Jeff Thomas (1996)

The Player of the Year title was nothing new to Jeff Thomas. 1996 marked the third time in just four years that Thomas came out on top in the Met Area Player of the Year race.

With an early win at the Travis Memorial at Garden City, for the second year in a row, Thomas’s season started hot. He followed that performance up with a 10-shot victory at the New York City Amateur, and a second-place finish in the New Jersey State Amateur, an event which he has won a record 8 times. Immediately after, Thomas competed in the prestigious Sunnehanna Amateur in Johnstown, P.A. where he won with a one-shot victory over U.S. Amateur runner-up Steve Scott.

Back in the Met Area, Thomas captured his first MGA Major title at the 1996 Ike Championship at Metedconk with a one-shot win over Ed Gibstein. His early season success put him far atop the leaderboard in Player of the Year points, but he was not done yet.

He came just a match shy of winning the 1996 U.S. Public Links, but followed up with strong appearances in the U.S. Amateur and Mid-Amateur.

Thomas also represented the MGA in both international matches in 1996, competing in France for the French American Challenge, and at the beautiful Hudson National for the inaugural Carey Cup.