Player Of The Year & Female Player of The Year
Hannah Green
Logic suggested our next women’s Major champion would hail from Perth. It’s just that Hannah Green wasn’t the name expected to become Australia’s first winner of a women’s Major in 13 years.
Ranked 114th in the world, Green led from start to finish to capture the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club in June. She displayed enormous intestinal fortitude to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the final hole to oust defending champion Sung Hyun Park by a stroke.
It’s been an incredible season for the now 23-year-old Green, who won her second LPGA title at the Cambia Portland Classic in September. In the process, she burst out of the shadow of fellow Perth native and former world No.2 Minjee Lee.
It’s kind of cute to cast Green as an overnight sensation. However, upon turning pro she dominated the 2017 Symetra Tour in America, winning Player of the Year honours to graduate to the LPGA Tour. Third place at the 2018 Women’s Australian Open provided the belief she had the talent to compete at the highest level. However, that was her only top-10 in her rookie season on the LPGA in 2018.
Green posted four top-10 results during the 2019 LPGA season, including the two victories. The ability to convert opportunities into wins is a sign of her tenacity under final-round pressure. Or as coach Ritchie Smith says: “She’s as tough as old boots.”
Having taught Green since the age of 12, Smith wasn’t surprised about her trajectory towards the top of women’s golf. But he was surprised at the timing of her breakout year.
“As I say to Hannah, ‘I expected you to be a slow burner. I didn’t expect you to be up this high this quickly.’” Smith says. “She has exceeded expectations but I think that she has a fair way to go with her game as well. So there’s lot more room for improvement.”
As a teenager Green wasn’t the hardest worker, especially by comparison with Lee who is seven months older. The penny dropped and she now works really hard, according to Smith. And she’s reaping the dividends.
Green’s short game improved dramatically over the past two years. In particular, her putting technique has improved out of sight from what Smith describes as “pOor” just three years ago. In 2019 Green was able to manage her swing a lot better to minimise movement and change. Along the journey she discovered something else.
“What she has worked out is that she is one tough bugger,” Smith says. “Anyone that she’s competing with coming down the stretch, they should be anxious about it. She’s not going to give up.”
Male Player Of The Year
Adam Scott
Australia’s male touring professionals have long been celebrated for punching above their weight on the international stage. But despite the motivation of selection in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne, they could only muster a small number of victories in 2019.
Brendan Jones won on the Japan Golf Tour, Scott Hend topped a European Tour event in Malaysia, Rhein Gibson triumphed on the Korn Ferry and Maverick Antcliff captured three titles on the PGA Tour China. So it was Adam Scott’s consistent performances against world-class fields that made him an irresistible choice for Digest’s Male Player of the Year for the 10th time.
Scott came tantalisingly close to another PGA Tour victory with runner-up finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open and Memorial Tournament. In the Majors, Scott shared the halfway lead at the Masters before fading to T-18. He contended at the PGA Championship and US Open where he finished T-8 and T-7, respectively. Scott also posted top-10s in each of the three FedEx Cup events to conclude the PGA Tour season.
Leading into the Australian summer, Scott had registered nine top-10s in 20 tournament appearances around the world to qualify for his ninth Presidents Cup – the same tally as Tiger Woods and second only to Phil Mickelson (12).
Scott finished the year in the top-25 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the 14th time in his 20-year career. As it stands, the 39-year-old appears a certainty to join the World Golf Hall Of Fame once he becomes eligible.
Amateur Player of the Year
Gabriela Ruffels
When both your parents were professional tennis players and your older brother is a fledgling golf professional, it’s fair to say a sporting career was in the offering for Gabriela Ruffels.
The younger sister of Ryan Ruffels turned her back on a promising tennis career due to burnout at the age of 14. Gabriela discovered golf, fell in love with the sport and five years down track that decision is proving to be a wise choice.
But while Ryan turned pro at 17, Gabriela took her father’s advice and pursued a college career. She has chalked up three big tournament victories since linking with the University of Southern California, breaking through for her maiden title at the Windy City Collegiate Championship in Chicago in late 2018.
In July 2019, Ruffels gained redemption at the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship, winning the prestigious title at Pinehurst Resort after losing the final in 2018. Three weeks later she captured the biggest tournament on the calendar, winning the final of the US Women’s Amateur Championship at Old Waverly Golf Club in Mississippi.
Ruffels rose to a career high of 16th on the World Amateur Golf Ranking after starting the year at No.160. With starts in all five women’s Majors in 2020, Gabriela Ruffels has an ideal platform from which to launch a professional sporting career of her own.
Rookie Of The Year
Min Woo Lee
Min Woo Lee arrived on the professional scene with a reputation for long-hitting and flamboyant shot-making. By the end of his rookie season the 21-year-old from Perth had proven himself to be a genuine tour player.
After turning pro in November 2018, Lee made his presence felt in his second European Tour start at the Saudi International with a field boasting four of the world’s top-five players. Lee posted back-to-back 63s over the weekend to finish four strokes shy of Dustin Johnson in a tie for fourth.
What made Lee’s year all the more remarkable was a disjointed schedule with many hours spent flying to far-flung destinations across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. With limited status from 14 tournaments, Lee made nine cuts and earned €297,971 to finish 117th on the Race to Dubai.
A setback occurred when Lee was given advice he had sewn up a European Tour card. However, three players overtook him in the last event of the season to leave Lee with conditional status for 2020. Nevertheless, he should get 15 to 20 starts with more likely through sponsor invites.
The overall experience will hold Lee in good stead, says Brad James, Golf Australia’s director of high performance: “I think he was a driver behind the steering wheel that didn’t really understand how to drive the Ferrari. But I now think he’s starting to understand what tools he has and how to utilise them.”
Junior Player Of The Year
Karl Vilips
About the only thing that eluded Karl Vilips in 2019 is a swag of victory speeches. The 18-year-old from Perth has enjoyed an ultra-consistent year, which culminated with his appearance at the Junior Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.
The Florida-based Vilips registered 10 top-10 results from 15 tournaments that carry men’s world ranking points. Six of those top-10s were in open-age competition, which included reaching the quarter-finals of the US Amateur Championship. At the start of this summer, Vilips was the top-ranked Australian at No.34 on the men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The highlight of his year at junior level was a seven-shot victory in the Bobby Chapman tournament in South Carolina. He was also third at the Junior Players Championship.
In recognition of his outstanding form, Vilips earned All-American junior honours for the third time to conclude his high school career. Once he graduates from Saddlebrook Preparatory School in 2020, Vilips will pursue college golf at Stanford University where Tiger Woods studied prior to turning pro.
Senior Player Of The Year
Sue Wooster
Most golfers start to slow down approaching their 60th birthday. Not Sue Wooster. The 57-year-old continues to defy time with superb golf at home and abroad. Filtering the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the Victorian is actually ranked third in the world for women aged over 25.
In October, Wooster successfully defended her Australian Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Nelson Bay in Port Stephens. After taking medallist honours in the strokeplay stage, she survived a ‘match point’ in her quarter-final by sinking an eight-foot par putt before eventually winning on the 20th hole. The National Golf Club member eventually defeated Louise Mullard 4&3 in the final.
In the northern summer, Wooster won the AWGA State Seniors Championship, reached the final of the US Senior Women’s Amateur, finished third in the English Senior Women’s Amateur Stroke Play and was a quarter-finalist in the Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur & Senior Championship.
However, it’s unfinished business in North America that is driving the grandmother of seven. For the second successive year she was runner-up to the same golfer at the US Senior Women’s Amateur. In 2020, she will return with the goal of having her name etched on the honour board in the Arnold Palmer Museum at US Golf Association headquarters.
Trainee Of The Year
Brayden Peterson
Performing in the biggest trainee events distinguished 24-year-old Brayden Petersen in the class of 2019. The second-year apprentice from Asquith Golf Club in Sydney’s north registered four podium finishes in four of the biggest events on the trainee calendar.
The highlight was his victory at the Queensland PGA Trainee Championship, firing a final-round 68 to win by three strokes on a Windaroo Lakes layout that yielded just six sub-70 rounds all week.
Elsewhere, Petersen tied for second at the Rich River Trainee Classic, finished second at the VIC / TAS / SA PGA Trainee tournament at Tocumwal and was runner-up again at the NSW & ACT PGA Trainee Championship at Riverside Oaks. Petersen finished the year with an adjusted playing average of 2.29-under par through
26 rounds.
PGA training manager Stephanie Jamieson says: “Brayden has being working hard again on his playing this year, highlighted by the significant improvements on his 2018 results, which saw him finish fourth on the National Trainee Playing Ranking. Brayden shows a promising future as a tour professional when he completes his traineeship in 12 months time.”
Coach Of The Year
Ritchie Smith
With three of the brightest stars in Australian golf, Ritchie Smith’s profile is on the rise. Hannah Green winning her first Major, Minjee Lee rising to women’s world No.2 and Min Woo Lee (pictured) turning heads as a European Tour rookie is justification why Smith is now a three-time Coach of the Year.
Both Green and Lee have been under Smith’s tutelage since the age of 12, demonstrating his ability to guide players to the top of the sport. As Western Australia’s state coach, Smith oversees the whole system of coaches and service providers.
As to the secret of his team-based approach, Smith says: “I just think we’re very honest. And with honesty comes strength. Unfortunately, honesty is not popular. I think that’s why we’re successful. We tell people exactly what we think. And they can tell us what they think.
“It’s not that we’re brutal with it. We don’t growl. We just say this is the way that it is. You do this really well or you need to improve this.”
The past year has seen a significant shift in the way Smith operates. He resigned as club professional at Melville Glades after 14 years and relocated to Royal Fremantle Golf Club where he is purely involved in coaching.
Smith spends about 30 hours a week coaching (and 50 hours just thinking about it). Half those hours are spent with less-accomplished amateurs who are prepared to pay $140 for a one-hour lesson with one of the most astute minds in golf.
Superintendent Of The Year
Jon Carter
From wide-eyed apprentice to wizened superintendent, Jon Carter has dedicated virtually all his working life to Wanneroo Golf Club. The turf guru has racked up 31 years of service at the now fashionable course 40 kilometres north of the Perth CBD.
Since Carter took over the reins as superintendent at Wanneroo in 1991, the parkland layout has undergone significant improvements as part of a reconstruction masterplan. His finest accomplishment has been to maintain the course to a high standard on a modest maintenance budget with a small greenkeeping staff.
“During Jon’s tenure, Wanneroo has been transformed from a bush course to a high-class metropolitan course,” says Wanneroo general manager Mick Smith.
Recognition came in 2016 when the WA Golf Industry Council named Wanneroo the Metropolitan Golf Course of the Year. Subsequently, Wanneroo co-hosted the 2018 Australian Amateur Championship and then staged the 2019 WA Amateur Championship.
Smith adds: “Ultimately, the condition of the course is Jon’s responsibility and his outstanding care and diligence in performing his role as superintendent is the reason Wanneroo has been able to present the course to a championship level.
“But this is not just a one-off occurrence. It’s the consistently high standard in which the course is presented on a week-to-week basis that is recognised and appreciated by both the management committee and members.”
Services to Golf
Peter McMaugh
He has been a consultant on golf courses, cricket pitches, polo fields and horseracing tracks for the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Kerry Packer and the MCG. Yet Peter McMaugh’s greatest legacy may be as a facilitator for the Australian turfgrass industry.
Golf course superintendents wouldn’t have the skillset or tools at their disposal if not for the research, innovation and commercialisation of turf-related products by McMaugh. The 83-year-old is recognised as Australia’s foremost authority on turfgrass.
Recognition for McMaugh’s significant service to horticulture came in early 2019 when he was awarded a Member of The Order of Australia (AM). It follows an illustrious career that flourished after graduating from the University of Sydney in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture.
For three decades to 2005, McMaugh owned the Qualturf farm at Richmond in north-western Sydney, which produced commercially successful grasses found on sporting fields and in Australian backyards. In fact, four varieties of turf developed by McMaugh – Greenlees Park (early 1970s), Wintergreen (1981), Windsor Green (1993) and Sir Walter soft-leaf buffalo (1996) – are collectively the most commonly grown grasses at turf farms across the country.
In terms of innovation, McMaugh’s enormous influence includes: providing technical assistance with the design of ride-on motorised green rollers; introducing ‘Verti-Drain’ technology to the turf industry; developing pressurised water-washing units to produce washed sod; involvement in the manufacturing of the first organic-based insecticide for turf application in Australia; and devising the concept of drop-in pitches that are now commonplace at major cricket venues.
As an educator, he played a significant part in reconstructing the greenkeeping syllabus taught at Australian universities and TAFEs. He’s also written a plethora of scientific-based research papers and been a highly rated keynote speaker at international conferences.
Whether developing his own strain of low-maintenance couch or dispensing morsels of advice to superintendents, McMaugh is a living legend.
In a letter to his peers published in Australian Turfgrass Management, McMaugh said: “I have been fortunate to be the right person in the right place at the right time as a scientific pioneer in Australia. This has enabled me to have a major influence on the direction and development of the industry over 54 years.
“During these years as scientific researcher, consultant, turfgrass breeder, commercial turf producer, educator and specialist machinery developer, I am the scientist who got his hands dirty at the coal face and learned a great deal in the process.”
