Darin Goldstein (2018)

Consistency throughout a long season paid off in a big way for Darin Goldstein in 2018. Logging high finishes all season long, capturing a pair of wins and adding three more runner-up finishes lead Goldstein to the coveted honor.

Goldstein finished with 864.33 points for the season, edged reigning honoree James Nicholas by 4.33 points—the smallest final margin in the 43-year history of the award.

Most past Player of the Year winners have grown up playing golf since they could walk. Darin Goldstein is not one of them. He “stumbled” upon the game in the mid-2000s thanks to friends who were playing, and quickly found that he had a knack for it. In the years since, Goldstein has paired his natural athleticism with a keen desire to improve. He has stood among the region’s best in recent years, propelling to the top spot this year.

Goldstein began collecting points in May, advancing to sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open, winning the Eagle Oaks Invitational and making his way to the semifinals of the Havemeyer Invitational.

As the season continued, Goldstein continued successfully making cuts and finishing high on the leaderboard. His performance in the 103rd Met Open earned Goldstein 138.5 points, with a tie for third low amateur helping him tally his largest point total of the season.

Goldstein’s busy schedule continued with a trip to Paris for the French-American Challenge and a quick return for the Nassau Invitational, where he advanced to the quarterfinals. Goldstein added a runner-up finish in the Richardson Memorial to carry a 44-point edge into Fresh Meadow’s season-ending Sarazen Invitational.

Claiming the top spot capped off a steady rise in the year-end standings for Goldstein, having finished fifth, third, and second in the listings since 2015—more than solidifying his spot among the game’s elite competitors in the Met Area.