April 23, 2024

Newton’s Heryford wins 2020 Iowa Girls’ Player of the Year

By Troy Hyde

Newton's Rylee Heryford played a full Iowa Junior PGA schedule and was named 2020 Iowa Girls’ Player of the Year after compiling 1,820.5 points this summer. Heryford is currently a junior at Newton High School. (Submitted Photo)

Newton’s Rylee Heryford was one of many Iowa high school golfers who missed out on a spring golf season due to COVID-19.

Heryford would have made a legitimate run at her first Class 3A state championship.

Instead, Heryford turned her attention to the summer. And what a summer it was for the Cardinal junior.

Heryford played a full Iowa Junior PGA schedule and was named the 2020 Iowa Girls’ Player of the Year after compiling 1,820.5 points.

“I am very grateful to have received this honor in 2020 as I have worked hard throughout the entire year through training and practicing,” Heryford said.

The Iowa Junior PGA season usually goes from mid-April to October but got started late in 2020.

The season started in June and there are numerous tournaments to choose from throughout the summer.

Heryford said there are usually tournaments offered up four times a week in different parts of the state.

“The player of the year awards are based off a points system,” Heryford said. “Each of my competitors also pick a varying schedule to participate in. We don’t all sign up for the same tournaments every time.”

In 2020, Heryford won the Iowa Junior Amateur Championship, the Iowa Junior Open and the Junior Tour Mid-Summer Classic, finished second in the 45th Annual Iowa Jr. PGA Championship and was a top-10 finisher in the IGC Women’s Four-Ball Championship, the Midwest Junior Championship and the AJGA Preview at Meadowbrook.

Heryford edged West Des Moines Valley’s Paige Hoffman for the Player of the Year award. Heryford scored 1,820.5 points to Hoffman’s 1,806.5 points.

Hoffman was the Iowa Girls Player of the Year in 2018 and 2019.

Valley’s Saffire Sayre finished third in 2020 with 1,072.5 points. Gilbert’s Britta Snyder finished fourth with 1,042.5 points. Van Meter’s Kylie Carey scored 990 points in fifth.

Snyder was the 2017 Player of the Year.

Sayre was Heryford’s teammate in the IGC Women’s Four-Ball Championship.

Heryford started competing in the Iowa PGA PeeWee and Junior Tour eight years ago. She’s been involved with a handful of other golf circuits the past several years, too, including the Iowa PGA Junior Tour, the Iowa Golf Association Championships, the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour and the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).

“Many of my Iowa PGA Major junior competitions this year qualified to be counted toward the IGA Player of Year award I received,” Heryford said. “I play and select tournaments through a handful of golf organizations that provide national, regional and state opportunities.

“I don’t usually have a set schedule for these types of events. I sign up for a variety of tournaments, including several out of state.”

Heryford used not having a high school spring season as some motivation for what she hopes is an uninterrupted 2021 season.

“Canceling the season cut out a lot of opportunities that I hope to make up in 2021,” Heryford said. “Not having the high school season made me much more grateful to be able to play as much as I did. I am looking forward to all that will come in the next few years.”