MGA Announces Year-End Award Winners

MGA

EDINA, Minn. (Oct. 21, 2024) – The Minnesota Golf Association’s 124th Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner will be held on Monday, Oct. 28 at the Edina Country Club. The evening’s highlights include recognition of the MGA Players of the Year (in six categories); the MGA Fritz Corrigan Evans Scholar of the Year; the MGA Member Club of the Year; and the MGA Giles Kobilka Award winner.

"The Minnesota Golf Association proudly celebrates the tradition of amateur championship golf, where skill, integrity, and sportsmanship define the game. Just as important, we honor the deep community impact golf promotes across our state," said Ede Rice, MGA President. "We look forward to recognizing several worthy individuals at the MGA's annual awards dinner who have excelled on and off the course as champions for our game."

In this biennial year, the MGA introduces a new slate of officers led by incoming president, Paul Meierant, of Edina, the incoming vice president, Jerry Rose, of Alexandria, and the incoming secretary/treasurer, Matt Hanson, of Chanhassen.

MGA Players of the Year
Since 1975, the MGA has awarded player points for top finishes in MGA and allied association championships, as well as select regional, national and international events. Notable Minnesota golf champions who have achieved MGA Player of the Year honors include: John Harris, the 1993 U.S. Amateur champion, Hilary (Homeyer) Lunke, the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open champion, siblings Tim Herron and Alissa (Herron) Super, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour and the 1999 USGA Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, respectively, Sammy Schmitz, the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, and Frankie Capan III, who earned PGA Tour status for 2025 after recently winning on the Korn Ferry Tour. 

The players listed in the following categories have earned the distinction, the 2024 MGA Player of the Year: 

MGA Junior Boys’ Player of the Year, Jake Birdwell (288.75). Birdwell, 18, of Blaine, is a member of TPC Twin Cities. Birdwell’s crowning achievement of the season was winning the Minnesota Boys’ Junior PGA Championship at North Oaks Golf Club. With the win, he qualified for the Junior PGA Championship at Congressional Country Club, in Bethesda, Md., where he finished in a tie for fifth. Birdwell continued his strong play on the national level, qualifying for the match-play portion of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. On the local stage, he tied for 12th at the MGA Amateur Championship, tied for fifth at the MSHSL Class AAA Boys’ State Tournament and qualified for the Minnesota State Open. 
This is Birdwell’s first MGA Junior Boys’ Player of the Year honor.  

MGA Senior Player of the Year, Dave Carothers (233.33). Carothers, 56, of Buffalo, is a member of Windsong Farm Golf Club in Independence. Playing in his first year as a senior, Carothers had a pair of strong finishes at state events, finishing tied for second at the Minnesota Senior Open at Keller Golf Course in St. Paul and tied for fourth at the MGA Senior Amateur Championship at Edina Country Club. Additionally, he finished in a tie for 56th and low senior at the MGA Amateur Championship at Minnesota Valley Country Club in Bloomington, qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., and finished third in the Senior Division at the MGA Mixed Amateur Championship at Stillwater Country Club.
This is Carothers’ first MGA Senior Player of the Year honor.

MGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year, Linda Goodno (225 points). Goodno, 57, of Little Canada, is a member of Keller Golf Club in Maplewood. Goodno notched two wins in 2024, defeating Lynn Anderson, 1 up, for the MGA Women’s Senior Amateur Match Play Championship at Pebble Creek Golf Club in Becker, and taking first place with partner Alison Hurley at the MGA Women’s Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Burl Oaks Golf Club in Minnetrista. She also finished in third place at the MGA Women’s Senior Amateur Championship at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Willmar.
This is Goodno’s first MGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year honor.

MGA Women’s Player of the Year, Olivia Herrick (290 points). Herrick, 36, of Hugo, is a member of Dellwood Country Club. Herrick secured her fourth win, and first since 2018, in the MGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Chaska Town Course after defeating Jasi Acharya in a playoff. She finished in eighth place at the MGA Women’s Amateur Championship and in second place at the MGA Mixed Amateur Team Championship with partner Trent Peterson. At the national level, Herrick qualified for her 11th U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, advancing to match play, at Brae Burn Country Club in West Newton, Mass., and with partner Samantha Sommers, qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, Texas.
This is Herrick’s seventh MGA Women’s Player of the Year honor.

MGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year, Amelia Morton (243.33 Points). Morton, 18, of Maple Grove, is a member of Youth on Course Minnesota. Morton earned the first state win of her career at the Minnesota State Junior Girls’ Championship at Victory Links Golf Course in Blaine and finished in a tie for fifth place at the MGA Women’s Amateur Championship at Minnewaska Golf Club in Glenwood. She also earned a pair of runner-up finishes at the MSHSL Class AAA Girls’ State Tournament and the Minnesota Girls’ Junior PGA Championship.
This is Morton’s first MGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year honor.

MGA Player of the Year, Max Tylke (857.5 points). Tylke, 31, of Rosemount, and a member of the Legends Club in Prior Lake, amassed an astonishing number of runner-up performances this season, including losing in a 3-way playoff to Carson Herron at the Minnesota State Open and tying for 2nd at the MGA Amateur Championship; finishing as the lone runner-up at the MGA Mid-Amateur, the MPGA Public Links and the MPGA Four-Ball championships (the latter with partner Ryan Tschann); and losing in the final match to Trent Peterson at the MGA Mid-Players’ Championship. He was also a quarterfinalist in the MGA Players’ Championship, tied for sixth place at the MGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship (with partner Gavin Cronkhite), and ultimately earned his first win of the summer at the Worthington Labor Day Classic. Tylke capped his competitive year by qualifying for match play at the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va. 
This is Tylke’s first MGA Player of the Year honor.

A complete list of player points can be found at mngolf.org/playerpoints.

Additional Award Winners
Awards for the MGA Fritz Corrigan Evans Scholar of the Year, the MGA Member Club of the Year and the MGA Giles Kobilka Award will be announced during the evening program on Oct. 28. The awards program begins at 5:30 p.m. For more information, please contact Anne Colehour Mullen at the MGA office 952-345-3969.

About Edina Country Club
Edina CC was designed by Tom Bendelow and opened in 1923, originally as the Thorpe Country Club. In 2010-11, the team of Tom Lehman and Chris Brands redesigned the course, installing new green complexes, bunkers, tees and fairway grasses but retaining essentially the same course layout. ECC has been an active supporter of amateur golf and the MGA since the facility first opened. In addition to hosting the MGA Amateur seven times since 1926, the club has hosted numerous MGA amateur competitions including four Mid-Amateur, three Senior Amateur, three Amateur Four-Ball, the Players’ (state match play) and Mixed Amateur Team championships. ECC has also hosted the MGA-PGA Cup Matches, the MGA Senior Tour plus numerous USGA amateur and open qualifiers.

About the MGA
Established in 1901, with the formation by seven golf clubs to organize the state’s most prestigious and storied golf championship, the MGA Amateur Championship, the Minnesota Golf Association is today the governing body over amateur golf in the state, responsible for administering the Rules of Golf, and committed to upholding and promoting the game of golf and its values for all golfers in Minnesota.
 
The MGA conducts 23 major amateur championships and 16 USGA qualifying events each year. Thanks to the support of its member clubs and associate members and the efforts of its volunteers and staff, the MGA provides a variety of services such as handicapping, course rating and measuring, an online golf news and information resource, www.mngolf.org, and an official publication, Minnesota Golfer magazine, which benefit all golfers throughout Minnesota.

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