Processing your payment, please wait.

2012 Players-of-the-Year Announced

November 14, 2012

The Florida State Golf Association has announced the 2012 Players-of-the-Year for their outstanding play this season. These fine competitors will be recognized at the FSGA Annual Dinner on November 16th at the Country Club of Orlando.

Jaye Marie Green, of Boca Raton, has earned the 2012 Girls Junior Player-of-the-Year honors, earning 18,800 overall points.  Green had an extraordinary year.  She fell just short of winning the Ione/Jones Doherty Championship to Women’s Player-of-the-Year, Meghan Stasi, finishing as runner-up.  Green was a quarter-finalist at the 110th Women’s North & South Amateur and finished in 5th at the South Atlantic Amateur (SALLY).  Green qualified for the US Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wisconsin, but capped off her successful season when she later advanced to the championship match at the US Women’s Amateur Championship.  Having an outstanding week of play, Green fell just short to the then number one ranked amateur, Lydia Ko, of New Zealand.

Mary Jane Hiestand, of Naples, is the 2012 Senior Women’s Player-of-the-Year earning 8,960 overall points.  Hiestand has had a fantastic year, advancing to quarter-finals at the Ione Jones/Doherty Championship (Senior Division) and finished third at the Senior Women’s Amateur Championship.  Also, she and Diane Lang placed fourth at the Women’s Four-Ball Stroke Play.  Hiestand dominated in team play, having an undefeated year at both the Women’s Southeastern Challenge Matches and SWATCA, where she led both teams to championship titles.  Mary Jane has also been successful in USGA championships, advancing to Round of 32 matches at both the 2012 US Senior Women’s Amateur and the US Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships.   

Meghan Stasi, of Oakland Park, has earned the 2012 Women’s Player-of-the-Year honors after a historic season and earning 28,300 overall points.  Stasi started the year off with a win at the Ione Jones/Doherty Championship by defeating Jaye Marie Green, of Boca Raton, 2 up.  In May, Stasi captured the Women’s Amateur Championship with a 3 & 2 victory over Miami Beaches’ Marie Arnoux.  Stasi was on Team Florida for both the Women’s Southeastern Challenge Matches and SWATCA, and helped guide both teams to victory.  Meghan’s biggest victory of the year came in October at the US Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship.  With a championship record comeback in her Round of 16 matches, Stasi came back from being five down with six holes left to play.  Her fourth, and record-tying, victory put Meghan in the history books with only sixteen other individuals that have won the same USGA championship four times.

Hank Lebioda, 18, of Winter Springs and a freshman at Florida State University, is the 2012 Junior Player-of-the-Year earning 11,200 points.  He started the summer by shooting a 71 at the difficult Waldorf Astoria GC to qualify for the Amateur Championship. Hank fired rounds of 77-69-76-75 at the Amateur to finish tied for seventh. Then he entered the 58th Boys’ Junior Championship at Sawgrass CC which would be his final junior tournament. He was the only player to shoot all three rounds under par (69-71-70) and won the title by four strokes. Hank is the fifth junior in history to win the older age division at the Boys’ Junior twice. Finally, he capped off his great summer by facing his future college teammate, Chase Seiffert, in the finals at the Amateur Match Play at the CC of Orlando where his runner-up finish earned him enough points to earn the Junior Player-of-the-Year honors for the second time in his junior career.

Rick Woulfe, 62, of Fort Lauderdale, is the 2012 Senior Player-of-the-Year recipient earning 12,641 overall points on the year. Rick began the year with a first place finish in the Senior/Mid-Am Four-Ball, partnering with Don Bell to shoot 61-67 to capture the crown. Next, Rick garnered medalist honors in the stroke play qualifying portion of the Senior Amateur Match Play Championship. Rick advanced to the final coming up just short and finishing runner-up to Howard Logan in the final match by a result of one-down. Rick also qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at the Mountain Ridge CC, in West Caldwell, NJ, and advanced to the match play portion of the championship. Finally, his great year was capped off by qualifying for and winning the 31st Mid-Amateur Championship. This is the seventh time Woulfe has earned Senior Player-of-the-Year honors.

Chase Seiffert, 21, of Panama City, and a senior at Florida State University, earned Player-of-the-Year honors with 22,000 overall points. Chase began the year by qualifying for the Amateur Championship with a round of 68 at Southwood GC, capturing medalist honors by three strokes. Little did he know what lie in wait for the remainder of the season. First, he won the Amateur by four strokes at The Bears Club in Jupiter with scores of 68-73-73-73. Next, he claimed the Florida Open trophy at the Ritz-Carlton Members Club by nine strokes with rounds of 66-64-63 and finally, he finished the year with a 4 & 3 victory (over Junior Player- of-the-Year Hank Lebioda) at the CC of Orlando to win the Amateur Match Play and complete the sweep. Seiffert has become the first person in the history of the FSGA to ever capture the Triple Crown; the Amateur, the Florida Open and the Amateur Match Play Championships all in the same year.