2022 SNGA Players of the Year Championship Series

It is one of the top honors in Southern Nevada golf: earning a Southern Nevada Golf Association player of year award. Josh Goldstein, Todd Roberts, Gary Carpendale, Aron Suci, David Koch and Loren Little were the player of the year for the 2022 season.

Here are their highlights plus the video highlighting their accomplishments.

Aaron Suci

Loren Little

Gary Carpendale

Butch Harmon, Todd Roberts

David Koch

Josh Goldstein

Championship Division Player of the Year – Josh Goldstein

• Finished with a total of 1,334 points. This was 162 points ahead of our 2^nd place finisher, Jackson Parrish.
• Competed in 11 point counting events between SNGA and Nevada State Championships.
• Out of those 11 events, Josh finished inside the top 10, 9 times.
• He finished inside the top 5 in 6 of those 11 events.
• Josh also had strong showings in the 4 SNGA Major Championships of 2022. In chronological order, Josh’s major finishes include….
  • A T-2 at the first SNGA Major of 2022, the SNGA Championship. This event is played at Highland Falls Golf Club and Palm Valley Golf Club.
  • A solo 3^rd finish at the Southern Nevada Amateur, conducted in late June at the Paiute Sun Mountain course.
  • A T-7 in late October at The Las Vegas City Amateur at Las Vegas Golf Club.
  • And finally, a victory at the 4^th and final SNGA Major Championship, The Clark County Amateur, held at Boulder Creek Golf Club. Josh shot rounds of 71-68 to finish the Major at -5, 3 shots clear of 2^nd
• While the Major victory in November capped off his season and the POY victory, his largest point counting event occurred when he was victorious at the Nevada State Match Play Championship. The 2022 Match Play Championship was conducted at Toiyabe Golf Club in Washoe, NV. Josh shot a great under par round in the stroke play seeding round to earn the #2 seed. After a 1^st round bye, Josh won his Round of 16, Quarterfinal, and Semi-Final matches by scores of 4&2, 4&2, and 4&3. In the 36-Hole Championship match, Josh beat eventual Runner-Up, Andrew Hawk, by a score of 3&2 to secure his victory.
• In July, Josh competed in The Pacific Coast Amateur as a member of the 3-person SNAG Morse Cup team along with teammates Jackson Parrish and Hazen Newman. The event was played at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland Oregon. Josh paced the SNGA team that week with the lowest 72-Hole total. The 2023 Pacific Coast Amateur will be held at Capilano Golf and Country Club in British Columbia. Josh currently sits in first place on the points list to participate as part of the SNGA team for this event and I know he’s working hard to return.
• And finally, back in September, Josh and his playing partner, Sean O’Donnell, competed in a United States Four-Ball qualifier. They finished the qualifier with the lowest score to win medalist honors and qualify for the 2023 United States Four-Ball Amateur Championship. The National Championship will be conducted in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. I know Josh is looking forward to competing in this later this spring and the SNGA community will be rooting for you Josh!

2022 Net Player of the Year – Aron Suci

• Our Net Player of the Year, Aron Suci, finished the season with a total of 595 points. First and second place were only separated by a total of 20 points. Making the Net POY race the closest contest we had in any of our points races last year.
• Aron competed in a total of 7 SNGA tournaments that counted for points towards the Player of the Year. Out of those 7 events, he either won, or finished 2^nd in more than half. 4 times he finished either 1^st or 2^nd.
• Aron finished T-2 at the Boulder City Amateur Championship in May which was conducted at both Boulder City Golf Course and Boulder Creek Golf Club. I know Aron plays a ton of golf at those two courses so I am sure he felt like it was a home game for him that weekend.
• After finishing outside of the top 10 in his next SNGA start in early summer, Aron came back strong with a solo 2^nd place finish in August at the SNGA Stableford event held at Cascata Golf Club.
• But, the main reason Aron is winning this award tonight is his stellar play in the fall, in particular in the month of October.
• Aron started out October by winning the SNGA Team Championship, held at Boulder City Golf Club. Aron and his partner Ken Humphries caught fire that weekend and took down the title.
• Three weeks later Aron continued his hot streak by winning the 3^rd SNGA Major Championship of the season, the Las Vegas City Amateur at Las Vegas Golf Club. This win propelled Aron from outside the top 3, to 1^st in the points standings. Aron was able to hang on to that spot through the final Major of the year.
• Aron’s win is a prime example of why player should not give up when they don’t get off to a great start to the season. Halfway through the year Aron was outside of the Top-10 on the points list. He earned 375 of his 595 points just in the final 3 events of the year.
• A strong finish to a season like Aron had is why he is receiving this award.

2022 Senior Player of the Year – Todd Roberts

• Our 2022 Senior Player of the Year, Todd Roberts, finished with 1,554 points. This was 576 points ahead of the eventual 2^nd place finisher.
• Between SNGA Championships and Nevada State Championships, he competed in 11 Senior points counting events. Out of those 11 events, Todd won more than half of them. 6 wins out of those 11 events are a main reason he is receiving this award tonight.
• Todd finished inside the Top-5 in 9 of the 11 tournaments. To show you how consistent of a golfer he is, the two events that he did not finish inside the Top-5, he finished 6th! To play eleven events and never finish worse than 6^th is the model of consistency.
• Some of Todd’s victories include….
  • A victory at the 2022 SNGA Team Championship with his partner, Brady Exber.
  • He won the 2022 Primm Valley Amateur held on the Tom Fazio designed Lakes course at Primm Valley Golf Club.
  • 1^st Place at the Nye County Amateur held in April at Mountain Falls Golf Club in Pahrump.
• Todd’s lone SNGA Major victory this year came at the first Major of the year. The SNGA Championship at Highland Falls and Palm Valley Golf Clubs.
• Even though Todd did win that first SNGA Major of the season, his biggest victory came at the Nevada State Senior Amateur Championship at Dayton Valley Golf Club in Dayton, NV. A lot occurred at this event. Due to heavy smoke from wildfires the event was almost cancelled. Players had to be extremely flexible while they dealt with smoky conditions and tee time delays due to the wildfires. Todd overcame these issues and delays to shot a 3-Day total of 212 (-1) to edge out runner-up James Corey by 1 shot.
• This marks the 3^rd time that Todd has hoisted the trophy for winning the Nevada State Senior Amateur Championship. He also won the title in 2017 at Las Vegas National Golf Club and in 2018 at Somersett CC in Reno, NV. The 2023 State Senior Amateur is returning to Las Vegas National where Todd will have a chance to defend his title.
• One last impressive feat I wanted to note to highlight Todd’s consistency as a player. Todd competed in all 4 SNGA Majors and the NV State Senior Amateur in 2022. Between those 5 events that is a total of 11 rounds of golf. In those 11 rounds of golf, Todd shot a combined score of -1 under par!! To many of us in this room who show up to the first tee with hops of simply breaking 80 or 90, this is an incredible feat and impressive accomplishment.
• Winning this Player of the Year title now for the 3^rd time in the last 5 years, Todd Roberts.

2022 Senior Net Player of the Year – Dave Koch

• Dave unfortunately could not be here tonight. But no need to feel too sorry for him. Dave spends 2-months every winter in Hawaii playing golf and was probably playing in 70 degree weather today and that is the reason he is not here tonight.
• Dave sent me a quick note reminding me to congratulate all the other Players of the Year being honored tonight.

2022 SNGA Silver Player of the Year – Gary Carpendale

• Our 2022 SNGA Silver Player of the Year, Gary Carpendale, finished with a total of 1,620 points. The 1,620 points was the most amount of points earned by any SNGA player for the 2022 season. The 868 point gap that separated him from 2^nd place in the season points race was also the biggest gap between 1^st and 2^nd in any race. To put that into perspective, the 868 points that he finished clear of 2^nd place would have been enough points to win 3 of the other 5 POY points races outright. This goes to show what an incredible season Gary had.
• Out of the 10 SNGA and Nevada State Championships that Gary competed in, he won 7 out of 10.
• He finished inside the Top-3 in 9 of those 10 events.
• Gary had a strong solo 2^nd place finish at the 2022 Nevada State Senior Amateur Championship at Dayton Valley Golf Club. At that event Gary fired a 3-day 54-hole total of 208 (-5). Many years a score like that would be good enough to win. But eventual winner, Jeff Duncan, shot a 54-Hole total of 202 (-11) at this home club in Dayton to take down the title by 6 shots.
• Gary finished off the year with some exclamation points by winning the final two SNGA Major Championships of the 2022 season…
  • In late October at the SNGA Las Vegas Senior City Amateur Championship, Gary shot rounds of 66-70 to finish at (-8). This was two shots clear of runner up Mark Williams.
  • At the final Major of the year at The Clark County Amateur Championship at Boulder Creek GC, Gary shot rounds of 69-69 to finish at (-6). This score ended up being 9 shots clear of second place.
  • To put those two final events of the season in perspective, Gary played then in a combined (-14), a very impressive feat.
• One final note. It is tough to talk about Gary and present him with this award without spending a short time to talk about his record in the Las Vegas Senior City Amateur. His win this past October marked the 8^th time that he was won a Senior City Amateur Championship. He has won in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, and now 2022. At this point Las Vegas Golf Club is to Gary what Torrey Pines is to Tiger Woods.
• Tell quick story about announcing Gary on the tee at Muni

2022 SNGA Silver Net Player of the Year – Loren Little

• Our 2022 SNGA Silver Net Player of the Year proves beyond a doubt that age is just a number. At 81 years young, Loren competes in the Silver Division with some players that are almost 20 years his junior. Loren is also one of the most active SNGA players, competing in the SNGA Tour Series events, SNGA Championships, and Nevada State events.
• Loren finished with a total of 588 points, just less than 50 points clear of 2^nd
• Despite missing more events than usual due to a few health issues throughout the season, Loren still managed to play in a total of 8 SNGA Championships and Nevada State events.
• Out of those 8 events, Loren finished inside the top 3 in exactly half of them. 4 times inside the top 3 is a good recipe for success.
• Some of Loren’s notable finishes include…
  • A T-3 at the Nye County Amateur in April at Mountain Falls Golf Club.
  • A T-3 in the SNGA Team Championship at Boulder City Golf Club. Loren and his playing partner Jim Burger, made a great run on day 2 to move up the leaderboard.
  • A solo 3^rd place finish at the Nevada State Senior Amateur Championship at Dayton Valley Golf Club.
• But Loren’s most impressive finish and lone win of the 2022 season came at the second SNGA Major Championship of the season. The 2022 Southern Nevada Amateur was held in late June on the Paiute Sun Mountain course. Loren was the only player in the entire Silver Division to finish under par Net in some very difficult conditions. The win and the 250 first place points that went with it was the main factor in why he is receiving this award tonight.
• One last quick item of note regarding Loren. We pair players in SNGA tournaments based on a variety of factors. For the second day it is by score. But for the opening rounds it’s a combination of random draw, handicap indexes, etc… We do not accept pairings requests in our tournaments, but obviously that does not stop people from trying. And the most requested person to be paired with in the Silver Division by a mile is Loren. Which should give you some insight into just how well liked and respected he is by his peers and other players in his division.