RED HOOK, N.Y. — In his final year as the head professional at the Woodstock Golf Club last year, Chris Sanger capped a sensational season by winning three of the five major tournaments on the Northeastern New York (NENY) PGA Section club pro circuit.
The outstanding 2025 campaign netted Sanger his first NENY PGA Player of the Year Award by a wide margin.
Chris Sanger tees off on the first hole on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at the YMCA/Wiltwyck Pro-Am at the Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston, N.Y. (Will Barron Photo)
Following eight seasons at the nine-hole Woodstock private club, Sanger accepted the job as the head pro at the Red Hook Golf Club this year. A Red Hook High School graduate, Sanger learned to play the game at the 18-hole Red Hook course. He and his family lived just a short ride from the club.
Now Sanger is on the cusp of winning a second straight NENY PGA Section Player of the Year Award with the season-ending Tour Championship presented by Rolex scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 29 and 30, at the Wyantenuck Country Club at Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Though the 40-year-old Sanger hasn’t won any of the majors on the 2026 club pro schedule this year, his consistency has him atop the leaderboard with 2,037.5 points.
Sanger’s next-closest pursuer, Michael Shine of the Glens Falls Country Club (1,762.0), isn’t entered in the 36-hole finale. Robert Cain, head teaching pro at the Saratoga National Golf Club, is the only other golfer within reach of Sanger with 1,706.67 points.
The winner of the Tour Championship for the NENY PGA Section Class A professionals will receive 500 points.
In a telephone interview with the Freeman, Sanger said it would be nice to finish off the 2026 season with a good performance and bring home another Player of the Year title.
“My mindset is just to put a couple good rounds together and see what happens,” said Sanger, who was named the Freeman’s Sportsman of the Year in 2025 for his excellence on the golf course. “It feels like I’ve played one solid round and had too many slipups here and there in the other round.”
Sanger has won three 18-hole Pro Classics during the season and has contended in the four majors on the circuit with a runner-up finish in the Stroke Play Championship, a tie for third in the Match Play Championship, a fourth-place finish in the Donald Ross Classic and a fifth in the NENY PGA Club Professional Championship.
“My finishes have been OK, but I’ve maybe been just pressing a little bit too much, and my short game has kind of been off,” he said. “I feel I’m hitting the ball probably about the same as last year, but I’ve had a couple bigger misses that really caused some bigger numbers. And I haven’t been able to save myself with some short-game shots.”
Sanger is hoping to close the season strong at the Great Barrington course.
“I think the last time I played there was my first year as the head pro at Woodstock, and I ended up winning,” Sanger said. “I had no birdies, one eagle and one bogey. It was one of the Pro Classics early in the season. There’s some elevation changes on the front nine. It’s kind of straight out in front of you. There’s not a lot of tricks to this course. I recall the greens are pretty tricky and pretty quick.”
With all the recent rain, Sanger is hoping that both rounds of the tournament are played.
“I’m a little worried about the weather because I don’t think Wyantenuck drains as well as some courses,” Sanger said.
Sanger is scheduled to tee off at 8:40 a.m. Tuesday with Cain and Thomas Sennett of the Country Club of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
“I’m looking forward to playing well, and being at the top of the list, it would be nice to get two in a row,” Sanger said of the player of the year award. “Not just make it a one-year run.”