Nicholas Mathews of Mebane has been named the boys 2019 N.C. Junior Player of the Year by the Tarheel Youth Golf Association (TYGA) and the Carolinas Golf Association (CGA). The N.C. Junior Player of the Year award recognizes one girl and one boy who have had the most successful year in amateur and junior golf events at the local, state, regional and national levels.
Mathews, an 18-year-old high school senior at Eastern Alamance High School, had a very successful 2019 finishing second in the Bullet and Peggy Bell Holiday Classic, third in the Hope Valley Junior Invitational, tied for fourth in the North and South Junior, reached the quarter-finals in the NC Junior Boys’ and tied for medalist in qualifying in the US Junior Amateur.
In the 23 junior events Mathews played in 2019, he finished in the top ten 11 times and had a scoring average of 73.58. Mathews signed to play college golf at NC State this past November. “Nick is a tremendous worker” said NC State Coach Press McPhaul. “He has great love for the game. He is technically sound with great instruction. I have been consistently impressed by Nick’s game, work ethic and character as I have gotten the chance to know him. Proud to have him at NC State!”
The Player of the Year awards were determined by a combination of each player’s tournament scoring differential and the total points earned in the TYGA NC ranking’s events from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019 and who have not graduated from high school.
These outstanding juniors, along with the 2019 N.C. All-State Girls’ and Boys’ teams, will be honored at the N.C. Junior Golf Night Awards Banquet on Saturday, January 25, at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines.
