FRANKLIN, Tenn. — As 2025 comes to a close, the Tennessee Golf Association is once again excited to announce the winners of the Tennessee Player of the Year awards. This year, six players received the seven end-of-year awards. In 2025, the TGA introduced the Men’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year Award.
The inaugural winner of the Tennessee Men’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year Award also earned the long-standing Men’s Player of the Year Award. Ryan Terry finished in the Top 11 at the Tennessee State Open, State Amateur and Mid-Amateur this year, along with qualifying to play in the U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club.
Additionally, Terry had Top 10 finishes at the Canadian, European and Trans-Mississippi Mid-Amateur tournaments and won the James Fyke Municipal Championship. This is the first time the 2018 Tennessee Mid-Amateur Champion has earned a TGA end-of-year award.
Murfreesboro resident and Middle Tennessee State University golfer Isabella Johnson earned Tennessee Women’s Player of the Year honors for her stellar performance this year. It his her second-straight TGA award, having won the Tennessee Girls’ Junior Player of the Year in 2024.
Johnson’s impressive season was highlighted by winning the Tennessee Women’s Amateur at Chattanooga Golf & Country Club as the only player with multiple under-par rounds. She went on to finish sixth at the Tennessee Women’s Open and then represented the Volunteer State at the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes.
The Tennessee Boys’ Junior Player of the Year, Will Pinson, earned his first TGA victory this summer after winning the Tennessee Junior Amateur in a one-hole playoff at GreyStone Golf Club. Pinson, also now a Middle Tennessee State University golfer, finished Top 30 at the State Amateur and Top 15 amongst amateurs at the Tennessee State Open.
Dickson native Poppy Pewitt had a year of firsts. Her first Tennessee Girls’ Junior PGA win was followed quickly by her first TGA victory at the Tennessee Girls’ Junior Amateur. A Top 20 finish at the Tennessee Women’s Amateur and her first USGA event all culminated in her first end-of-year award from the Tennessee Golf Association. Pewitt is also one of 16 players representing the Volunteer State on Team Tennessee.
The road to victory varies in distance for everyone, but Knoxville’s Bradford Kuester finally reached his destination this year. After narrowly missing it at the Senior Match Play, he was a man on a mission at the Tennessee Senior Amateur. After finding himself in another playoff, Kuester was the one hoisting the Mack P. Brothers Trophy at the end, his first TGA victory in his career. His win there, along with Top 10 finishes at the PGA National Club Championship and Tennessee Senior State Open, helped earn him the title of Tennessee Senior Men’s Player of the Year.
Erica Chappell is the only other player this year to have already earned the title of Tennessee Player of the Year. She last held that honor in 2022 when she won the Senior Women’s Player of the Year and has once again earned that same title. Her win at the Tennessee Women’s Senior Championship, along with a T7 finish at the Tennessee Women’s Senior Open and a Top 25 finish at the Women’s North-South Senior Amateur, propelled her back to the mountain top. Chappell also qualified again for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia.
