Las Vegan named nation’s top senior golfer
Even if he wasn’t winning, Brady Exber would be out on the golf course virtually every day playing. That’s how much he loves the game.
The 58-year-old from Las Vegas also happens to be pretty proficient at golf. He showed off his skills this year, winning several senior amateur tournaments, including the British Senior Amateur in August. In doing so, Exber was selected as Golfweek’s National Senior Amateur Player of the Year.
“It’s the pinnacle of everything I’ve done in golf,” Exber said Tuesday. “I don’t know if you can one-up it.”
There are a series of tournaments for amateur senior players throughout the world over the course of the year. Each event has an assigned point value. Whoever has the most points at the end of the year wins the honor from Golfweek.
Exber finished with 5,945 points, almost 1,000 in front of runner-up Ron Carter of Monticello, Ind., who had 4,958 points. Peter Van Ingen of New York was third with 3,903 points.
Some players participate in as many as 30 tournaments in trying to build their points total. In Exber’s case, he played in just eight events in 2014. But he won four of them, including the British Senior Am on Aug. 8. Because many of the tournaments are on the East Coast, Exber doesn’t get the chance to participate in as many as he’d like. That’s what makes his accomplishment even more amazing.
“I can’t believe what a special year this has been,” said Exber, who was fifth in 2012. “There’s thousands of players from all over the world and there’s great self-satisfaction to win something like this. It’s not just ‘I had a good week.’ I had a good year.”
Exber said a swing change back in August 2013 while playing in Scotland helped dramatically improve his game.
“Without getting too technical about it, I started swinging more inside and I started hitting the ball more accurately,” Exber said. “For 30 years, I pretty much had the same swing where I was more in line with the target line on my backswing. Now, I hit the ball more squarely.”
Exber said the improvement off the tee has helped set up the rest of his game.
“I’ve always been a good putter,” he said. “But I’m better tee-to-green so I get better scoring opportunities. I’ve eliminated a lot of those shots that tended to wreck the round.”
Exber, who has won multiple tournaments in Southern Nevada Golf Association events over the years, said he’d like to see his success encourage younger players to stay with amateur golf rather than chase a dream of playing on the PGA Tour.
“Golf is a game built on tradition and we’re still a new community here in Las Vegas,” he said. “I hope this will add to the tradition of amateur golf and get more people to play.
“I can understand why kids want to go pro. There’s the money and there’s the fame that comes with being on the Tour. But staying amateur all my life has been so enjoyable. You can go out and be as competitive as they are on the Tour and you can still have fun playing. The fact you can get recognition for doing something you enjoy doing is what I’m happiest about.”
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.
