John Aubrey being interviewed by the media at the clubhouse just after the first round..... First day of the 66th Senior PGA Championship. Held at Laurel Valley Golf Club. Thursday May 26, 2005. John shot a 2 over par 74 for the day.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — John Aubrey has gone to great lengths to play a great round of golf.

On Sunday, Aubrey wrapped up an amazing trip to California as he placed second out of 280 golfers at the Senior PGAProfessional National Championship.

Aubrey, 58, of Aubrey's Dubbs Dred, fired a four-round total of 282. One round was played at Toscana Country Club, one round at Andalusia Country Club, with the final 70 who made the cut finishing the final two rounds at Toscana.

He tied Jon Fiedler for second, four strokes behind champion Kirk Hanefeld, 52, of Acton, Mass.

"It's quite an honor. It's pretty neat," said Aubrey, who opened play on Thursday with a 69. "Someone shot a 64 on the first day, but then the next day a 78, then 72 ... "

Aubrey, however, was a model of consistency, following up his stellar Thursday play with a 71 on Friday that carried into Saturday, then carded another 69 on Saturday.

"That 69 (on Thursday) was pretty good," said Aubrey. It put me right up there."

Technically, Aubrey played 30 holes on Saturday, the first 12 at Andalusia after high winds cut short play at the LaQuinta course on Friday.

The 69 on Saturday was a bogey-free round and gave Aubrey a one-stroke lead entering play on Sunday.

Aubrey finished the fourth and final round with a 73, not bad considering the heat conditions the golfers were playing.

"It's 110 degrees out here," said Aubrey. "The coolest day we had was 99 degrees. There were five guys that had heatstroke. This is the seniors, guys who are 50, 54, 55, 60.

"It'll sap you. Coming from Pittsburgh, it was 55, 60 degrees, then you come out here and it's 100,"Aubrey added.

To qualify for the national championship, five to eight golfers from 40 various regions across the United States earned their spots back in late August.

In all, 280 golfers qualified for the national championship, which had been played in Florida for years.

Aubrey came out of the region that was represented by Pennsylvania, West Virginia and part of Ohio at the Westmoreland Country Club.

"My coming out of our section was a heck of an honor," said Aubrey, "an honor to come from the area, from Butler, Pennsylvania."