Tacoma, Wash. – Washington Golf (WA Golf) has announced the Player of the Year award recipients for 2022. The category winners are as follows: Men’s, Andrew Von Lossow of Spokane; Women’s, Lauryn Nguyen of Seattle; Men’s Mid-Amateur, Andrew Von Lossow; Women’s Mid-Amateur, Jacqueline Bendrick of Mercer Island; Senior Men’s, Erik Hanson of Kirkland; Senior Women’s, Kim Shek of Bellevue; Junior Boys’, Max Herendeen of Bellevue; and Junior Girls’, Angela Zhang of Bellevue.

The recipients will be highlighted at the 101st WA Golf Annual Meeting on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at Yakima Country Club, site of the Association’s first Annual Meeting in 1922.

Men’s and Men’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year

Andrew Von Lossow

Von Lossow is the first male competitor to receive both of these awards in the same year. Playing in his first U.S. Amateur Championship at age 34, Von Lossow had earned co-medalist honors in qualifying, and then survived a playoff at the championship proper to make it into match play as the No. 63 seed. He then knocked off the No. 3-ranked amateur player in the world in the round of 64 to make it to the round of 32, where he lost on the final hole of the match. He finished tied for third in the Washington Men’s Amateur; and playing against the region’s PGA professionals, he tied for third in the Oregon Open and tied for eighth in the Rosauers Open.

Women’s Player of the Year

Lauryn Nguyen

A standout in the region’s golf scene for several years as a junior player, Nguyen continued her success in 2022 by winning the PNGA Women’s Amateur and finishing third in the Washington Women’s Amateur. Now a sophomore playing for Northwestern University’s women’s golf team, Nguyen was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last spring, and finished sixth at the Big Ten Championship. She is currently ranked No. 335 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Nguyen had previously been named the WA Golf Junior Girls’ Player of the Year in 2020.

Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year

Jacqueline Bendrick

Bendrick receives this award for the second year in a row. This season she successfully defended her title in the Washington Women’s Mid-Amateur, winning the title in a playoff. She finished third in the Washington Women’s Champion of Champions, and was a quarterfinalist in the PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur. Bendrick has recently moved to California, where she is pursuing a medical degree at Stanford.

Senior Men’s Player of the Year

Erik Hanson

In 2022, Hanson saw success locally, regionally and nationally. He won the Washington Senior Men’s Amateur and the PNGA Senior Men’s Amateur. Hanson tied for fourth at the Washington Senior Open, and tied for 19th in the Washington Men’s Mid-Amateur. He has played in 15 USGA national championships, and this year was the first time he qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur, where he made the round of 64. This is the second time Hanson has received this award, having previously been named in 2016.

Senior Women’s Player of the Year

Kim Shek

Shek was the medalist in qualifying for the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open. In September she won the Washington State Women’s Golf Association Senior Championship. This is the first time she has received the Senior Women’s Player of the Year award.

Junior Boys’ Player of the Year

Max Herendeen

Herendeen took home a national title when he won the 2022 PGA Junior Boys’ Championship. Locally, he won the WIAA 3A High School State Championship and the WJGA Players Open, and finished second in the Washington Men’s Amateur, one shot back of the winner. He was the qualifying medalist at the PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur, and made it to the semifinals. He qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur, and made it to Final Qualifying for the U.S. Open. He tied for 15th at the Pacific Coast Amateur, where he was named to the WA Golf Morse Cup team. He had six top-25 finishes in AJGA events. Herendeen is a senior at Bishop Blanchet High School, and has already committed to play at the University of Illinois next fall.

Junior Girls’ Player of the Year

Angela Zhang

At age 13, Zhang became the youngest player in the history of the championship to win the Washington Women’s Amateur. She also won the WJGA State Championship, and earned more points on the WJGA season-long Player of the Year Points List than anyone else in WJGA history, with many of the points earned early in the season while she was still just 12 years old. Zhang won three AJGA titles, and had four other top-10 finishes in AJGA events. In September she was the medalist at U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball qualifying.

About the WA Golf Player of the Year Awards

Founded in 2007 as a way of recognizing and awarding excellence in competition, the WA Golf Players of the Year are selected each year in early October by the WA Golf Championship Committee, which meets to vote for honorees in the categories of Men’s, Women’s, Senior Men’s, Senior Women’s, Men’s Mid-Amateur, Women’s Mid-Amateur, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’. The WA Golf Performance Points list as the primary guide for the selection. Since WA Golf does not have a performance points list for juniors, WA Golf receives these nominations for selection from the Washington Junior Golf Association. To view all past WA Golf Players of the Year since 2007, click here.