After an impressive 2020 season, the Missouri Golf Association named Skip Berkmeyer its Town & Country MGA Player of the Year. This is his sixth year winning the award.
Berkmeyer took home the gold in two competitions this year, the first being the Jefferson City CC Four Ball in May with his partner, Hunter Parrish. The second was the MGA Stroke Play Championship in July, marking his third time winning the event. A field of 156 amateurs competed in a 72-hole stroke-play event at Norwood Hills CC in St. Louis. Berkmeyer won by four shots, posting rounds of 68-71-69-63 for a total of 271.
A three-time winner of both the Missouri Amateur Championship and Mid-Amateur Championship, Berkmeyer placed in both in 2020. He made it to the semifinals in the amateur and tied for fourth in the mid-amateur.
The MGA also named six other players of the year in individual categories.
Wayne Fredrick, 58, is the Springfield MGA Senior Player of the Year. Fredrick and his partner, Brian Haskell, won the Men’s Senior Four-Ball Championship at Bogey Hills CC in St. Charles.
In the Missouri Amateur Championship, Fredrick shot 73-75 on a 36-hole course, qualifying him for the round of 64 before he was eliminated. Fredrick was just shy of winning the Senior Amateur Championship in September, tying for second after hitting 70 and 73.
The St. Louis MGA Senior Player of the Year is Ellen Port, who finished tied for ninth in the Women’s Amateur Championship with a three-round total of 216. Port’s finish earned her third place in the Mid-Amateur (25+) Championship division.
The 59-year-old’s strongest finish was a 7-under total at the MGA Senior Amateur in Sedalia, Missouri. It was Port’s first time competing in the event, as she would usually compete in the USGA Women’s Senior Amateur. That event was canceled due to health concerns with COVID-19.
Port has been inducted in both the MGA Hall of Fame and the St. Louis Hall of Fame.
Jessie Meek, who played collegiately for the University of Missouri, is the 2020 Columbia MGA Player of the Year. She won her second MGA major title at the 2020 Mid-Amateur Championship in Camdenton. Meek shot 4-under par to beat the 2019 champion, Michelle Butler.
Meek finished third in the amateur division.
Two junior players were also honored by the MGA. Taryn Overstreet, who attends Drury University as a member of its golf team, was named Jackson MGA Junior Player of the Year. Overstreet started a strong competition year with a win at the Junior Match Play Championship, beating her younger sister, Ella, in the final round of play. She went on to win all four of her matches at the 52nd Annual Junior Four State Team Championship.
Overstreet closed her year at the MGA Junior Amateur Championship in Warrensburg, Missouri. She won after posting 72-74 for a total of 146.
Dawson Meek is the Ozark MGA Junior Player of the Year after competing in his final junior matches this year. He joined the University of Missouri golf team this fall.
Dawson Meek won the MGA Junior Match Play in Warrensburg after having qualified for the 113th MGA Amateur Championship. He finished his season tied for 15th at the men’s stroke-play event at Norwood Hills CC.