For Shannon Sykora, victory at the Florida Senior Open in May was distilled in the journey of his life in golf.
Spending 10 years of his early life in São Paulo, Brazil, instilled in him a healthy and keenly aware view of the world, as has a golf career that has spanned playing college golf in Oklahoma and on mini-tours in Latin America and parts of the U.S., and coaching in Florida.
“We lived in the second-largest city in the world (at the time), so taking a taxi at 14 was no big deal,” said Sykora, the second-year head coach of the women’s golf team at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. “To do certain things was no big deal.”
Sykora’s father picked up golf after a career in the military, and Shannon received his first exposure to golf from Rafael Navarro, a legendary teacher and player, at São Paulo Golf Club in Santo Amaro, Brazil. That led to an admirable career that took him to college golf and a 12-year pro career including 20 wins worldwide.
“I got 10 lessons for my 10th birthday and after three lessons, he told my parents I should practice and he just gave me tips after that,” Sykora said of Navarro, who is the only Brazilian to win the SulAmérica Classic three times and represented Brazil in the World Cup seven times. “I got to watch guys like Mark O’Meara and Joey Sindelar play and I wanted to do it from a young age.”
For Sykora, now 51, Navarro’s impact was indelible.
“The first time I played with him, at 12 years old, it was nine holes and he shot 28,” Sykora said. “And on the other two holes, he lipped out for birdie. He beat Sandy Lyle (the reigning Open champion at the time) in the Dunhill Cup when Sandy Lyle was pretty good.”
“It’s a lot like riding a bike, especially when it comes to tournament golf because I played so many times. Once I get to a tournament, my routine hasn’t changed. I’m probably as long as I ever was because of (the) ball and clubs."
SHANNON SYKORA
The Sykora family moved to Dallas when he was 16 in time for a high school career during which he competed with a few well-known Texas golf names: Justin Leonard, Trip Kuehne and Harrison Frazar among them. He then played four years at the University of Tulsa for Bill Brogden and competed, with clubs given to him by Rocco Mediate, in the U.S. Amateur in 1994, the first of Tiger Woods’ three consecutive wins.
From 1995 to 2007, Sykora’s world atlas of golf stops professionally included: the Web.com Tour, European Tour, Challenge Tour, New England Tour, North Atlantic Tour and the Tour de las Américas. He played in the B.C. Open on the PGA Tour twice.
“I tell my team that, unfortunately, I didn’t make my millions doing it, but I loved playing the game professionally,” Sykora said, pointing to the North Atlantic Tour and Tour de las Américas as successful times for him.
Following his playing days, he worked as a PGA pro and assistant in Wyoming and Florida, securing his last win at the PGA Assistants Rocky Mountain Section Championship in 2008.
Sykora was then hired by Barry University coach Jimmy Stobs, now the head coach at the Naval Academy, to work as an assistant coach in 2010. Sykora was promoted to head coach in 2013 (after serving a year as acting head coach). In 10 seasons at Barry, his teams annually competed for the NCAA Division II national title, which they won in 2017 as he earned national coach-of-the-year honors.
In 2022, he was hired as the head women’s coach at FGCU.
“It was mostly moving on and feeling like I did want to go D1 and take on a new challenge,” Sykora said. “I felt like I had done quite a bit.”
After a first season culminating in a second-place finish by the Eagles at the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship earlier in May, Sykora ventured on his own to the Florida Senior Open at Lakewood National Golf Club’s Commander Course, saying: “I have not played hardly at all.”
Sykora began the final round five strokes out of the lead held by Steve Vecellio of Frenchman’s Reserve Country Club.
“I didn’t think I had that much of a chance,” Sykora said. “I was thinking 4- or 5-under would be the number, because it’s not an easy course. I didn’t look at the leaderboard until the last hole and saw I was tied.”
Hoping for a birdie on the par-5 18th, Sykora settled for a par, which placed him a playoff with Vecellio at 6-under-par 210.
Both players birdied the first playoff hole, the 18th, and both missed reasonable attempts for birdie on the par-3 17th before Sykora rolled in the winning birdie putt on the third playoff hole, No. 18.
“It’s a lot like riding a bike, especially when it comes to tournament golf, because I played so many times,” Sykora said, referring to his pro career. “Once I get to a tournament, my routine hasn’t changed. I’m probably as long as I ever was because of (the) ball and clubs, and I putted pretty well.”
A full-time college coach winning against a strong field less than a month after the season ended is something Sykora can put into perspective because he is focused on his team.
“Seeing young women grow up a little and do well in life is my focus,” Sykora said. “On the golf side, the competitive part is fun for me. I like to take girls to tournaments and try to battle.”
You can bet the FGCU Eagles will listen to Florida’s 2023 Senior Open champion – a winner worldwide, no less.
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Top: Shannon Sykora moonlights from his FGCU coaching to win the Florida Senior Open in May.
COURTESY FLORIDA STATE GOLF ASSOCIATION