2022 Men’s Player of the Year

Christian Chapman

The Rochester District Golf Association began its Player of the Year Award in 1997 as an extension of the RDGA Match Play Championship – as a way of determining a seeding order, as well as a qualifying process, for the Championship.

A schedule of point values were determined for a number of competitive championships, whereby players would accumulate point totals for the entire season. Today, the RDGA Player of the Year Points Schedule consists of more than 20 events – from RDGA tournaments to State, local and USGA® Championships – at which RDGA players can earn points towards the Player of the Year Award.

Throughout it’s first 20 years, the Men’s RDGA Player of the Year was dominated by Stafford Country Club’s Jim Scorse. Scorse – one of the most consistent competitors in RDGA tournament history – earned RDGA Player of the Year honors 15 times between 1997 and 2018 – including eight years in a row between 2007 and 2014.

In 2022, it was Christian Chapman of Cobblestone Creek Country Club who earned RDGA Men’s Player of the Year honors for the first time.

In the 2022 Men’s Player of the Year points race, Chapman ran away and hid with the title, finishing a whopping 275 points ahead of the next closest competitor, Kyle Downey of Locust Hill, by a 960 to 685 margin.

Christian’s great 2022 season began with an exciting victory in the RDGA Match Play Championship at Caledonia Country Club, where he won that title only after Ben Kircher took him to a third extra hole, and ended his stellar year with a win at the Brook-Lea Amateur Invitational in August.

His crowning achievement, however, came in July at the Country Club of Rochester, where he captured his first RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Junior Memorial title in dramatic fashion. Christian shot to the top of the leaderboard in the second round on Friday of Championship week, posting a 5-under-par 65 – then held off a strong final round challenge from Bobby McCartney on Saturday to win the title by one shot.

The race for the RDGA Men’s Player of the Year begins each May, with the opening of the RDGA Tournament Schedule. In addition to Player of the Year, the top-32 point winners for the 2022 season also earn invitations to the 2023 RDGA Men’s Match Play Championship and the top-40 point winners (and ties) earn exemptions into the 2023 RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial.

To see the final 2022 Men’s RDGA Player of the Year Points standings, CLICK HERE.