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GCSAA announces scholar award winners

By |  September 1, 2015 0 Comments
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(L to R) Scott Watson with sons Chance and Chase
Photo: GCSAA

The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) has honored Scott Watson with the $6,000 Chet Mendenhall Award, the top prize in the association’s 2015 Scholars Competition.

The $30,000 program is primarily funded by the Robert Trent Jones Endowment and is administered by the Environmental Institute for Golf (EIFG), the GCSAA’s philanthropic organization. It was developed to recognize outstanding students planning careers in golf course management.

Watson, 43, is pursuing a turfgrass management degree at Rutgers University.

“My wife and I both broke down in tears when we learned of winning the scholarship,” says Watson, an assistant superintendent at Linville Golf Club in Linville, N.C. “I never expected it. This will take some of the pressure off of wondering how we are going to make ends meet. I had kids when I was young and had to start working. I never had the chance to think about college until now.”

Watson started working at Linville when he was 19 and became the second assistant superintendent in 2006, but will earn his degree so he is able to advance to a head superintendent position. The program at Rutgers is offered in the winter months when his golf course is closed. Watson will graduate in June 2016.

Watson’s son Chase, 24, was an inspiration to his father. He earned a turfgrass science degree from North Carolina State University and is employed as assistant superintendent at Diamond Creek Club in Banner Elk, N.C. His youngest son, Chance, is on the golf team at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.

The top award is named after the late Chet Mendenhall, who was a charter member of the GCSAA, a past president (1948) and recipient of the association’s Distinguished Service Award (1986).

Carlota Sanchez de Ocana Huidobro of Spain, who is attending Michigan State University, received the MacCurrach Award — the second place award of $5,000. Fourteen others received awards ranging from $2,500 to $500.

The MacCurrach Award is named in honor of the late Allan MacCurrach who became the PGA Tour’s first staff agronomist in 1974 and was the GCSAA Distinguished Service Award winner in 1997. The PGA Tour funds this award.

Watson and Sanchez de Ocana Huidobro will receive all-expenses-paid trips to the 2016 Golf Industry Show, which is scheduled for Feb. 8–11, in San Diego.

Other award-winners include:

  • Kevin Heimann, Brunswick, Ohio, Pennsylvania State University, $2,500
  • Robert Sicinski, Allentown, Pa., Pennsylvania State University, $2,500
  • Cory Bostdorf, Halifax, Pa., Pennsylvania State University, $2,500
  • Landon White, North Logan, Utah, Rutgers University, $2,000
  • Hutson Carter II, Lake City, Fla., Florida Gateway College, $2,000
  • Michael Kennings, Fenton, Mich., Michigan State University, $2,000
  • Nicholas Connolly, Minneapolis, Minn., Pennsylvania State University, $1,000
  • Ian Patrican, Hyattsville, Md., University of Maryland, $1,000
  • Evan Stoddard, Schoolcraft, Mich., Michigan State University, $1,000
  • Scott Hebert, Lutherville, Md., University of Maryland, $500
  • Jordan Carbone, Erin, Ontario, Canada, Georgian College, $500
  • Ryan Bearss, Okemos, Mich., Michigan State University, $500
  • Ryan Wilkinson, House Springs, Mo., Pennsylvania State University, $500
  • Michael Bornstein, Stamford, Conn., Pennsylvania State University, $500

Winners were selected by the GCSAA Scholars Competition Task Group.



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