They say that golf is a sport for all ages, and the 2010 Player of the Year awards given out by the CGA and CWGA seem to demonstrate the point.
While the CGA Player of the Year is 21 years old, his CWGA counterpart is 51. And, for good measure, the top CGA junior honoree — and winner of the CGA Stroke Play Championship — is just 16.
That’s what you call covering the spectrum.
When the CGA and CWGA hold their annual awards brunch on Nov. 21 at Pinehurst Country Club in Denver, all of the top CGA player honors will go to someone different than last year, while the opposite is true for the CWGA, which will hand out its Player of the Year hardware to the same golfers who won in 2009.
Without further ado, here’s the rundown on the major awards:
CGA Les Fowler Player of the Year — Gunner Wiebe of Aurora (pictured above). Wiebe, son of Champions Tour player Mark Wiebe, earned his first CGA title by winning the Match Play Championship at CommonGround Golf Course. The 21-year-old followed that up later in July with a runner-up finish in the HealthOne Colorado Open, the best showing by an amateur in that event since 1997.
Wiebe’e season was curtailed by summer school — he’s a senior at the University of San Diego — but he qualified for the U.S. Amateur and advanced to match play.
CWGA Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year — Kim Eaton of Greeley. Eaton, 51, made history last year by being the first person to be named both CWGA Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year in the same season. This year, she duplicated her feat by earning both awards again.
Eaton (pictured at left), a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame, finished fourth in the CWGA Stroke Play and swept the CWGA’s senior titles in match and stroke play.
Eaton becomes the first four-time winner of the CWGA Player of the Year award, having previously earned the honor in 2004, 2007 and 2009.
Nationally, Eaton advanced to the round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and to the round of 64 at the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur.
CGA Senior Player of the Year — Sean Forey of Morrison. Forey didn’t win either of the major CGA senior titles, but seemed to always be in the hunt. He was low amateur in the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open for the second time in the last three years, and he finished second in the CGA Senior Stroke Play and was a semifinalist in the Senior Match Play.
CWGA Junior Player of the Year — Somin Lee of Denver. Lee becomes the second player to win this award two straight years (Becca Huffer won three in a row starting in 2005). Lee claimed the 5A state high school title, was runner-up in the CWGA Junior Match Play, and ran away with the girls championship in the CJGA Tournament of Champions.
Lee also won an American Junior Golf Association tournament in Nebraska and qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship.
CGA Junior Player of the Year — Wyndham Clark of Cherry Hills Village. Clark didn’t win a major junior tournament in Colorado this year — he finished second in the 4A state high school championship — but he did some things on a bigger scale. The 16-year-old became the youngest champion in the CGA Stroke Play tournament since 1971 and earned co-medalist honors in a U.S. Amateur qualifying tourney in Aurora.
On the national level, Clark won an AJGA event and finished third in both the Junior PGA Championship and the Western Junior. He currently ranks 10th in the Junior Golf Scoreboard national rankings.
CGA Mid-Amateur Player of the Year — Keith Humerickhouse of New Castle. Humerickhouse, a former professional, had quite a run in August and September. He was the low amateur in the Enstrom’s Rocky Mountain Open, won the CGA Mid-Amateur championship, and advanced to match play in the U.S. Mid-Amateur.
Humerickhouse’s streak ended in the round of 32 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur, where he lost in 19 holes to Tim Mickelson, brother of PGA Tour standout Phil Mickelson.
CWGA Most Improved Junior Player — Emma Johnson of Aurora. Johnson, 14, started the season with a 26.3 handicap and went down to a 9.4.
Jim Topliff On-Course Rules Official of the Year — Mike Bureman of Red Rocks Country Club wins this award for the second time, having also received the honor in 2005.
Dave Nelson Award for Excellence in Golf Journalism — Jerry Walters. The longtime radio host of “In the Fairway,” currently on 104.3 FM, previously won the CGA media award in 2001.
