BRASELTON, Ga. -- Zach Herr of New Hope, Pa., and Emily Gimpel of Lafayette Hill, Pa., were named the 2009 Presidents' Youth Leadership Award recipients, the United States Golf Association and American Junior Golf Association announced.
This award was created to recognize one boy and one girl junior golfer who demonstrated leadership, character and community service through their involvement with the USGA • AJGA Youth Leadership Club - a joint initiative founded in 2005 to further develop junior golfers through volunteerism. Previous winners include: Katrina Delen-Briones, of San Francisco, and Adam Michel, of Orinda, Calif., in 2006; Angela Villela, of Sylmar, Calif., and Joseph Suarez, of Richmond, Va., in 2007; and Smylie Kaufman of Birmingham, Ala., and Kelsey Conway of Ventura, Calif., in 2008.
Herr and Gimpel will be honored and formally presented the award during the Rolex Dinner of Champions Friday, July 3, 2009, during the Rolex Tournament of Champions at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Additionally, they will each receive four tickets to a U.S. Open in a year of their choice, access to the USGA hospitality tent during the U.S. Open, and an automatic entry into the 2009 Rolex Tournament of Champions - one of the nation's most prestigious junior golf events.
Herr and Gimpel share similar stories of service. Each live in Eastern Pennsylvania and were inspired to raise funds for cancer research after witnessing family members suffer from the disease. The stories of Herr's and Gimpel's volunteer service are described in full in the attached files.
About the USGA
The USGA is the national governing body of golf in this country and Mexico, a combined territory that includes more than half the world's golfers and golf courses.
The Association's most visible role is played out each season in conducting 13 national championships, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Open. Ten USGA national championships are exclusively for amateurs, and include the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women's Amateur.
The USGA also writes the Rules of Golf, conducts equipment testing, provides expert course maintenance consultations, funds research for better turf and a better environment, maintains a Handicap System and administers an ongoing "For the Good of the Game" grants program, which has allocated more than $59 million over 11 years to successful programs that bring the game's values to youths from disadvantaged backgrounds and people with disabilities. For more information about the USGA, visit www.usga.org
About the AJGA
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf.
The largest Association of its kind, the AJGA has an annual junior membership (boys and girls ages 12-18) of more than 5,000 junior golfers from 50 states and more than 25 foreign countries.
Titleist, the AJGA's National Sponsor, has been the catalyst and driving force behind the AJGA's success since 1989. Rolex Watch USA, which is in its third decade of AJGA support, became the inaugural AJGA Premier Partner in 2004. In 2007, after 12 years of support, Polo Ralph Lauren became the AJGA's second Premier Partner.
AJGA alumni have risen to the top of amateur, collegiate and professional golf. More than 200 former AJGA juniors currently play on the PGA and LPGA Tours and have compiled more than 350 wins. AJGA alumni include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer and Brittany Lincicome.
For more information, please contact Rob Coleman (rcoleman@ajga.org) in the AJGA Communications Department at (770) 868-4200, or visit the AJGA Web site at ajga.org.
