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Arizona Golf Honors 2021 Annual Awards Recipients

Throughout the year men and women compete across their respective divisions in hopes of landing on top of the AGA Player Rankings. Players who find themselves at the top of the rankings get to make their mark in Arizona Golf history, earning the coveted AGA Player of the Year Award. Annually, these awards are given out alongside four other service awards which are granted to individuals or organizations who have exemplified selfless commitment and contribution to golf in Arizona. Those service awards come in the form of the Doc Graves Volunteer of the Year award, Champion of Golf Award, Dorothy Pease Achievement Award and the Dr. Ed Updegraff Award. On Thursday, February 17, 2022 while gathered at Phoenix Country Club, the Arizona Golf Association honored these upstanding individuals. Continue reading to learn more about the awards, honorees and their accomplishments.

The honorees are as follows:

Women’s Senior Player of the Year
Kim Eaton

Women’s Player of the Year
Ashley Menne

Men’s Masters Player of the Year
Bryan Hoops

Mayfair Award – Lowest Scoring Average
Bryan Hoops – 67.92

Men’s Senior Player of the Year
Brad Wayment

Men’s Legends Player of the Year
Frank Ellenburg

Men’s Open Player of the Year
Sean O’Donnell

Doc Graves Volunteer of the Year Award
Steve Tomlinson

Champion of Golf Award
Judy McDermott

Dorothy Pease Achievement Award
Peggy Briggs

Dr. Ed Updegraff Award
Jack Blair, Sr.

Women’s Senior Player of the Year

Kim Eaton

Highlights:
Women’s Four-Ball Championship | Champion
Women’s Partners Tournament | Champion
Arizona Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship | T3
Women’s Players Cup Championship | 3
Women’s State Senior Championship | T3
*Qualified for 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
*Qualified for 2021 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur, reaching the round of 32.

Women’s Player of the Year

Ashley Menne

Highlights:
Women’s State Stroke Play Championship | Champion
Women’s Players Cup | Champion
*Pac-12 All Conference Honorable Mention
*2021 WGCA All-American Honorable Mention as a freshman at ASU.
*Invited to Augusta National Women’s Amateur for April 2022.

Men’s Masters Player of the Year & Mayfair Award

Bryan Hoops

Hoops finished the tournament season with an adjusted scoring average of 67.92, earning him the Mayfair Award for 2021.
*To be eligible for the Mayfair Award, a player must compete in at least one USGA qualifying round in Arizona and at least two AGA individual major championships; or, compete in at least one USGA qualifying round in Arizona, at least one AGA individual major championship and a collegiate championship in Arizona. All scores count towards the adjusted average.

Men’s Senior Player of the Year

Brad Wayment

Men’s Legends Player of the Year

Frank Ellenburg

Men’s Open Player of the Year

Sean O’Donnell

Doc Graves Volunteer of the Year Award

Steve Tomlinson

Each year the staff of the AGA honors an individual (other than an Executive Committee member) who most exemplifies volunteerism through his or her commitment of time and effort to the association. In 2010 this award was named after Robert Graves, a long-time AGA volunteer who exemplifies the selfless contributions of time and dedication to serving golf in Arizona.

Steve was introduced to the game of golf in the 6^th grade by his good friends, when one of their fathers allowed them to take an old bag of clubs to the park to play with. They created their own course around the landscape, selecting just one club to use from the bag and aiming at a can they dug in the ground. He became more serious about the game a couple years later when his mother fell ill and her doctors recommended she try the game to assist her healing process. The quality time they spent together made him even more passionate about the sport and he continued playing through his professional work career, eventually moving to Arizona and retiring in 2008.

The Rules of Golf were something that always interested Steve and he knew them well from being a player. With a little more time on his hands, he picked up his first Decisions Book in 2010, after being encouraged to dedicate himself to the rules by his good friends, Bob Ford and Ralph Warrington. After working local events at his club in Rio Verde for a couple years, he was
introduced to the Arizona Golf Association at an ASU Collegiate event in 2013. It was there he
shadowed his friend Bob during the competition, solidifying his desire to give back to the game.

Since then, Steve has devoted himself to serving both the AGA and JGAA as an expert Rules Official. He has become one of the most respected
individuals on the course, and can be easily
identified by his wide brim hat and the occasional cigar. He has volunteered thousands of hours over the years, and in 2021 spent 103 days on the golf course, an incredible number and something that is truly appreciated by all.

When asked what he enjoys most about volunteering, Steve replied,

“I enjoy the opportunity to help the player not make a mistake…our job is to ask the right questions and help them through a situation, so they do not get penalized.”

Champion of Golf Award

Judy McDermott

In recognition of selfless lifetime service to the Game of Golf in Arizona, the Champion of Golf Award is given annually to a person who, by his or her accomplishments, has created lasting benefit to the game.

Tucson’s golf landscape would look different without the Judy McDermott touch over the past three decades. McDermott moved to Tucson in 1992, taking a position as the Marketing
Director for the Conquistadores and the PGA TOUR’s Northern Telecom Open. She quickly climbed the ranks within the organization, becoming Tournament Director only two years
later, eventually being promoted to Executive Director in 2007 when the WGC-Accenture Match Play was scheduled at The Gallery. When the WGC event found a new home outside of Tucson in 2014, she immediately brought a PGA TOUR Champions event to Tucson National the following year, the Cologuard Classic.

In 2006, she and the Conquistadores partnered with the City of Tucson and PGA TOUR to
establish The First Tee of Tucson. Juggling multiple organizations proved no problem for McDermott, and her leadership over the years has brought in $26 million to youth sports in Southern Arizona. She stepped away from professional golf and the Tucson Conquistadores in 2019 and now focuses her efforts full time as the Executive Director of The First Tee of Tucson.

Dorothy Pease Achievement Award

Peggy Briggs

The Dorothy Pease Achievement award was established in 2011 to honor the memory of Dorothy Pease, and to recognize the contributions to golf by the outstanding women who have followed in her footsteps. This year’s recipient is Peggy Briggs.

Peggy Briggs was born in Iowa and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She played many sports growing up in a family of six, and as a senior in high school was the all-around state gymnastics champion. Peggy was introduced to golf but did not actively pursue it until she and her
husband moved to Arizona in 1994.

In 1997, she joined the LPGA and began her career learning all aspects of the profession.
Peggy played two years on the Players West Mini Tour before achieving her Class A
Professional status. She soon learned that teaching was what she loved best, “I love bringing people into the game of golf and keeping them there.”

Growing the game of golf hasn’t just about giving lessons for Peggy. She always wants to make sure that her lessons include keeping people passionate about playing golf and learning how golf can bring people together. She took this a step further and became a golf writer,
co-authoring a book, “Smashing Balls, Golf Opening Doors for Women”.

Because Peggy found that she had some extra time and a lot of extra passion for the game, she began volunteering with several local organizations. She volunteered for Dr. Debbie Crews and her Gila River Program in 1999. Peggy was one of the first instructors to work with the Arizona Women’s Golf Association to teach their Golf 101 Program, introducing women to the game of golf and the Golf Performance Series which focused on the body/swing connection. She also volunteered with Kathy Knadler in the LPGA Girls Golf Program. This is where she fell in love with junior golf. Peggy has also participated as a Golf Professional for Mesa High School with the AWGA’s “High School Build A Team Program” to help more girls in high school become interested in golf.

For the last five years, she has volunteered with the JGAA coaching the Arizona Girls Junior Americas Cup Team and she has been the Tournament Director of The Joanne Winter Silver Belle Championship since 2017. Peggy also takes an active role with the LPGA Central Section by serving as Secretary and member of several committees. In 2020, she was awarded the Marilyn Smith Service Award from the Central Section of the LPGA by her peers.

With more than 25 years devoted to the game of golf in Arizona, the AGA cannot think of a more deserving
recipient of this year’s Dorothy Pease Award.

Congratulations Peggy and thank you for all you do for golf in Arizona!

Dr. Ed Updegraff Award

Jack Blair, Sr.

Established in 1990, the Updegraff Award is the Arizona Golf Association’s highest honor, given in recognition of those who, by their actions, exemplify the Spirit of the Game. The award is named after Dr. Ed Updegraff of Tucson, honoring his lifetime contributions and dedication to amateur golf in Arizona.

Jack Blair, Sr. was born in Decatur, Illinois on June 8, 1928, and it’s been said he was a golfer since the day he could walk. He spent 32 years in the military, beginning in 1951 when he entered active service as a National Guard Officer, culminating in his promotion to Brigadier General in March of 1976. His military career took him all over the globe, and during his tours he was a post, camp, or fort golf champion in every area he served. He won numerous other Championships during this time, beating notable names such as Orville Moody and
finishing runner-up to Roberto Devicenzo in the 1959 Panama Open.

After he retired from the Army in 1980, he decided to stay in Sierra Vista and became Vice-President of Arizona Operations for land developer Tenneco. It was then he became very active in the Arizona golf community, both as a player and supporter.

He served on the Arizona Golf Association’s Executive Committee and was a USGA Committee Member from 1990 to 1993. Most notably, he completed the development of Pueblo del Sol Country Club, an 18-hole championship level facility in Sierra Vista known for having some of the best conditions in the state. To honor his accomplishments for the golf community in Southern Arizona over the past few decades, the General Jack Blair Four-Ball was announced in 2021 and conducted at Pueblo del Sol as a Sanctioned AGA event.

A small sample of Jack’s playing accomplishments in Arizona include: Qualifying for three US Senior Amateur Championships; AGA Senior Player of the Year; AGA Senior Stroke Play Champion; Five-time Goldwater Cup Team Member; AGA Senior Four-Ball Champion; AGA Southern Amateur Senior Champion; 17-time Pueblo del Sol Club Champion.

His dedication to amateur golf will forever be felt in Arizona. Congratulations to the 2021 Updegraff Award Recipient, Jack Blair, Sr.

RELATED: Past AGA Award Recepients

View the full awards presentations here: https://www.azgolf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/02/2022-Annual-Meeting-Presentation-Final-PDF.pdf

Read the Annual Booklet here: https://www.azgolf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/02/Annual-Booklet-FINAL-2022-corrected.pdf