Jerry Courville, Jr. (2000)

In 1995, the first year Courville Jr. won Player of the Year honors, the Award was renamed to honor the memory of his late father, Jerry Courville Sr., who won more MGA titles than any other player in the Association’s history. In 2000, Courville Jr. collected his fourth Player of the Year award.

Courville began the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the Travis Memorial at Garden City Golf Club and went on to tie for fifth at the Hochster Memorial at Quaker Ridge. Next, Courville headed to the Ike Championship at Nassau Country Club. At the first major of the year, he finished tied for third behind Macdonald, who had successfully defended his title at the Ike.  Macdonald had prevailed at the New Jersey Amateur earlier that month and held the lead of the point standings following the Ike.

As the season came into full swing however, so did Courville. He led for most of the final round at the Met Open at Mountain Ridge but finished one shot off Mike Gilmore’s pace to capture low amateur honors and more importantly 350 crucial points. Courville’s confidence continued into the U.S. Amateur at nearby Baltusrol.  He earned another 275 points after reaching the quarterfinals and finally overtook Macdonald in the standings.

Courville never looked back and added some insurance points by reaching the second round of the U.S. Mid-Amateur at the Homestead in Virginia, a tournament he won in 1995, and wrapped up the year with a second place finish at the Boff Invitational at Shackamaxon to outlast Macdonald for the title.

Courville finished with 1,058 points, nearly 300 points better than runner-up, Ken Macdonald of Upper Montclair Country Club, after a torrid late-season run.