Watertown's Jake Olson earns SDGA Player of Year honor again
Jake Olson of Watertown is one of five golfers to earn 2022 Player of the Year honors from the South Dakota Golf Association.
For the second-straight year, the Watertown High School junior has been chosen as Junior Male Golfer of the Year.
Olson won the SDGA-Sanford Series Championship and was the third low qualifier for the SDGA Match Play Championship. He qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur July 25-30 in Brandon (Oregon) and came within three strokes of making the cut for match play.
The Players of the Year will be honored during the SDGA Annual Banquet that is scheduled for Sunday at The Holiday Inn and Suites in Sioux Falls. Events begin with a social hour at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the awards program and SDGA Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Derek Burshiem of Flandreau, Larry Gunia of Sioux Falls and Kevin Buntrock of Rapid City will be inducted into the hall of fame.
Tickets for the event are $20. For more information, call 605-376-2148.
Other SDGA Players of the Year include:
Will Grevlos, Sioux Falls
Grevlos earned the Male Golfer of the Year honor after winning the first two legs of the SDGA's Grand Slam. He and partner Tyler Westra won the Two-Man Championship and Grevlos followed that up with a victory in the SDGA Match Play Championship.
Grevlos also placed 10th in the SDGA Amateur Championships.
Reese Jansa, Sioux Falls
Jansa become the first player to be named Female Golfer of the Year and Junior Female Golfer of the Year in the same year.
She won trophies in all three SDGA Women's Championships, winning the Women's Amateur and finishing second in both the Women's Match Play and Two-Woman Championships.
Jansa also became the first golfer to win the SDGA Women's Amateur and Girls Junior Championship in the same year. She will be an incoming freshman at Toledo University.
Jennifer Stalley, Pierre
Stalley received Senior Female Golfer of the Year honors after winning the SDGA Women's Senior Amateur Championship and adding a fourth-place finish in the championship division of the SDGA Two-Man tourney.
She also placed fourth in the Senior Husband-Wife Championship along with her husband Bob.
Sam Prue, North Sioux City
The Senior Male Golfer of the Year, Prue birdied three of the final five holes for a final-round 67 on the way to winning the SDGA Senior Championship.
Prue also was the runner-up in the SDGA Senior Match Play Championship.
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Five players named SDGA Golfers of the Year for 2022.
