Minnesotan Polland Named PGA of America's Player of the Year For Second Straight Season

  FRISCO, Texas – Capitalizing on a handful PGA Tour starts earned in 2025 following his victory a year ago at the PGA Professional Championship, Minnesota native Ben Polland on Tuesday was named 2025 Player of the Year for a second consecutive season by the PGA of America.

The PGA Director of Golf at Shooting Star of Jackson Hole in Teton Village, Wyo., Polland made four cuts on Tour with his best finish coming at the Barracuda Championship, where he placed tied for 23rd.

“Those starts are really fun to get back and play competitively,” said Polland. “I had the right mindsight the whole time. My mentality was better compared to the time when I was trying to play full time.

“I knew my job was back at Shooting Star and they were really supportive and great to me. I was comfortable with where I was at in my life, recently getting married, loving my job and good golf came a little easier to me.”

A Bloomington Jefferson High School graduate who went on to play collegiate golf at Campbell University in North Carolina, Polland also tallied a 35th-place finish at the PGA Professional Championship this season, while repeating as the Rocky Mountain PGA Section champion to help earn him the section’s Player of the Year honors for the third time in his career.

Already looking ahead to the upcoming season, the 35-year-old Polland will compete at the 2026 PGA Professional Championship at Bandon Dunes in April, followed by the PGA Cup in Ireland this fall.

“This year being at Bandon, which is one of my favorite places on earth, I’m definitely going to enjoy that,” said Polland. “We’re going to be working really hard and having all the focus on that.

“The other part is this being the second year of the PGA Cup points cycle. I know how to get on the team. It’s pretty cut and dry, you have to play well and earn your way. I need to go out and play well and try to hopefully travel to Ireland with the team.”