Performing well early in the year, even in Florida Swing events, often means contending with brutal weather. Two months into 2026, Dave Bunker has felt that two-fold.
Like many top seniors, Bunker, who winters in Venice, Florida, but spends much of the rest of the year in Ontario, Canada, endured brutally cold conditions at the Jones Cup Senior last week. A final-round 70 moved him 16 spots up the leaderboard on Feb. 26 and into the top 10.
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Roughly a month earlier, Bunker was the man to handle a wild day of Florida weather the best and come out on top of the Golfweek Senior Player of the Year Classic.
The POY title was Bunker’s third consecutive victory in three starts since the first of the year. For that level of consistency, Bunker has been named Golfweek’s Player of the Month for February.
“It’s a very good start,” he said when asked about what he has accomplished so far in 2026. “You try and ride it a little bit. You try and keep things going. It doesn’t really change anything.”
Bunker won the Plantation’s Senior Invitational, the Heron Creek National Senior and Golfweek’s POY Classic title in consecutive weeks in January. This came after a year in which he qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur and U.S. Senior Open, plus had a deep run at the British Senior Amateur – not to mention a top-5 finish at the Ontario Senior Men’s Championship and a third-place finish at the Florida Senior Amateur.
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In the World Amateur Golf Rankings, he ranks 16th among players aged 55 and over (he is ranked 801st overall).
Asked what has contributed to his very good year-opening stretch of golf, Bunker couldn’t put his finger on any significant change that led to his success.
“I was practicing the same amount, I didn’t really change my schedule at all – I didn’t add any tournaments or subtract any tournaments,” he said. “It’s a really good start, I played well in three events, put myself in position. I don’t think I did anything different or changed anything, it’s just I got very fortunate with some good rounds early in the year and just hopefully it can carry through.”
Bunker struggled early-week at the Jones Cup (with rounds of 75-73) as he piled on clothes to fight the cold – his swing got tight and short and around his body, and he began to miss in both directions. His round of even par in the final round felt particularly satisfying.
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Bunker has a trio of coaches he sees for various aspects of his game, either through video sessions or one-on-one sessions. Swing instructor Fred Davey is based in Ontario and Bunker has been working with him for more than 25 years.
Drew Symons, a good player who also played on the Canadian Tour and caddied on the PGA Tour for a season, has become a helpful resource, too – especially because Bunker will sometimes play a round with Symons.
“He recognizes things that are going on,” Bunker said of Symons, “gives me little projects to work on that he likes to keep track of with some video.”
Bunker also works with Paul Dewland, a mental coach who also has worked with PGA Tour players, LPGA players and college players.
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“I’ve seen him, talked to him a little bit over the last 15 or 16 years on just the mental side of golf and mental preparation,” he said. “What’s important and not important to just kind of keep me focused or help focus things during practice sessions.”
In terms of familiarity with his game, however – particularly in competition – Bunker’s wife takes the cake. She often travels with her husband and has come to know his game well. She has also taken to keeping track of the little things, like nutrition and water breaks, but also wind direction or awkward lies that Bunker might overlook.
It all goes to show that at any level, it takes a team to get the best results.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Dave Bunker named Golfweek’s Senior Player of the Month for February
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