Beginning in 2008 The Salesmanship Club of Dallas has given out awards to outstanding junior golfers who also display extraordinary efforts outside of golf. They must be nationally ranked golfers, to be sure, but they also need to display some of the character traits of Mr. Nelson. The things we like to see is their being active in their church, giving back to their community or helping the less fortunate in their home towns.
Over the past seven years we have had some outstanding award recipients. The link below will take you to the list.
http://www.hpbnc.org/byronnelson/byron-nelson/awards/
This year we gave the award to five young men. All five of them will be playing college golf this fall. They are:
George Cunningham, Tucson, ArizonaUniversity of Arizona
Doug Ghim, Arlington Heights, IllinoisUniversity of Texas
Matthew Perrine, Austin, TexasAuburn University
Scottie Scheffler, Dallas, TexasUniversity of Texas
Austen Truslow, New Smyrna Beach, FloridaUniversity of Virginia
These five men were given their award at a dinner last Saturday night with Mrs. Peggy Nelson. Justin Leonard was on hand to tell them some of his Byron Nelson stories. He also told them about his Ryder Cup experiences and recalled his British Open victory. Each and every one of the boys gave wonderful acceptance speeches and all of them remembered to thank their parents who had sacrificed so much for them to pursue their amateur golf careers.
The 2014 HP Byron Nelson Championship featured two Byron Nelson Junior award winners. Jordan Speith (2010) and Scottie Scheffler (2014) were in the field for the Championship.
Someday let’s hope more of our boys return to our Championship as PGA TOUR players.
