Sarah White Named Golf Association of Michigan Junior Girls Player Of The Year

Sarah White is the Golf Association of Michigan’s Junior Girls Player of the Year.

White, of East Kentwood, led her high school golf team to a state Championship. She won the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Division 1 individual title, and maintained a busy GAM and AJGA playing schedule. She won the stroke play portion of the Michigan Girls Junior Amateur.

In the fall, White plans to continue her golf career at Western Michigan.

Full press release follows:

Sarah White of East Kentwood Named GAM Junior Girls Player of the Year

FARMINGTON HILLS – Sarah White, who this fall led the East Kentwood High School golf team to a state championship, has been named the Golf Association of Michigan’s Junior Girls Player of the Year.

White, a StoneWater Country Club golfer who plans to continue her education and golf career at Western Michigan University in the fall, topped the GAM Honor Roll this year with 919 points.

Allyson Geer of Brighton and Oak Pointe Country Club, an AJGA Rolex Junior All-American this summer, finished second with 798 points.

Julia Dean, also of Brighton and Oak Pointe Country Club and the GAM Junior Invitational Champion, was third with 605 points. Elle Nichols of Okemos and College Fields, who was the Michigan Girls Amateur Champion, was fourth with 505, and Anna Kramer of Spring Lake and Spring Lake Country Club rounded out the top five with 498 points. See a complete list of the Honor Roll points at http://www.gam.org.

White is one of six Michigan golfers recognized by the GAM in recent weeks as Players of the Year for 2014. Previously named were Tom Werkmeister of Kentwood as Men’s Player of the Year, Jennifer Elsholz of Grand Rapids as Women’s Player of the Year, Randy Lewis of Alma as Senior Men’s Player of the Year, Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc as Senior Women’s Player of the year and Donnie Trosper of Canton as the Junior Boys Player of the Year.

“I played really well all summer in GAM events and in AJGA, and I set goals for myself because competing is a big part of golf,” White said. “I wanted to have a summer scoring average below 76 and I did it, and I wanted to be part of a team that won the state championship and we did that. It is so cool to get GAM Player of the Year because I know my hard work paid off.”

White also built some Honor Roll points via a busy schedule of GAM and AJGA events and by winning the stroke play part of the Michigan Girls Junior Amateur.

The big moment of the year was when she made a dramatic 50-foot putt on the 18th hole at Bedford Valley Country Club to shoot a second consecutive 73 and win the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Division 1 individual title by one shot.

“That’s my best moment in golf by far and it was probably the coolest experience of my life,” she said. “As a team we worked so hard and to win by 22 shots was just awesome.”

White credits her golf instructor Scott Dowling of Grand Rapids for helping her become the golfer she is today.

“Scott is one of the best teachers in Michigan and I’m so fortunate that he is here in West Michigan where I have access to him,” she said. “I’ve been working with him since I was five years old, and have never worked with anybody else.”

White, whose brother Brett is on the Eastern Michigan University golf team, said she decided to play college golf at Western Michigan in part because WMU coach Stacy Snider is also a former Dowling student, and because she felt great about the campus and the team members she met during recruiting.
“I had set a goal of becoming a Division I golfer and I’ve reached it,” she said. “This has been a big year and winning the GAM Player of the Year is really nice icing on all of it.”

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.