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2002 Awards

ATLANTA - The 2002 Atlanta Junior Golf Association Awards Banquet was held Sunday, October 6, 2002 at Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta.

The evening was kick-started with dinner, followed by an after-dinner Invocation which was delivered by Matt Hooper, who had driven in from North Carolina where he was playing in his first-ever college tournament. After the Invocation, Matt was presented with a Distinguished Member gift for being an AJGA member for 12 years.

After the introductions of special guests, those in attendance were addressed by guest-speaker PGA Tour player, Stewart Cink. Mr. Cink spoke of his days as a junior golfer, of growing up and going off to college to play golf at Georgia Tech., where he earned three-time All-American honors. He encouraged and challenged the juniors at the banquet to pursue their dreams, even when people are telling them they are impossible. Before closing he shared some thoughts, feelings and anecdotes about what it was like to represent the US in the Ryder Cup for the first time in his career.

After Mr. Cink's address, awards were presented. The first group to be recognized was the 2002 Challenge Team who will compete next summer, representing the AJGA in a junior golf association team challenge.

The Overall Boys Grand Champion trophy was presented to Matt Cook of Marble, Ga. Whitney Frykman of Acworth, Ga. was presented with the Overall Girls Grand Champion trophy.

Next, the All-AJGA Academic Team was announced. This team is made up of high school students who have achieved a GPA of 3.5 or better for the 2001/2002 school year and have faxed a copy of their transcript into the AJGA office by August 1st. Student-athletes who maintain high grades earn the respect of teachers, administrators, peers, future coaches, and future employees. After the All-AJGA Teams and the Players of the Year were announced, which are listed at the bottom of this page, the special awards were presented.

This year's Larry Nelson Sportsmanship Awards, which are awarded to the male and female juniors who best exemplify and understand the courtesies, décor, and etiquette of golf and who show a great respect for their fellow competitors, officials, and the golf course, were awarded to Tyler Wall and Missy Barbee.

Jennifer Adyorough was the recipient of the 2002 Dixie Dunbar Award which is presented to the most improved player in the Aires Program. The Aires program is a collaborative effort introducing competitive golf to the youth in the minority communities of metro Atlanta. The player who receives this award continuously strives toward excellence and Jennifer improved her stroke average by 16.4 strokes from her 2001 to her 2002 season.

The 2002 Most Improved awards were won by Katie Rogers, who improved her stroke average by 10.3 strokes from 88.7 in 2001 to a 76.8 in 2002, and Nathan Brown, who improved his stroke average from 76.8 in 2001, to 72.6 in 2002. In order to determine the players who have improved the most from the previous year, the level of difficulty to improve from one score to another is taken into account. For example, it is much more difficult to go from an average of 80 to 70 than it is to go from a 100 to a 90.

The final award of the night, the MAADA award, recognizes the top overall point finisher for the season. This year's MAADA Award recipient participated in the Boys 13 year old Advanced Division and accumulated a total of 157.5 points. He won all of his regular season events, tying for 1st in one of them, and won his age group at the Grand Championship after winning the second hole of a playoff with Seth Bales. The 2002 MAADA Award winner is Peter Yoo of Norcross, Ga.

* Player of the Year,  ** Overall Grand Champion

This year’s All-Academic Team is listed below: