The 2019 Omega PGA Professional, Senior and Women’s PGA Professional Players of the Year were announced Tuesday.
Ryan Vermeer was named the PGA Professional of the Year and Bob Sowards was named the Senior PGA Professional Player of the Year. Joanna Coe earned the honor of Women’s PGA Professional Player of the Year.
Vermeer, a 41-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska, is the PGA Director of Instruction at Happy Hollow Club in his hometown. Last year he won his third Nebraska PGA Section Championship and Nebraska PGA Player of the Year award. He tied for eighth at the PGA Professional Championship and tied for 80th at the PGA Championship. Vermeer was also on the United States’ PGA Cup winning team.
Sowards, 51, is PGA Director of Instruction at the Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club in Powell, Ohio, and won his sixth career PGA Professional Player of the Year award with this year’s honor. Last season, Sowards tied for 21st in the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, tied for eighth in the Senior PGA Professional Championship and won the final event of the PGA Tournament Series in December.
Coe, winner of the inaugural Women’s PGA Professional Player of the Year Award, is an assistant PGA Director of Instruction at Baltimore Country Club. In 2019, Coe, 30, won the 2019 PGA Women’s Stroke Play Championship and was one of four women to play in the PGA Professional Championship in May. She finished T-51.
She also tied for fifth at the LPGA Teaching & Club Professionals National Championship and was a member of the inaugural Women’s PGA Cup team.
“To be included in some of the great history of the PGA of America and be the first Women’s PGA Professional Player of the Year is truly special,” Coe said in a statement. “It’s a highlight considering how long the PGA has been around and how important it is for the game of golf. It’s really cool; it’s something I will be proud of for the rest of my life.”
All three winners will be honored April 24 during the 53rd PGA Professional Championship at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas.
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