Introducing the 2020 Carolinas Players of the Year

 

SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (January 27, 2021) -- The CGA is proud to announce the 2020 recipients of the Richard S. Tufts Players of the Year Awards. These seven golfers have excelled in their field and had the most successful year in amateur golf at a local, regional, state and national level.


Related: Past Champions


2020 Richard S. Tufts Award Winners      

Junior Girls': Adrian Anderson - Murrells Inlet, S.C.

Junior Boys': Max Green - Hilton Head, S.C.

Women's: Rachel Kuehn - Asheville, N.C.

Men's: Peter Fountain - Raleigh, N.C.    

Senior Women's: Jayne Pardus - Mount Pleasant, S.C.

Senior Men's: Sherrill Britt - West End, N.C.

Super Senior Men's: Evan Long - Charlotte, N.C.

 

2020 Richard S. Tufts Award Winners

JUNIOR GIRLS'

Adrian Anderson of Murrells Inlet, S.C. has taken junior girls’ golf by storm this year with 22 top-10 finishes out of her 25 starts in 2020. A few of these include claiming victory at the WSCGA Junior Girls’ State, the Region 6 5A and the PKBGT Invitational at Bermuda Run Country Club. Notably, the member of the Carolinas Mid-Atlantic Girls’ Challenge Matches team earned runner-up at the Jimmy Anderson Girls’ and Mimosa Hills Junior as well as earned third at the Hope Valley Junior and Carolinas Girls’ Championship.

In addition to the Carolinas Junior Girls’ Player of the Year honor, Anderson has also earned the 2020 Beth Daniel Award, the South Carolina Junior Golf Association Girls’ Player of the Year distinction. Anderson will graduate high school in 2022.


JUNIOR BOYS'

Max Green of Hilton Head, S.C. secured ten top-5 finishes in the last year including wins at the Low Country Invitational and Back to School One Day. Some of Green’s most impressive accomplishments of the year include tying for second at the Creed Boys’ and Grant Bennett Florence Junior as well as earning third at the Carolinas Junior Boys’ and the Harvey Brock Orange Jacket Classic.

Green is a high school senior and will begin his collegiate golf career at West Virginia University in the fall. He has also earned the 2020 Jay Haas Award, the South Carolina Junior Golf Association Boys’ Player of the Year honor.


WOMEN'S

Rachel Kuehn of Asheville, N.C. claims her first Carolinas Women’s Player of the Year honor after a year full of top finishes in several prestigious events. Kuehn kicked off the year being named to the 2020 U.S. Arnold Palmer Cup Team. From there, she captured the Ladies’ National Golf Association Amateur and won her first putter boy at the Women’s North and South Championship. After her victory at Pinehurst, Kuehn headed to Maryland for the U.S. Women’s Amateur. The Wake Forest University junior made a deep run advancing to the Round of 16, one of three Carolinians to do so this year.

In CGA play, Kuehn finished 4th at the Carolinas Women’s Amateur and won the Carolinas Women’s Four-Ball with her partner, Jensen Castle.


MEN'S

Peter Fountain of Raleigh, N.C. is the youngest honoree to ever earn the Carolinas Men’s Player of the Year at just 19 years old. He edged out previous 20 year old honorees D.J. Trahan and David Chung.

Finishing 2019 as the number one ranked player in the North Carolina Junior Boys’ Rankings, Fountain was ready to take on the collegiate and amateur world head on. The University of North Carolina freshman started his summer with three top finishes in three weeks. Fountain tied for eighth at the Carolinian, then earned low amateur honors at the North Carolina Open and finished his streak with a big win at the North Carolina Amateur. To wrap up his outstanding year, the two-time CGA Champion claimed runner-up at one of our most prestigious events of the year, the Carolinas Amateur.


SENIOR WOMEN'S

Jayne Pardus of Mount Pleasant, S.C. is the only repeat honoree this year as this is her second consecutive year earning Carolinas Senior Women’s Player of the Year award. Pardus’ first win of the year came at the WSCGA Senior Championship where she swept the field for the second year in a row with a 12-shot victory.

Pardus continued her outstanding run with a win in the Senior Division at the South Carolina Women’s Open. Just one week later, she tied for sixth at the Senior Women’s North and South Amateur, which was the best showing of any Carolinian in the field. Finally, the reigning Carolinas Senior Women’s Player of the Year wrapped up 2020 by earning runner-up at the Carolinas Senior Women’s Amateur. Pardus was also named the 2020 Women’s South Carolina Golf Association Senior Player of the Year.


SENIOR MEN'S

Sherrill Britt of West End, N.C. has had an exceptional year in senior men’s golf that has led to his first Carolinas Senior Men’s Player of the Year honor. Britt captured the Sunnehanna Senior Amateur, earned runner-up at the Senior Men’s North and South Amateur and tied for second at the Carolinas Senior Four-Ball.

The 2015 Carolinas Mid-Am Champion had a great track record in CPGA events tying for third at the South Carolina Senior Open and fourth at the North Carolina Senior Open. Britt tied for eighth at the Carolinas Senior Amateur in September and was a member of the Carolinas Team at the 75th Captain’s Putter Team Matches.


SUPER SENIOR MEN'S 

Evan Long of Charlotte, N.C. earns his first-time honor as the Carolinas Super Senior Player of the Year. Long’s 2020 season included a barrage of top finishes.

The 2019 North Carolina Super Senior Champion was not able to defend his title this year due to the event being canceled. However that did not stop him from going for the title at the Carolinas Super Senior Championship in which he earned runner-up. Long earned runner-up at three more events including the Super Senior Men’s North and South Amateur, the SOS Dale Morey and the SOS Ralph Bogart. He was also a member of the Carolinas Team at the 75th Captain’s Putter Team Matches.


About the Richard S. Tufts Awards

The Richard S. Tufts Awards were created in 1997 to honor the Carolinas amateur golfers who had exceptional individual tournament performances over the preceding year. Tufts served on the CGA Executive Committee from 1926 to 1964 and served as President from 1931 through 1933. The awards are given to the top golfer based on the CGA amateur rankings at the end of the calendar year in five of seven categories: Women's, Men's, Senior Women's, Senior Men’s and Super Senior Men's. The Senior Men's and Senior Women's categories were implemented in 2001, while the Super Senior Men's award was created in 2017.

The Junior Girls' and Junior Boys’ awards, started in 2003, are based on a series of tournaments run by associations that are the grassroots of junior golf in the Carolinas. Participating Carolinas associations and tournaments are the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA), Carolinas PGA (CPGA), Trusted Choice Big I Junior Classics, South Carolina Golf Association (SCGA), Women's South Carolina Golf Association (WSCGA), South Carolina Junior Golf Association (SCJGA), Tarheel Youth Golf Association (TYGA), Carolinas-Georgia Junior Championship and the Joe Cheves Junior Invitational.

Eight Carolinas Men's Players of the Year are current or former PGA Tour members while seven Carolinas Women's Players of the Year have competed on the LPGA TOUR. Notable past Tufts award winners include: Jonathan Byrd (1999, PGA Tour), Beth Bauer (1999, LPGA), D.J. Trahan (2000-2002, PGA Tour), Marcy Newton Hart (2000, LPGA), Brandi Jackson (2002, LPGA), Bill Haas (2003, PGA Tour), Webb Simpson (2006, PGA Tour), Dustin Johnson (2007, PGA Tour), Cydney Clanton (2009-10, LPGA), Mark Anderson (2009, PGA Tour), Austin Ernst (2011, LPGA), Katelyn Dambaugh (2016, LPGA), Anna Redding (2018, LPGA).


About the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA)

The CGA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational organization that was founded in 1909 to promote and to protect the game of golf in the Carolinas by providing competitions, education, support and benefits to golf clubs and golfers. The CGA is the second largest golf association in the country with over 700 member clubs represented by nearly 150,000 individuals.

The CGA annually conducts 48 championships and five team match competitions for men, women, juniors, and seniors. It also runs over 150 One-Day (net and gross) events as well as qualifying for USGA national championships. The CGA serves golf in the Carolinas with numerous programs such as: the USGA Handicap System; tournament management software and support; course measuring and course/slope ratings; agronomy consultation; answers about the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, and Handicapping; Carolinas Golf Magazine; Interclub series; Tarheel Youth Golf Association; Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame; expense assistance for USGA Junior and Girls' Junior qualifiers from the Carolinas; and the Carolinas Golf Foundation (CGF). The CGF has distributed nearly $2,000,000 since 1977 to benefit Carolinas' golf initiatives including junior and women's programs.     

For more information about the CGA, visit our website.

 

##30##