GSGA Announces 2002 Players of the Year
Bill Ploeger Honored as Tommy Barnes Award Winner

Bill Ploeger of Columbus was named the winner of the Georgia State Golf Association's 2002 Tommy Barnes Award, which signifies the GSGA's overall player of the year, at the association's annual awards luncheon at Cherokee Town Club in Atlanta on January 18.

Ploeger, the nation's top-ranked senior amateur, won the GSGA's 2002 Georgia Senior Four Ball Championship and finished second at the Georgia Senior Championship. On the national level he won the Senior Masters and the U.S. Senior Challenge, finished second at the Shoal Creek Senior and third at the Porter Cup Senior. Ploeger also competed in the 2002 U.S. Senior Open and USGA Senior Amateur Championship, where he advanced to match play.

This is the second time Ploeger, 63, has received the Tommy Barnes Award, being named the 1999 recipient after winning both the Georgia Senior and USGA Senior Amateur Championships.

Ploeger earned his fourth Senior Player of the Year Award on the strength of his runner-up finish at the Georgia Senior Championship and his win at the Georgia Senior Four-Ball with partner Spencer Sappington, who finished second by 64 points in the standings. Ploeger also competed in the 2002 U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Senior Amateur, where he advanced to match play. Ploeger, who is the nation's second-ranked senior amateur, surpasses the late Johnny Skeadas with his fourth win. Ploeger earned the award in 1997, when he won his second of three state senior titles; in 1999, when he won both the Georgia Senior and the U.S. Senior Amateur championships; and in 2001, when he finished as the runner-up at the state and national championships.

Men's Player of the Year: Jonathan Shiflet, Hartwell
Jonathan Shiflet of Hartwell captured the men's honors on the strength of his playoff win at the Georgia Amateur Championship. Shiflet, a former Augusta State player, edged Danny Nelson of Savannah by 15 points in what was the closest of the points' races. Nelson finished fourth at the Mid-Amateur and was the runner-up at the Georgia Four-Ball Championship and the Georgia Match Play/Atlanta Amateur Championship. Greg Kennedy of Cumming was just 25 points back with his Round of 32 performance at the U.S. Amateur and third place at the Georgia Mid-Amateur. Fifty points off the pace was 2001 Tommy Barnes Award winner and 2002 Mid-Amateur champion Rick Cloninger of Dacula.

Women's Player of the Year: Laura Coble, Augusta
Capturing a record fifth-straight GSGA Women's Player of the Year Award is Laura Coble of Augusta. Coble, who surpasses LPGA Tour player Vicki Goetze-Ackerman with her fifth title in as many years, built an early lead in the points' standings with wins at the GSGA's Georgia Women's Match Play and Greater Atlanta Women's Amateur Championships, as well as with a tie for fifth place at the Georgia Women's Open. She finished second at the Georgia Women's Amateur and won the Georgia Women's Golf Association Four-Ball with partner Karen Parker. Coble also received points by qualifying for the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur.

Junior Player of the Year: Brian Harman, Savannah
Brian Harman of Savannah, a sophomore at Savannah Christian, won the Junior Player of the Year Award after capturing the GSGA's Georgia Junior Championship and advancing to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. Harman, 15, won the Georgia Junior by seven strokes with scores of 74-67-66 for a nine-under 207. Harman fell to the eventual champion in the U.S. Junior after 21 holes.

Girls' Player of the Year: Jean Reynolds, Newnan
Jean Reynolds of Newnan, a senior at Newnan High School, won her second Girls' Player of the Year Award on the strength of her third-straight Georgia Girls' Championship and a quarterfinals berth at the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship. Reynolds, who signed with the University of Georgia, also won the state Class AAAAA high school championship.

Senior Women's Player of the Year: Ginette Spinucci, Stone Mountain
Ginette Spinucci of Stone Mountain won her second GSGA Senior Women's Player of the Year Award with her victory at the GSGA Senior Women's Championship and several top finishes at other state women's events. Spinucci was as the runner-up to Coble at the Georgia Women's Match Play, tied for third at the Georgia Women's Amateur and finished fifth at the GSGA's Top 56 Competition. This is only the second year the award has been given. Spinucci also finished fourth in the women's points' competition.

The awards were determined by a point system based on performance in GSGA and USGA events, among other amateur competitions.The winners were recognized at the GSGA Players of the Year Luncheon on January 18, 2003, at Cherokee Town Club in Atlanta, immediately following the GSGA Annual Meeting.