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2024 SUPER-SENIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: RANDY HICKEN
One look at Randy Hicken’s Utah Golf Association log leads to a one-word summary: consistency.
A deeper analysis reveals a couple of extreme examples. He stays steady, even when he starts poorly. And he can get hot.
The proof comes from the Senior Stroke Play Championship and the Bob Rudd Utah Senior Open, two of Hicken’s most memorable performances on the way to another Super-Senior Player of the Year presented by Primo award at age 65.
Hicken’s continual contention in 2024 (the second season that the UGA has named a Super-Senior Player of the Year) gave him 307.5 points in his top six events to 282.5 for Rick Lloyd, who beat Hicken in the Senior State Amateur finals. Hicken’s key is year-round excellence around the state; if any more events were counted, he would have claimed a bigger margin in the race.
Consistency, with the ability to go low, is key to Randy Hicken’s year-round excellence in UGA Player Performance Ranking events.
Hicken’s biggest2024 point totals in the Player Performance Rankings came from his second-place finishes in his divisions of the Senior State Amateur (70) and Senior Stroke Play 60). The American Fork resident also tied for first among super-seniors in in the Utah Senior Open, while winning his age group in U.S. Senior Amateur qualifying.
“It’s just fun,” he said, citing the camaraderie in his age group. “To be in contention in any of those (tournaments) is for sure a highlight.”
Hicken plays with the confidence of knowing he’ll almost always be in the game. That remained true in the Senior Stroke Play in tough conditions in May at Fox Hollow Golf Course, where three double bogeys on the front nine in the first round gave him a 42. He played the remaining 45 holes in 1 under par, finishing second to Mark Gardiner.
And in the Utah Senior Open at Toana Vista GC, he was 4 under on the last five holes, catching Gardiner in a tie for first. They finished ahead of super-senior professionals Roy Christensen, Scott Brandt and Steve Schneiter. That’s one of Hicken’s favorite events, giving him a chance to compete against the pros.
He also loves the UGA senior majors, and was mildly disappointed to finish second in both the Stroke Play and the Senior State Am. Yet by advancing with partner Mike Jorgensen to Gladstan Golf Course for the super-senior semifinals of the Utah Four-Ball Championship, Hicken had clinched another Player of the Year award, and there was some history to be made in Payson.
Before falling to Lloyd-Paul Cannon in the final match, Hicken-Jorgensen outlasted Steven Borget-Dan Hatch in 28 holes. The 10 extra holes likely broke a record for any UGA match, while reinforcing what Utah golfers in their 60s have come to know about Hicken: He’s always right there, competing to the end.