Kentucky PGA

After 35 events on the Kentucky PGA Junior Tour stretching from March through October, nine young Kentuckians have been bestowed with the Tour’s Player of the Year titles. Each of these players accumulated the most points in their respective division to claim these honors, and each of them will receive their choice of a commemorative golf bag or framed flag to celebrate their outstanding seasons. For the second consecutive year, Zach Watterson of Beattyville is the Boys 16-18 Division’s Player of the Year. Entering the season, he stood as one of the top male players to have not won an overall title at one of the

Tour’s three major championships, but the narrative is much different now at the end of the season after claiming two of those titles in 2022. His victories at the Kentucky Boys Junior PGA Championship and the Lou Perry Tour Championship helped the senior at Lee County High School earn more than two times the number of points as the runner-up, Luke Coyle. In addition to the major triumphs, Watterson also posted impressive results at the Lexington Junior City Championship with a runner-up mark and a top-five finish in the Kentucky Boys Junior Amateur. The Girls 16-18 Division was led from start to finish by Athena Singh of Morehead, who had one of the top years in the Tour’s history from the ladies’ premier division. In seven starts, the Lakeside Christian Academy student won six times with major titles at the Kentucky Girls Junior Amateur and the Lou Perry Tour Championship highlighting her performances. Making this campaign even more impressive was the fact she competed against players who are at least three years older than her. At 13 years of age, Singh still has several seasons of junior golf remaining and appears poised to continue adding to her list of accomplishments. Will Judd of Louisville followed the footsteps of Watterson and Singh to decisively win the Boys 13-15 Division’s Player of the Year. Judd won all three major championships within his division and claimed victories in two of the Tour’s other top events with first place finishes at both the Spring Classic and the Junior Falls Cities. In eleven official tournament rounds throughout the year, Judd broke par in five of them. Richmond’s Mackenzie Federspiel captured the Girls 13-15 title after batting 1.000 for the season with five victories in five starts. All of those wins occurred in two-day tournaments, with two major titles included in that run of success. Throughout the year, the improvement in Federspiel’s game was evident based on her scores. After winning in the springtime with rounds in the 80s, her victories late in the summer and in the fall were all with rounds in the 70s, as a 72 (E)from Bardstown Country Club in the first round of the Kentucky Girls Junior Amateur highlighted her list of performances. The Boys 11-12 Division was a tightly contested battle among several competitors throughout the season, but Grant Guetig of Louisville topped the standings at year’s end after picking up four victories throughout 2022. Guetig left with first place honors in the Kentucky Boys Junior PGA Championship, Junior Falls Cities, Fall Series Championship, and at the Kentucky Junior FourBall Championship alongside Griffin Jackson. Guetig also posted four other top-three finishes, and a runner-up in the Lou Perry Tour Championship was the final push needed to claim the top spot for the season after his rounds of 35 (-1) and 36 (E) at Cherry Blossom Golf Club. Carol Ann Mendenhall won at a machine-like pace all year, securing the Nicholasville product the Girls 1012 Player of the Year title. Mendenhall competed in twelve tournaments and won eleven of them, with the three majors included, making her the only female from any division to achieve a Grand Slam this season. She posted under-par or even-par scores in six tournament rounds this year which bodes well her for promising future within the sport at just 11 years of age. Bowling Green’s Paxton Fuqua claimed the Boys 10 & Under title in a year that featured six wins in eleven starts. Fuqua walked away with first place at the Kentucky Boys Junior PGA Championship, Season Kickoff, Spring Classic, Northern Kentucky Junior PGA Championship, and the Series Tournaments at Indian Hills Country Club and Bowling Green Country Club. He also had three runner-up finishes that allowed him to clip Greyson Cloern by less than 200 points for the season-long title. 2022 had already been memorable for Mayfield’s Kylie Miller after she qualified for the 2023 Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals in September, but her autumn has gotten even more illustrative after snagging the Girls 9 & Under Player of the Year title. Kylie follows in the footsteps of her sister Emlie who had won this award in 2021 and 2020. Three victories in eight starts on Tour is what propelled Kylie to the top, while runner-up finishes in each of her other starts ensured her Player of the Year triumph. The final Player of the Year is Redick Johnson of Elizabethtown who had a perfect 2022 to capture the Boys 8 & Under title. All nine of Johnson’s starts on Tour led to a win, including each of the three major championships. Johnson had multiple tournament rounds this season which yielded even-par scores or better and closed in style at the final round of the Lou Perry Tour Championship with a round of 35 (-1). Having just turned 9 years of age, Johnson will move up a division in 2023 and seek similar prowess in the Boys 10 & Under Division. The Kentucky PGA Junior Tour offers its congratulations to each of these players and their families on these awards. The Tour also extends its thanks to them and all players who competed throughout the season for their participation and support of the program.