Heryford claims Iowa Junior PGA player of year award

Golf is the only sport Rylee Heryford competes in. She’s good at it.

Heryford is a 14-year-old freshman at Newton High School. She’s been playing golf since she was 5.

It’s obvious she has worked on her game over the past nine years. For the second year in a row, Heryford earned a Iowa Junior PGA Player of the Year award.

In 2017, she was the Iowa Junior PGA 13-and-under girls’ player of the year. The 2018 awards were announced recently, Heryford is the 2018 Iowa Junior PGA 14-15 girls’ player of the year.

“I’ve made some really good friends playing golf and I want to play high school golf,” Heryford said why she continues playing the sport. “I also would like to go play college golf somewhere so doing the tour helps with getting recognized.”

Heryford played in 15 Iowa PGA Junior Tour events this season, finishing in the top five in each event. She finished the 2018 season with a total of 9,300 player of the year points.

Heryford won nine times this season, including four Major Point events. Heryford won the 14-15-year old girls’ 2018 Iowa PGA Junior Tour Championship tournament title in August.

She won the Iowa PGA Junior Championship tournament on July 26 and the 43rd Iowa Girls Junior PGA Championship, June 24-25.

“My dad and my granddad play golf but no one else in my family does,” Heryford said.

Heryford is the daughter of Jason and Kerry Heryford of Newton. Jason Heryford was a member of the 1990 Class 4A state championship team from Newton High School. He played on the 1991 state runner-up team.

A year ago, Heryford said she enjoyed playing golf because you are the person in control of what you are doing. She also said each hole is a new hole and you move on from what happened at the last hole to focus on the next shot.

Moving up a division was a new experience for Heryford this season on the junior tour. She said the tour events were more consistent with 10 competitors in each tournament instead of four or five girls when she competed last year.

“Plus we began playing 18 holes instead of nine holes each time. That was a little difficult to maintain a steady pace,” she said. “It got me ready for high school golf.”

Heryford practices three or four times a week. She said she added going to lessons with Ken Shaw in Des Moines every other week. She also continues to practice with John Shawver at Fore Seasons Golf in Newton.

“It’s pretty fun playing on the Iowa Junior PGA Tour and I enjoy going to Missouri every other year. Match play is fun there and a great change from just stroke play,” Heryford said.

Heryford said she is looking forward to playing for the NHS Cardinal girls’ golf team in the spring. Cardinal girls’ head coach Scott Enyart came out and watched her play a couple times this summer.

“Things were just pretty steady this year for me,” Heryford said.

She said her long irons are the best part of her game right now. She’s able to use a longer iron club on her approach shots from the fairway to the greens with accuracy.

Heryford calls Newton’s Westwood Golf Course her home course.

The 2018 Iowa PGA Junior Tour Player of the Year award recipients will be honored at the All-Star Pro Golf Awards Luncheon on Oct. 30 at Riverside Casino & Golf Resort at Riverside.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@
newtondailynews.com