Port Neches-Groves golf plays well at 2024 Babe Zaharias Awards
Published 12:24 am Thursday, May 30, 2024
- Foster Cecka of Port Neches-Groves High School earned a share of the Boys Underclassmen Player of the Year honor. (Courtesy photo)
BEAUMONT — The program at Port Neches-Groves High School represented quite well at the 14th Annual Babe Zaharias High School Junior Golf Awards.
The event was hosted at 5 Under Golf Center in Beaumont and recognized many of the area’s top high school golfers.
PNG’s Foster Cecka earned a share of the Boys Underclassmen Player of the Year honor, while David Wallace was named Boys Golf Coach of the Year.
Babe Zaharias Foundation Board Member Austin Williams said Tuesday evening’s event and turnout represented one of the most impressive, talented classes of golfers.
“We’re proud and we cannot wait to see what’s ahead for them … and we’re thankful for the coaches and families who continue to impact golf in Southeast Texas,” he said.
He said it’s important to have distinguished figures like the event’s guest NCAA D-1 coaches inspire the talented young men and women.
“Their experience, influence and insights surely made a lasting impression,” Williams added.
The 2024 winners are below.
Girls Character Award Winner: (TIE) Ashley Hale of Bridge City and Hallie Westfall of Hardin-Jefferson
Girls Underclassmen Character Award: Grace Dai – Monsignor Kelly Catholic
Girls Underclassmen Player of the Year: Erin Eaves – Monsignor Kelly Catholic
Girls Player of the Year: Annie Whitehead of Lumberton High School.
Boys Character Award: Drew Turley – Monsignor Kelly Catholic
Boys Underclassmen Character Award: (TIE) Drake Andrepont – Hardin-Jefferson and Reece Williams – Monsignor Kelly Catholic
Boys Underclassmen Player of the Year: (TIE) Foster Cecka – Port Neches-Groves and Chase Ion – Hardin-Jefferson
Boys Player of the Year: Lincoln Parks of Orangefield High School
The Boys Golf Coach of the Year is David Wallace, of PNG, and it’s a tie for Girls Coach of the Year — Ashlee Broussard of Orangefield and Darrell Westfall of Hardin-Jefferson.
The awards evening included a presentation of the honorees, stories from special guests and speeches from a panel of collegiate golf coaches: University of Louisiana’s Men’s Golf Coach Theo Sliman and both mens’ and women’s Lamar golf coaches Jessie Mudd and Janelle Howland O’Connor.
The Babe Zaharias Awards began as a way to honor and nurture generations of golf in the local area.
Recipients of the award are historically high school junior golfers who have overcome adversity on and off the course, impacted the game in a positive way, displayed integrity and sportsmanship in all aspects of life and who embody the spirit of the game with success.
This marks the third year that 5 Under Golf Center has hosted the banquet, and organizers stress it’s a joy to have some of the greatest golfers of multiple generations walk through these doors and connect the greater Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange area to the golf world.