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No.1 Senior Women's Amateur
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The Golf Digest Awards 2009

By Ron Kaspriske
Illustrated by Jessica Hische

The Golf Digest Awards 2009

December 16, 2009

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Sherry Herman
In the USGA Senior Women's Amateur, Herman defeated medalist Joan Higgins in the second round and 2004 champion Carolyn Creekmore in the final. This came after Herman had won the North & South Senior.TOP SENIOR WOMENPat Brogden, Taffy Brower, Carolyn Creekmore, Jackie Little, Patty Moore, Nancy Smith, Marianne TowerseyTOP SENIOR MENMike Bell, Ron Carter, Jerry Greenbaum, Chris Maletis, Paul Simson, Ted Smith, Gary Strickfaden, Bill Zylstra
Bud Cauley
Cauley edged Nathan Smith, the U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, for this honor because when the two met in the quarterfinals of the Western Amateur, Cauley won, 5 and 3. Cauley also won the Players Amateur in July and went 3-0-1 in the Walker Cup.AMATEUR MEN1 Bud Cauley2 Nathan Smith3 Dan Woltman4 Nick Taylor5 Peter Uihlein6 Brian Harman7 Byeong-Hun An8 Brendan Gielow9 David Chung10 Rickie Fowler
Lorena Ochoa
Ochoa and Jiyai Shin led the LPGA Tour with three victories each in 2009, but Ochoa had more second-place finishes (four) than Shin (one), and that broke the tie for this award. Ochoa, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, had a down year by her standards but still won the Honda LPGA Thailand, the Corona Championship and the Navistar LPGA Classic. "It's been tough in many different ways," she said, "but the important thing is, I'm at the top." It was the fourth consecutive year that Ochoa led the tour in scoring average (70.16).
Y.E. Yang
Yang started the year 478th in the World Golf Ranking but cracked the top 30 after winning the Honda Classic in March and knocking off Tiger at the PGA Championship in August. The South Korea native also made 11 straight cuts to finish the '09 PGA Tour season.‘ guess the fearlessness comes from knowing I'm doing my dream job.'
Jiyai Shin
Shin won three times in her first full season on the LPGA Tour. (The South Korea native earned her tour card by winning the 2008 Ricoh Women's British Open as a member of the Korean LPGA.) Shin's 12 top 10s in '09 helped her earn $1,807,334 to lead the money list.
Jennifer Song
Song won the U.S. Women's Amateur and the Public Links. She finished second at the NCAA Championship and was low amateur at the U.S. Women's Open, where she placed T-13. The sophomore at Southern Cal has maintained her amateur status.AMATEUR WOMEN1 Jennifer Song2 Alexis Thompson3 Azahara Munoz4 Amelia Lewis5 Meghan Stasi6 Candace Schepperle7 Cydney Clanton8 Julia Boland9 Taylore Karle10 Nannette Hill
Tiger Woods
Woods had victories at Bay Hill, the Memorial, AT&T National, the Buick Open, the WGC-Bridgestone and BMW Championship, answering doubts about his health after knee surgery. His only missed cut in 2009 was at the British Open, his first missed cut in a major since the '06 U.S. Open. Woods entered 17 PGA Tour events last year and had 16 top-25 finishes -- 14 of which were top 10s, including three seconds. He won more than $10 million for the third time in his career and topped the money list for a record ninth time.
Ai Miyazato
In 22 events, Miyazato never missed a cut (she missed six in 2008), had 13 top 10s (up from three the previous year) -- including a win at the Evian Masters, and second-place finishes at the CN Canadian Women's Open and Samsung World Championship.‘'s a result of what I've been building up to for the last few seasons.'
Jordan Spieth
Spieth won the U.S. Junior Amateur in July after qualifying for match play with a six-under-par 137 that earned him medalist honors. A week later, he finished second in the Junior PGA Championship with rounds of 69-67-72-66 (14 under).AMATEUR BOYS1 Jordan Spieth2 T.J. Vogel3 Emiliano Grillo4 Bobby Wyatt5 Byeong-Hun An6 Cheng-Tsung Pan7 Yaroslav Merkulov8 Jeffrey Kang9 Jay Hwang10 Cameron Wilson
Marc Leishman
Leishman, an Aussie, was the only PGA Tour rookie to qualify for this year's Tour Championship. His T-2 at the BMW Championship and T-5 at the Valero Texas Open helped him earn $1,742,243, which ranked 47th on tour.‘ was a little bit star-struck at first ... but I'm starting to get used to it.'
Victoria Tanco
The Argentine ran away from the field at the AJGA's Rolex Tournament of Champions, outplaying her closest competitor by nine shots. She also qualified for the U.S. Women's Open and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Girls' Junior.AMATEUR GIRLS1 Victoria Tanco2 Alexis Thompson3 Amy Anderson4 Jessica Korda5 Kimberly Kim6 Alison Lee7 Ani Gulugian8 Yueer (Cindy) Feng9 Sarah Brown10 Rachel Morris
Tiger Woods
For the first time in 23 years, the most prestigious accolade goes to a golfer who didn't win a major. Tiger's seven wins worldwide, reclamation of the FedEx Cup and 5-0 record in the Presidents Cup earned him an overwhelming percentage of our editors' votes.
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