett at the turn, but on the final nine holes it went back to just one shot by the time they reached number 16.

The 16th hole is a drive-able par-4 and it looked like Hargett had the advantage off the tee, but both golfers birdied the hole

“I thought we were even on 16 and when I rolled in my birdie on top of his it turned out I still had a one shot lead,” said Sill.

Both golfers parred the 17th hole, but on the 18th hole Hargett finally caught up. He birdied the hole while Sill made a 20 foot par putt to end regulation tied.

On the playoff hole Hargett’s approach shot bounced off the firm green while Sill had a 15 foot birdie putt for the win.

Hargett’s chip came up short while Sill drained his 15- foot putt for his first senior championship.

“I was close last year. I was ahead when weather cancelled the final round so I’m glad to have won,” he said.

Sill is no stranger to SCGA Championships. He has won 15 Left-Handers titles, the last in 2017. In the Upstate he has six Spartanburg County Amateur titles and a few more Senior Championships.

“I just love to play, it is about the only thing I do. If I win something that is nice, but I don’t play for wins I play because I love the game,” concluded the new Senior Champion.

Sill shot rounds of 70-76-70 to finish at even par 216. Hargett’s final round 3-unde par 69 was the low round of the tournament.

2020 Senior champion Steve Liebler from Irmo shot an even par 72 to move up to tie Rebholtz for third place.

Scores from the SCGA Senior Championship https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/3369382