The race for the Mass. Golf Player of the Year award has been on Ricky Stimets' mind since April.
Following his runner-up finish then at the Massachusetts Four-ball, which was highlighted by a blazing hot back nine that nearly helped him and his partner Kevin Blaser win the tournament, Stimets acknowledged he was thinking about it.
“I realized after last year how close I was, and I just didn’t play enough events early in the season,” he said.
Last year, Stimets finished in ninth place, while fellow mid-amateur Matt Parziale captured the Richard D. Haskell Player of the Year award for the eighth time since 2009.
It’s one thing to fill the schedule. It’s another thing to play well. Stimets has been consistent and steady all year. He was the low amateur in the Mass. Open with an impressive T5 finish. He finished second in the Hornblower at Plymouth CC. A T6 in the New England Amateur and a Round of 16 appearance in the Mass. Amateur has helped him accrue enough points to sit on top of the rankings.