Nancy Lopez Award winner

 

Blumenherst Named Nancy Lopez Award Recipient
Duke standout punctuates amateur career, wins award for third year in a row

BRASELTON, Ga. – Amanda Blumenherst has distinguished herself as the world’s most outstanding female amateur golfer for the third year in a row and has been named the recipient of the 10th annual Nancy Lopez Award. A recent graduate of Duke University, Blumenherst was named the 2008 NGCA Player of the Year and is the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion.
   
Produced by the Atlanta Classic Foundation since 2006, the award is named after one of the greatest and most respected women golfers in history and is presented annually to the world’s most outstanding female amateur. The inaugural winner in 2000 was Kellee Booth, followed by Aree Song, Meredith Duncan, Lorena Ochoa, Virada Nirapathpongporn, Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel. In its 10-year history, the Nancy Lopez Award has been won by an American Junior Golf Association alum each year.

“Winning the Nancy Lopez Award for the third year in a row is an incredible honor. I am so excited to have accomplished this, especially because Nancy Lopez has been my role model since I started playing golf,” Blumenherst said. “To win an award which includes her name and that she believes in so much is an amazing honor and achievement. It is an excellent way to conclude my amateur career.”

Blumenherst was a three-time national player of the year at Duke and led the Blue Devils to national championships in 2006 and 2007. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native was named the ACC Co-Player of the Year in 2009 and finished fourth at her final NCAA Championship. As a junior golfer, she finished her AJGA career with 10 victories and was a four-time Rolex Junior All-American.

In 2009, the Nancy Lopez Award Committee was comprised of the AJGA, Georgia State Golf Association and the Atlanta Classic Foundation. The committee seeks nominations annually, and votes based on a player’s performance as an amateur golfer during the calendar year being considered. The purpose of the Nancy Lopez Award is to recognize the world’s most outstanding female amateur golfer each year, while increasing awareness of the accomplishments of women amateur golfers.

Founded in 1916, the Georgia State Golf Association (GSGA) received its official charter on June 24, 1924.  Since that date, the GSGA has grown to one of the largest state amateur golf associations in the country, with over 355 member clubs and 85,000 individual members.  With a mission to promote and preserve amateur golf in the state of Georgia, GSGA offers a computerized handicapping service, course rating and measuring, and annually conducts a full schedule of statewide competitions for men and women of all age groups.  Other services include a summer-long junior sectional program, award-winning Golf Georgia magazine, membership recognition and rewards programs and a charitable foundation administering two college scholarship programs.

Since its inception in 1964, The Atlanta Classic Foundation has been the centerpiece of stability for a PGA Tour tournament in Atlanta. In the last 15 years it has raised over $16 Million for Atlanta charities.  The Foundation also produces other local charity tournaments, the Georgia-Pacific Grand Champions Championship and the Nancy Lopez award.

The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The largest Association of its kind, the AJGA has an annual junior membership (boys and girls ages 12-18) of more than 5,000 junior golfers from 50 states and more than 30 foreign countries.

Titleist, the AJGA’s National Sponsor, has been the catalyst and driving force behind the Association’s success since 1989. Rolex Watch USA, which is in its third decade of AJGA support, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004. In 2007, after 12 years of support, Polo Ralph Lauren became the AJGA’s second Premier Partner.

AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. More than 200 former AJGA juniors currently play on the PGA and LPGA Tours and have compiled more than 350 wins. AJGA alumni include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink, Davis Love III, Cristie Kerr, Pat Hurst, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Julieta Granada.

For more information, please contact Rob Coleman (rcoleman@ajga.org) in the AJGA Communications Department at (770) 868-4200, or visit the AJGA Web site at ajga.org.

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