ATLANTA, Ga. – Laura Coble of Augusta was named the winner of the Georgia State Golf Association’s 2005 Tommy Barnes Award, which signifies the GSGA’s overall player of the year. Coble, who previously won the Tommy Barnes Award in 2000, was presented the award by the GSGA Championship Committee during the Association’s annual awards luncheon, held at Cherokee Town Club in Atlanta, January 21.
Coble was a unanimous selection for the award after wins at the state and national levels. She captured her fifth-straight Georgia Women’s Match Play Championship and came from behind to win the Greater Atlanta Women’s Amateur Championship by one stroke. She won her third-straight Georgia Women’s Amateur by nine strokes after firing a final-round 68. Coble also helped lead team Georgia to a national title at the USGA Women’s State Team Championship where she finished second in the individual competition.
Coble joins Bill Ploeger of Columbus (1999, 2002) as just the second person to win the Tommy Barnes Award more than once. Coble also secured her eighth-straight GSGA Women’s Player of the Year Award at the awards luncheon, a feat unmatched by any golfer in GSGA history.
David Noll Jr. of Dalton was named Men’s Player of the Year. Noll, who previously won this award in 2003, had a successful year highlighted by a victory at the Atlanta Amateur Match Play Championship. Noll tallied runner-up honors at the Georgia Four-Ball Championship and the Georgia Amateur Championship. He advanced to the match play portion of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship as the No. 6 seed. Noll defeated fellow Georgian Greg Kennedy of Duluth before falling in the Round of 32. He also finished second in the individual competition while representing Georgia in the USGA Men’s State Team Championship.
Spencer Sappington of Alpharetta, who won his third Georgia Senior Championship in 2005, earned Senior Player of the Year honors for the third-consecutive year. Sappington earned points by advancing to Round of 16 at the USGA Senior Amateur and finished in a tie for sixth with Ploeger at the Georgia Senior Four-Ball Championship.
Greensboro’s Ena Harvey clinched her first Senior Women’s Player of the Year Award by winning her second GSGA Senior Women’s Championship and advancing to match play at the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. Harvey won the championship by seven strokes while carding a championship-record score of 148 over two days.
Macon’s Russell Henley earned the Junior Player of the Year Award after finishing fourth at the Georgia Junior Championship. Henley went on to represent Georgia in the annual Georgia-South Carolina Junior Challenge Match where he won his opening-round match, 3 and 2, and finished all-square in his match on day two. Henley advanced to the Round of 16 at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship where he fell to eventual champion, Kevin Tway of Edmond, Okla. Henley also advanced to Sectional Qualifying for the 2005 U.S. Open.
Stacey Kim of Midland won the Girls’ Player of the Year Award on the strength of her first-place finish at the Westfield Georgia PGA Junior Championship. Kim secured the award when she advanced to the match play portion of the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship at BanBury Golf Club in Eagle, Idaho.
The GSGA’s overall Player of the Year award, established in 1998, is named after legendary amateur Tommy Barnes of Atlanta. Among his many accomplishments, Barnes won the 1941 Georgia Amateur Championship and qualified for 16 consecutive U.S. Amateur Championships.
2005 Georgia State Golf Association
Players of the Year
Final Points Standings
(Top Five)
Men’s
David Noll, Jr., Dalton 675
Brian Harman, Savannah 650
David Denham, Tifton 500
Jack Hall, Savannah 325
Greg Kennedy, Cumming 275
Women’s
Laura Coble, Augusta 990
Alina Lee, Athens 250
Margaret Shirley, Roswell 210
Ellen Dempsey, St. Simons Island 195
Sarah Donald, Athens 175
Jackie Beers, Bonaire 175
Senior Men
Spencer Sappington, Alpharetta 250
Larry Clark, Kennesaw 211.6
Don Marsh, Alpharetta 102.5
Bill Ploeger, Columbus 102.5
Bill Leonard, Kennesaw 100
Frank Perry, Fayetteville 100
Ken Benson, Alpharetta 100
Senior Women
Ena Harvey, Greensboro 330
Claudeen Lindberg, Atlanta 180
Liz Butler, Columbus 150
Ginette Spinucci, Stone Mountain 147.5
Mary Helen McElreath, Augusta 147.5
Junior
Russell Henley, Macon 225
Ryan Zebeau, Cedartown 150
Robert Andrews, Woodstock 125
Alex Jones, Woodstock 100
Whit Roper, Athens 100
Michael Hicks, Newnan 100
Matt Nagy, Beuna Vista 100
Girls
Stacey Kim, Midland 200
Jennifer Cassidy, Dalton 155
Jennifer Adyorough, Atlanta 150
Christina Wentworth, Macon 100
Vicki Yi, Bogart 75
Louisa Yang, Suwanee 75
Alina Lee, Athens 75
Contact:
Eric Cheek
(706) 340-3338
echeek@gsga.org
