Adam and Bhatia Named NC Players of the Year
Nicole Adam Named N.C. Junior Girls’ Player of the Year;
Akshay Bhatia Repeats as N.C. Junior Boys’ Players of the Year
N.C. junior golf’s best honored by the Tarheel Youth Golf
Association and the Carolinas Golf Association
Southern Pines, NC – Nicole Adam of Pinehurst, N.C. and Akshay Bhatia of Wake Forest, N.C. have been named the 2018 N.C. Junior Players 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.
Adam, a 16-year-old junior at The O’Neal School, won four tournaments including the Dogwood State Junior, the North State High School Challenge, the Peggy Kirk Bell Junior and the U.S. Kids Golf Teen World Championship along with finishing as the medalist in U.S. Junior Girls’ Amateur qualifying. In the 22 events Adam played, she finished in the top fifteen 19 times and finished with a tournament stroke average of 73.65. “I am very proud of her for how hard she has worked and for the recognition she has earned” stated her golf coach Donna Andrews. “There is a lot of hard work ahead, too, and I know she will continue to put forth that work and be a tremendous success in golf and life” added Andrews. Adam has verbally committed to play college golf at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Bhatia, a 17-year-old home schooled junior, became the first player to ever win back-to-back PGA Junior Boys’ Championships. Bhatia also won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, the AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions and was the runner-up in the U.S. Junior Amateur. Bhatia finished outside the top ten only twice times in the 11 junior tournaments he played and average 69.65 per round in tournament play. In September, Bhatia represented the USA in the Junior Ryder Cup in Paris, France. "I’ve had the pleasure to assist Shay with his game over the past 3 years" said Allen Terrell, Bhatia's swing instructor. "He is always trying to improve. The first thing Shay thinks about in the morning is how is he going to get better today. It’s a coaches’ dream to work with someone with Shay’s drive and commitment" added terrell Bhatia has decided not to attend college and will turn professional after his junior golf career has ended. Bhatia repeats as the N.C. Junior Player of the Year, becoming the first junior boy to win back-to-back player of the year awards.
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, 2018 through December 31, 2018 and who have not graduated from high school.
These outstanding juniors, along with the 2018 N.C. All-State Girls’ and Boys’ teams, will be honored at the N.C. Junior Golf Night Awards Banquet on Saturday, January 26, 2019 at Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C.