Global Golf Post is pleased to present our ninth All-Amateur team selections.
We take great pride, and equal joy, in supporting the global amateur game. Our All-Am selections, which began in 2013, are intended to recognize individual performance during the calendar year for men and women amateurs, mid-amateurs and senior amateurs.
In the past, we have honored more than 250 players across the six teams. This year, we have decided to significantly trim our selections to 100 total players to make for a more exclusive, meaningful list. There are 20 players on both the men’s and women’s amateur teams, plus 15 competitors for the four mid-am and senior amateur squads.
Proving how global the amateur game has become, our 100 selections represent 19 countries, 20 states and 21 American universities. Among these incredible players, two stood out as our GGP Amateurs of the Year: senior amateur Rusty Strawn and LSU stalwart Ingrid Lindblad.
There was no doubt for our men’s amateur of the year, given Strawn’s stellar play. The McDonough, Georgia, resident won five times, including victories in the U.S. Senior Amateur, Canadian Senior Amateur and Trans-Miss Senior Championship. It was undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best, senior amateur seasons in recent memory.
On the women’s side, the vote came down to Sweden’s Lindblad and world No. 1 Rose Zhang. Either player would be fully deserving of the selection, but we determined Lindblad narrowly edged out Zhang on the strength of four spring semester victories, a runner-up in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, setting an amateur scoring record in the U.S. Women’s Open and showing outstanding consistency throughout the year.
In a year during which talk of guaranteed money and a fracturing professional landscape has dominated conversation, it’s vital to remember that competitive golf is bigger than any single person, dollar amount, tour or organization. Nothing reminds us of this like the amateur game ...
Here is how we made our selections for not just the amateurs of the year, but for all of our teams. We were guided mainly by results in events counting toward the World Amateur Golf Ranking. These lists, which are products of a partnership between the USGA and R&A, generally are acknowledged to be the best in the game. The primary metric was performance in national events with strong fields, as measured by the WAGR Power Method. Local play, while considered, was given less weight.
The amateur division consists of players who have yet to reach age 25. They are mainly college players, many of whom are on the precipice of turning professional. In some cases, we have honored those who already have turned professional, but only their amateur accomplishments are considered in the selection. Similarly, junior golfers were considered based only on their achievements in “all ages” or collegiate amateur tournaments. Fall college golf events are a part of our rankings, although they are weighted far less than spring semester events when the college calendar is ramping up to its conclusion at the NCAA Championship.
To qualify for the mid-am teams, the player must be at least 25 years old. Collegiate results, or accomplishments taking place before age 25, are not counted.
On the senior side, women must be 50 years or older, and men must be 55 years or older. These are the USGA-recognized minimum ages for both divisions.
For each of our selections, we prepared a thumbnail sketch of what every competitor has accomplished in 2022. It is by no means a comprehensive description and, in almost all cases, there were a variety of other factors involved in the decision-making process. For our first-team picks, we have offered a few lines to better explain why that competitor was chosen.
In a year during which talk of guaranteed money and a fracturing professional landscape has dominated conversation, it’s vital to remember that competitive golf is bigger than any single person, dollar amount, tour or organization.
Nothing reminds us of this like the amateur game and the people who play it because of an unbridled and pure passion for competition, camaraderie and sportsmanship.
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