Donnie Trosper of Canton tied Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for American Junior Golf Association wins in a single season along the way to winning recognition as the GAM Junior Boys Player of the Year.
Trosper joins Woods and Mickelson for second in single season wins in AJGA competition with four. (Seung-Su Han holds the record of five).
The Canton High School senior topped the Golf Association of Michigan Honor Roll with 1,089 points. James Piot, also of Canton placed second with 869 points.
Following his win in the prestigious Ping Invitational (Oklahoma), an elite AJGA event and the fourth AJGA win of his summer, Trosper received a scholarship offer from the University of Central Florida and plans to join the UCF program in the fall.
Full press release follows:
Donnie Trosper of Canton is GAM Boys Junior Player of the Year
FARMINGTON HILLS – Donnie Trosper of Canton, who took the American Junior Golf Association Tour by storm this summer, is the Golf Association of Michigan Junior Boys Player of the Year.
Trosper, whose GAM membership is through Carl’s Golfland in Plymouth, topped the Honor Roll with a resounding 1,089 points in large part because of his four wins on the AJGA Tour, a feat that tied him with none other than Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for second in all-time single season wins in AJGA play. Seung-Su Han has the record of five.
Another Canton golfer, James Piot, who works on his game at Fox Hills Learning Center in Plymouth and won the GAM Junior Stroke Play Championship, was second on the GAM Honor Roll with 869 points.
Dylan Deogun of Orchard Lake and Orchard Lake Country Club was third with 640 points. Glenn Piot Jr. of Canton, James’ brother, had 512 points and Jake Kneen of White Lake and Beacon Hills Golf Club, the winner of the Michigan Junior Amateur Championship, had 510 points. A complete Honor Roll points list can be found at http://www.gam.org.
In recent weeks Tom Werkmeister of Kentwood was named the GAM Men’s Player of the Year, Jennifer Elsholz of Grand Rapids the Women’s Player of the Year, Randy Lewis of Alma the Senior Men’s Player of the Year and Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc the Senior Women’s Player of the year. The Junior Girls Player of the Year will be announced next week.
Trosper, playing this week in yet another AJGA event in Florida and likely scoring more Honor Roll points, said the hard work on his game in the last few years paid off this year.
“I think it was the hard work paying off and my putting finally coming together,” he said. “My dad (Don) got me on the right track going forward and I just figured out how to win.”
Following his win in the prestigious Ping Invitational (Oklahoma), an elite AJGA event and the fourth AJGA win of his summer, he received a scholarship offer from the University of Central Florida and plans to join the UCF program in the fall.
“I’m really excited about Central Florida,” he said. “I put my expectations pretty high this year and ended up being a Junior All-American, so it’s been a great year. The three AJGA wins (Coca-Cola Junior at Boyne Highlands, Columbus Junior presented by The Memorial in Ohio, Randy Wise Junior in Flint) were in that expectation level I had of myself, and then I had to pinch myself when I won the Ping Invitational.”
Trosper, who will play his final prep season for Canton High School in the spring, said winning the GAM Award was exciting.
“Being a Michigan native it feels great to win it,” he said. “I know how good the golfers are here, and the kind of season I had to have to do this.”
Trosper describes himself as a shot maker more than a distance player.
“I’m not that big, but I can get it out there pretty good,” he said. “But I take pride in shaping my shots. I hit a fade most of the time, but I can hit the shot that is required and my putting was really solid all year.”
He plans to play a full summer schedule in 2015, including several GAM events.
“I want to be the best player I can be when I head to college,” he said.
The Golf Association of Michigan was founded in 1919 and is the governing body for amateur golf in the state. As a not-for-profit organization its purpose is to represent, promote, preserve and serve the best interests of the game. The GAM provides membership and a myriad of services to more than 60,000 golfers and more than 400 golf courses. It also conducts 19 amateur championships and oversees 14 USGA qualifying events.
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