Monthly Archives: December 2025

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Zach Johnson

With his opening-round 65 in the Larry H. Miller Utah Open, Zach Johnson evoked memories of his victory more than a decade ago. Johnson’s 2025 overall season marked his return to more recent success. 

The Head Professional of Davis Park Golf Course became the ROLEX Player of the Year in the Utah Section PGA for a third time, following his 2018 and ‘19 titles.

At age 42, Johnson was credited with five tournament victories and a tie for third place in the Utah Section PGA Professional Championship, shooting 72-67 and qualifying for the 2026 national event. He finished with 6,889.33 points to 5,832.5 for runner-up Matt Baird, earning a title that he described as “a goal I set out to achieve every year and one that I am very proud of.”

Johnson added, “We have a great playing Section and every year, this award goes down to the wire. Most importantly, though, I’ve realized how lucky I am to be able to compete and do something I love.”

Johnson won the Gladstan Open, Security National Palisade Open and the Lifetime Homes Davis Park Open, while tying for first in the Sunset View Open and the Southern Utah Open among the pros. 

WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Haley Sturgeon

In a season when she became a seven-time ROLEX Women’s Player of the Year in the Utah Section PGA, Haley Sturgeon will have a lasting memory of her first appearance in the Section Championship. 

Eligible for the event as a Class A PGA member, Sturgeon was thrilled just to play at Toana Vista GC and enjoy the camaraderie among the Section pros. With emotions that she labeled “pure excitement and pure bliss,” she maximized her opportunity by shooting 71-69 and tying for fifth place, becoming the first Utah woman to advance to the PGA Professional Championship. 

Sturgeon, 32, has more competition than ever among Utah women pros, as evidenced by how Leighton Shosted edged her in the Women’s Match Play final. Yet her volume of tournament play, partly stemming from wanting to help build a women’s field, separates her in the Women’s Player of the Year race. In her 14 events, the assistant pro of The Country Club compiled 7,466 points to 3,551 for runner-up Emily Jones.

Sturgeon was credited with seven women’s victories and finished second in the Larry H. Miller Utah Women’s Open at The Country Club, posting 78-69 with a big rally on the front nine that added intrigue to the final round. 

SENIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Matt Baird

Maybe the most impressive part of Matt Baird’s final round of the Larry H. Miller Utah Open was how his mind was about two holes behind his body as he played. 

The explanation is that Baird was intently hoping Kihei Akina, one of his prized students, could complete the victory. Akina followed through nicely. So did Baird, in his own way. 

Baird’s 67-71-70 effort made him the low senior at Riverside Country Club, where he’s a longtime teaching professional. That finish was among the highlights of his first full season as a 50-year-old golfer, helping him become the ROLEX Senior Player of the Year in the Utah Section PGA. 

“Being here with my student is something special,” he said after the awards presentation on the 18th green.

In the Player of the Year race, Baird finished with 9.248.75 points to 8,806.25 for runner-up Todd Tanner, the 2024 winner. 

Baird secured the title with a victory in the PSS Industrial Vernal Open in September. He also was credited with senior wins in the 2024 Southern Utah Open, plus the 2025 Sunset View Open and the Brigham City Open. He earned the Section’s overall Player of the Year award for the first time in 2024.    

ASSISTANT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Spencer Wallace

Spencer Wallace will remember 2025 as a year when he came close to winning consecutive major tournaments on the Utah Section PGA schedule. The what-ifs of those two second-place finishes were offset by a bunch of accumulated points, making the difference for him in the ROLEX Assistant Player of the Year competition. 

Wallace posted 4,027.07 points to 3,247.95 for three-time winner Braydon Swapp. The winning margin of about 800 points is almost directly connected to the Larry H. Miller Utah Open and the Utah Assistant PGA Championship. 

Wallace tied for low pro honors in the Utah Open, posting 67-68-66 at Riverside Country Club and tying for second place overall and finishing first in the Section Sidebar. Noting the strong competition in the Section, Wallace said, “It’s always fun when you can finish on top with those guys.”

He followed that performance with a 67-67 showing at Stonebridge Golf Club. Even though he lost in a playoff for the second year in a row, he clinched the Assistant Player of the Year award. 

Wallace, a former Utah Tech University golfer, is a Trailblazers assistant coach and does other golf coaching and teaching in the St. George area.  

2025 Rolex Players of the Year profiles written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Garrit Johnson       

TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Jon Paupore

Golf Digest has consistently recognized Jon Paupore as one of Utah’s top golf teachers. In 2025, the magazine’s honors became more specific, and the panel’s selection matched the Utah Section PGA awards committee’s judgment. 

Paupore, Director of Instruction at Red Ledges Golf Club in Heber City, is the Section’s Teacher of the Year. And in the first year when Golf Digest named a No. 1 teacher in each state, Paupore was chosen for Utah. 

Having first received the Section’s award in 2014, Paupore has widened his influence in multiple ways since then. He built a year–round teaching facility at Red Ledges, developed more expertise in technology and equipment and evolved his scope more toward working with elite players. That includes several members of the University of Utah’s golf program in a rise to national prominence, after Head Coach Garrett Clegg reached out to him. 

Even so, one of Paupore’s strengths remains his “teaching style that fits well with every type of player,” said Isaac Brown, a Red Ledges Assistant Professional.

 John Johnson, the club’s PGA General Manager, added, “His ability to connect with any golfer makes him special.”

In 2025, Paupore supervised 12 junior golf schools at Red Ledges, accounting for 212 participants. That volume reflects how Paupore is “also a great mentor and teacher of teachers,” Johnson wrote in endorsing him for the Section award. 

Paupore recognizes that Utah features a lot of excellent teachers. So “to be singled out amongst some of the best instructors in the Mountain West is something special,” he said. “We all go out and try to make the game better and make people better.”

In that sense, as much as he enjoys seeing his elite players win collegiate and professional tournaments, he remembers himself as a 7-year-old kid, hitting a soaring 7-iron shot for the first time. “I was hooked from there,” he said. “When you see someone else have that moment, see the spark in any golfer, it’s kind of cool.” 

YOUTH PLAYER DEVELOPMENT AWARD: Justin Gereau 

Justin Gereau can easily see himself in the faces of the young golfers he works with in Logan. 

After all, he once was one of them, walking to Logan River Golf Course on summer mornings and becoming immersed in the game. He wants the Cache Valley kids of this era to have that opportunity and create similar memories for themselves.

He enjoyed playing with his father and grandfather, and then his love of golf took hold in the kind of programs he now conducts at Logan River.  

“The experience of being around kids my age; that’s what really stuck with me,” said Gereau, the winner of the 2025 Youth Player Development award in the Utah Section PGA. “I’m sure a lot of people that ended up in the profession have the same story.”

That’s true, but their careers have not necessarily taken shape at their hometown facilities. Gereau believes he participated in the second junior golf camp overseen at Logan River by Head Professional Jeff John, the Section’s Past President. Gereau got involved on the teaching side of the course’s summer programs in 2012. He became a lead coach for First Tee Utah in 2017 when Logan River joined the network, and he earned PGA membership in 2022 as a full-fledged assistant professional.

“What sets him apart is his natural demeanor that makes kids feel valued and good about themselves and what they are doing,” said Paul Pugmire, CEO/President of First Tee Utah. “It’s easy to see that they love him.”

Gereau has worked with about 300 children In these eight years, with many of them following Utah’s Junior Golf Road Map into levels of competition. He’s now working with 20 students who hope to play golf for one of Cache Valley’s five high schools. And he loves the feeling of aiding in the growth of Utah golf.

“If I can contribute to a young person finding their love for the game,” he said. “I have done my job.”

2025 Utah PGA Youth Player Development Award and Teacher of the Year profiles written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos by Fairways Media/Garrit Johnson, Red Ledges Golf Club and Gereau family.

It would not be accurate to say that Haley Sturgeon earned the Assistant Professional of the Year award in the Utah Section PGA by bringing the Larry H. Miller Utah Women’s Open to The Country Club in Salt Lake City. 

This statement, though, is true: The qualities that made it happen certainly help explain why Sturgeon is being honored. 

Whether the task is assigned to her or she develops the idea herself, Sturgeon is becoming known for following through. That’s true on the golf course and in the golf shop 

“Our membership thinks the world of her. I believe she is their favorite employee,” Bill Blackett, The Country Club’s Head Professional, wrote in nominating Sturgeon for the award. “I am confident she will go on to become a great Head Golf Professional someday.”

This recognition comes in Sturgeon’s first year of eligibility as a Class A PGA member. She follows 2024 recipient Nyomy Obcemea of Ogden Golf & Country Club as the second woman to be named Assistant Professional of the Year in the award’s 40-year history. 

The 32-year-old Sturgeon poignantly labeled 2025 “a year of hard work, personal growth and personal heartache.”

A third miscarriage, amid the joy of witnessing 2-year-old son Jack’s development, was a setback for Sturgeon and her husband, Davis. As she said, “Those losses, they hit you harder every time. … Life still goes on, unfortunately.”

Sturgeon persevered in her job and in her own golf pursuits during a year that will long be remembered in Utah golf for the rise of the Utah Women’s Open in its ninth edition. Sturgeon not only was a driving force of the event, gaining the approval and sponsorships of club members, but she created a final-round stir with a 69 that gave her second place behind Emilee Hoffman. 

She’s proud of “helping to elevate the event to a new level of prestige,” she said, resulting in “increased visibility to and support for women’s golf in Utah.”

Sturgeon also thrived in coordinating the club membership’s golf programming. The offerings included 16 major club events, 20 ladies’ events and regular games, conducted four days a week. The club welcomed about 30 new members in 2025, and nearly all of them became involved in competition. 

Sturgeon also has served the Section by working on the Tournament Committee and the Business Planning Committee.

2025 Utah PGA Assistant Professional of the Year Award profile written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photo by Fairways Media/Garrit Johnson.    

In the 40-year history of the Utah Section PGA’s Golf Professional of the Year award, one clear trend has developed. Nearly all of the winners are homegrown Utahns, lifelong stakeholders in the success of Utah golf and the impact of the Section. 

Marty Bauer is a small-town Pennsylvania native, so he’s a distinctive recipient of the 2025 honor. That background makes his contribution to the Utah golf community and the Section all the more impressive. 

Bauer, the Chief Operations Officer/Director of Golf at Glenwild Golf Club in Park City, shares other traits of past winners. Those notably include “a genuine interest in people” in the words of one colleague, and a commitment to helping members of the profession. 

And let’s not overlook how Bauer and his wife, Kelly, are about to reach two decades of residence in a state that they have come to love and have no intentions of leaving. They’re immersed in Utah, and are appreciative of being viewed as Utahns, as commended by this award. 

In his Utah tenure, Bauer has worked for private clubs in Park City, which have their own demographic of Utah golf. Yet personally and professionally, he has been anything but isolated.    

Bauer’s recognition comes after one of his own mentors, Tony Pancake of Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana, was named the 2024 PGA of America Golf Professional of the Year. The dots are connectable. The influence of Pancake and others on Bauer’s approach to his job is shown by how he’s always trying to help other professionals advance in their careers. 

While serving on the Section Board of Directors in 2020, Bauer received the Section’s PGA Professional Development Award. And in 2024, he earned the Bill Strasbaugh Award, after the definition of that honor was changed to more of a recognition of mentoring. 

Clearly, that’s a big part of his game. The Golf Professional of the Year award “simply puts a title on what I’ve known since the day I started working for him,” said Mark Valenti, Glenwild’s Head Professional. “Marty is the kind of leader who shows up for his people in every way that matters.”

Valenti added, “Marty has a unique gift for developing others; he sees potential before you see it in yourself, and he knows how to bring it out with the right balance of trust and encouragement.”

The Glenwild staff directly benefits, but Bauer’s reach is not limited to them. Bauer is a mentor for PGA associates throughout the Utah Section, and he’s proud of the Section’s developmental efforts.

Bauer’s bosses at stops such as Baltimore Country Club and Crooked Stick were so supportive that his attitude about professional development became ingrained, “whether that is (guiding) someone on our team at Glenwild or helping share my experiences with other pros in the Utah PGA and the PGA of America,” he said.      

His latest award comes during what Bauer describes as Glenwild’s “busiest year ever.” Amid accommodating the volume of golf played by members, he developed and presented a master plan that was six years in the making to “not only address the infrastructure needs, but also to improve our club,” he said. 

The membership resoundingly approved the plan.

2025 Utah PGA Professional of the Year profile written by Fairways Media senior writer Kurt Kragthorpe. Photos courtesy of Glenwild Club and Spa.

Each year, the Utah Section PGA shines a well-deserved spotlight on PGA Members who elevate our game. Today, we’re proud to share the 2025 Utah PGA Award winners and Rolex Players of the Year, men and women whose dedication, leadership and passion continue to shape golf in Utah. On behalf of The Utah Section PGA Board of Directors, Officers and Awards Committee  it’s an honor to celebrate the following outstanding PGA Members and Associates and recognize the impact they make across Utah golf.

Assistant Professional of the Year: Haley Sturgeon, The Country Club 

Utah PGA Teacher of the Year: Jon Paupore, Red Ledges

Youth Player Development: Justin Gereau, Logan River

Jon Unger Award: Phil Deimling, FootJoy

Merchandiser of the Year, Private: Nick Owen, Park Meadows

Merchandiser of the Year, Public: Chris Marx, Eagle Mountain

Player Development: Rob Krieger, Southgate

Superintendent of the Year, Private: Derek Johnson, Logan Country Club

Superintendent of the Year, Public: Tom Rhodes, Bountiful Ridge

PGA Professional Development: Kam Kotraba, Glenwild

Wesley Ruff Golf Citizen Award: Paul Pugmire, Utah Golf Radio

Doug Vilven Distinguished Service Award: Ernie Schneiter Jr., Schneiter’s Riverside

Jeff Beaudry Golf Ambassador Award: Rick Mears, Oakridge Country Club (Retired)

Utah PGA President’s Service Award: Ned Siegfried

Rolex Player of the Year: Zach Johnson

Rolex Women’s Player of the Year: Haley Sturgeon

Rolex Senior Player of the Year: Matt Baird

Rolex Assistant Player of the Year: Spencer Wallace