Around the Green

Regional Players of the Year Named

Hickman, Simmerman Collect Texas Regional Player of the Year Awards
 
DALLAS—The Texas Golf Association announced Wednesday that Aaron Hickman of Tyler won the 2016 North Texas Player of the Year award and Danny Simmerman of Shavano Park earned the 2016 South Texas Player of the Year honor.
 
Both players dominated in their TGA Regional appearances. Hickman in March won the North Texas Mid-Amateur Championship by three shots with a 54-hole score of 6-under-par 210 at Firewheel Golf Park. He tied for fourth place earlier this month at the North Texas Amateur with the same 6-under score at Hurricane Creek Country Club.
 
Simmerman, meanwhile, won both of his South Texas starts. He prevailed Aug. 7 with a four-shot victory at the South Texas Amateur with a three-day total of 4-under 212 at Wolfdancer Golf Club. Five months prior, Simmerman also won the South Texas Mid-Amateur by two shots with a final score of 1-over 214 at Eagle Pointe Golf Club.
 
Both award winners earned spots on their respective squads for the 2016 Texas Shootout, the annual Ryder Cup-style match between the top amateurs from North and South Texas. This year’s Texas Shootout will be played at legendary Champions Golf Club in Houston on Oct. 29-30.
 
For Simmerman, 2016 was a breakout year. A member at San Antonio’s Oak Hills Country Club, site of this summer’s 107th Texas Amateur presented by Insperity, Simmerman’s previous best result in a TGA event was a tie for fifth place at this year’s Texas Four-Ball Championship. He fired a 63 at Barton Creek Country Club’s Lakeside Course to win medalist honors at a 2013 Texas Mid-Amateur Qualifier, and Simmerman also has six USGA national championship appearances. He advanced to match play at the 2012 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
 
“It’s a great honor to have won the South Texas Player of the Year award,” Simmerman said. “The strength of the region is exhibited by the many great players that have won South Region events and the Player of the Year before me. There is a long history of great players coming from the state of Texas, so any type of honor that mentions golf and Texas is one that I hold in high regard. “
 
A longtime TGA veteran, Hickman won the North Texas Player of the Year award in 2011. He’s a three-time Texas Four-Ball Champion with teammate John Bearrie (2015, ’12 and ’11), and Hickman has played in the Texas Shootout nine times. A 10-time USGA participant, Hickman in 2014 won a National Championship as part of the Team Texas squad that won the U.S. Men’s State Team Championship at the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort.
 
“To be the Player of Year with so many good players in North Texas is an honor for me,” Hickman said.