2024-25 NCGA Players of the Year
Matt Cohn--Men's Player of the Year
So close, yet still so far away.
San Francisco resident Matt Cohn knows that feeling well. Over the past 15 years, he’s had multiple Top 5 finishes in the Player of the Year standings, including 2024 and 2022, when the 44-year-old finished in fourth and fifth place respectively. In events this season, there were also two occasions where Cohn saw victory just barely elude his grasp.
But at the end of the 2025 season, Cohn finally stood alone on top.
A six-time NCGA champion, Cohn captured his first Men’s Player of the Year title in what could have been another heartbreaking close call. At the season-ending NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball at Poppy Ridge, where he played with longtime friend Nick Randazzo, Cohn entered the event needing at least a fifth-place finish to beat out Mitchell Hoey for POY honors. He and Randazzo would birdie the last two holes to place fourth, pushing Cohn to a total of 1,110 points. He’d narrowly slip past Hoey, a grad student at St. Mary’s who finished the season with 1,097 points, by a mere 13 points in what was one of the tightest races ever.
“Earning Player of the Year is a thrill for me. I’ve been close so many times, and I would have considered my NCGA career incomplete without achieving this at least once,” Cohn said. “I’m still sitting with the idea that I finally won it. It’s an extremely meaningful accomplishment for me.”
Cohn’s season included seven top 10’s. Highlights were third place at the NCGA Four-Ball Championship (where he and Randazzo had a chance to win), a T-9 at the NCGA Amateur, and a tough runner-up finish at the NCGA Stroke Play Championship where he lost with a bogey on the final hole. He also was co-medalist in his qualifier for the U.S. Mid-Amateur and ultimately birdied both playoff holes to reach match play at the championship proper. Ironically, perhaps his biggest accomplishment in 2025 was not in an NCGA event at all, but rather winning the SCGA Mid-Amateur, becoming the first player to win both the Northern and Southern California titles. There too was the clincher at the NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball.
“I didn’t realize how nervous I was at the Mid-Am Four-Ball until it was over,” Cohn said. “It was different than trying to win a tournament. I had two days to accomplish something that encompassed a year of work.”
For Cohn, both mental and physical improvements helped him finally achieve POY honors. In 2024, Cohn launched his own coaching business, Clarity Golf Mentoring, and also began golf fitness training with Bay Area-based Perform For Golf.
“A lot of pieces have to come together to play golf at a high level,” Cohn said. “I love the saying that you get out of golf what you put into it, but not necessarily when you put it in. I’m very excited that all that work paid off this year.”
Kiara Romero--Women's Player of the Year
One could say the odds were pretty good that Kiara Romero would end up being the NCGA’s 2024-25 Women’s Player of the Year.
Romero, after all, earned the 2025 McCormack Medal as the leading female player in the 2025 World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). As in best female amateur on the planet.
Now in her third year at the University of Oregon, Romero, the 2020 Junior Tour of Northern California Player of the Year, would indeed earn her first NCGA POY crown, finishing the season with a total of 1,380 points. Sarah Lim finished second with 1,240 points.
Fueling Romero to the title was another season of success in a variety of USGA events. She’d earn medalist honors at a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier, made the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open and later reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur before falling on the 20th hole to Lyla Louderbough.
Making the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open was especially important to Romero. In her U.S. Women’s Open debut in 2024, she missed the cut.
“This year, I just came out and played more freely,” Romero said. “I put less pressure on myself.”
And she is only getting started. The winner of the 2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Eisenhower Golf Club in Colorado, Romero is still just 19 years old. She also currently carries an eye-popping plus-8 Handicap Index.
“All the work I’ve put in the last few years, it’s all coming together,” Romero said. “Learning how to be a better person and better player every day. And seeing it succeed out on the golf course.”
Steve Sear--Senior Men's Player of the Year
It took just a little taste for Steve Sear to get hungry.
Following a stint as a PGA professional at Toiyabe GC in his hometown of Washoe Valley, Nev. and later being reinstated as an amateur, Sear in 2024 decided to play in the NCGA Senior Championship. While he suffered a somewhat bitter defeat, losing by a mere two shots, the 59-year-old got reacquainted with his old friend Randy Haag, who won the event. Sear also simply rediscovered his passion for the game.
“The event was just so much fun,” Sear said. “It brought back so many memories. The loss also made me want to play more.”
Unfortunately for his opponents, Sear didn’t just play more. He started dominating. He’d earn 2024-25 NCGA Senior Player of the Year honors with a total of 1,921 points. Haag, who had won Senior POY honors each of the three years prior, finished second with 1,793 points.
“I honestly didn’t think being Player of the Year was something that was attainable, so it feels great,” Sear said. “It’s an accumulation of the year, so it means I played well all year. I didn’t know if surpassing Randy was possible.”
Sear passed Haag thanks to 10 Top 10 finishes that included seven wins. Three of the victories completed what is the ‘Senior Slam’—that being victories at the Senior Four-Ball Championship (with Haag as his partner), Senior Amateur Match Play and Senior Championship.
Other wins included the Billy Bell Cup, the Santa Cruz City Senior and the Santa Clara County Senior.
Sear attested his great play during the season to solid ball—striking. The more he played, the more his putter got hot as well. In his 6 and 5 finals match at the NCGA Senior Amateur, Sear only had two two-putts. Over his 13 holes, he putted only 15 times.
“I really didn’t expect all of that,” Sear said. “It was all kind of a surprise, but a nice surprise.”
Karen Garcia--Senior Women's Player of the Year
In the fall of 2023, Cool resident Karen Garcia was feeling on top of the world.
The then-61-year-old had wrapped up her first NCGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year title and the 2023-24 season was just getting underway.
Her body, most specifically her left elbow, didn’t however want to cooperate. Things got so bad that Garcia opted to have surgery. As a result, the 2023-24 season was a bitter disappointment.
A year later, Garcia vowed to herself to get back to where she was, and that’s exactly what she did and more. She’d earn 2024-25 Senior Women’s Player of the Year honors for her second POY title, finishing the season with a record 2,248 points. NCGA Hall of Famer Tina Barker was second with 1,763 points. The previous record was 1,840 points, set by Garcia’s good friend and NCGA Hall of Famer Lynne Cowan in 2021. Both Cowan and Garcia are members at Sierra View CC in Rocklin, where they annually duel for the club title in between casual competitions against one another.
“I was very surprised how things turned out. Last year was basically a recuperating year,” Garcia said. “I learned to manage my practice and elbow. To return to such a high level of play was kind of beyond my expectations.”
In marching to the title, Garcia racked up an amazing 14 Top 10s including victories at the PWGA Legacy Senior, the Sacramento City Senior, the Sacramento Valley Senior Amateur and PWGA Legacy Open.
She also was medalist at a qualifier for the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Diablo CC and finished runner-up at the 2024 Calfornia Senior Women’s Amateur and WGANC Legacy Champion of Champions.
“It was all very exciting, especially being medalist at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open qualifier. In 2023 I was there and played poorly,” Garcia said. “I think also that playing with Lynne so much keeps my game sharp.”
Bob Niger--Super Senior Player of the Year
During the winter of 2024, retired Roseville Bob Niger found himself stuck in a holding pattern.
The 65-year-old former professional had applied to be reinstated as an amateur and was now facing a six-month wait.
“I played in zero events in that span,” Niger recalled. “There were events that I wanted to play in like the San Francisco City, but I had to wait.”
In April, when Niger did join the amateur ranks, he was a force to be reckoned with. And he never really stopped.
Niger would go on to win Super Senior Player of the Year honors with a Super Senior record total of 2,516 points. Jim Williams finished second with 880 points.
“It turned out to be a really good season,” Niger said. “I think my game was on for much of the year, and you don’t get that all the time.”
Niger was simply a juggernaut. Overall, he’d notch 15 Top 10’s that included seven wins—his biggest victories coming at the NCGA Senior Valley Amateur and Sacramento County Super Senior. He also finished second four times including at the NCGA Senior Championship and NCGA Senior Four-Ball Championship playing with partner Joey Ferrari.
Among the things that helped Niger find his winning touch was a new driver.
“I changed drivers early on and just drove it much straighter,” Niger said. “It’s been a lot better than any other driver I used in recent years.”
As for repeating as Super Senior POY, it may not happen. For the 2025-26 season, Niger has iterated that he will compete more in regular Senior events. Safe to say, he’ll be a threat in that division as well.
Anita Lumpongpoung--Junior Girls' Player of the Year
Chowchilla, located in Madera County, has less than a population of 19,000. But it has become a junior golf hotbed.
This year, it wasn’t Asterisk Talley, who hails from Chowchilla, who was making an impact on the Junior Tour of Northern California.
Instead it was Anita Lumpongpoung, who won the 2024-25 NCGA Junior Girls Player of the Year award after finishing with 1,567 points. Milpitas native Madalynn Lee finished runner-up with 1,373 points.
“It means a lot to me,” Lumpongpoung said. “I am really happy to get the title and how much I worked hard for it, I am really proud of my season.”
The home-schooled sophomore had a magical 2024-25 season which featured multiple wins including the Holiday Series I and Holiday II Series Championships
Lumpongpoung credits her improvement with one word: confidence.
“My whole entire game improved,” Lumpongpoung said. “My ball striking and my putting improved and everything just went really well this season.”
The 15-year-old had five runner-up finishes and a dozen Top-10 finishes. Playing under the Thailand flag, Lumpongpoung made it to the Round of 16 at the 2025 U.S. Girls Junior Championship.
She fell in love with the game when her dad would take her to the golf course at 5 years old
“My dad would go out and play golf with his friends,” Lumpongpoung said. “I would just ride the golf cart and watch him play and that’s when I wanted to start swinging.”
Richard Ding--Junior Boys' Player of the Year
Pleasanton native Richard Ding made the most of his opportunities in the 2024-25 season.
The 14-year-old freshman at Laurel Springs School earned the first NCGA Boys’ Junior of the Year award.
It was not an easy road for Ding, who put in the hours at the driving range to make this season a magical one.
“Last year, I had some pretty severe driver issues, so I worked on that pretty hard in the winter,” Ding said. “I am driving it much better. I also put in a lot of work with my putter. I was awful.”
Ding finished with 1,900 points which was 180 points clear of Fresno native Ayden Fynaut who finished at 1,700 points.
Ding’s campaign featured a pair of JTNC wins including the Spring Series VII and Spring Series VIII titles. He added victories at the AJGA Stanford All-Star and Elk Grove Junior Championships this season.
“The highlight of my year would be winning both the AJGA events in front of college golf coaches,” Ding said. “I just treat those moments as opportunities to prove myself to them.”
He also had three runner-up finishes including at the JTNC Tour Championship at Poppy Hills, which clinched the Player of the Year title.
Ding started playing golf at 5 years old and has never stopped playing.
He credits playing multiple events on the Junior Tour of Northern California has prepared him to have success at the national level.
“Playing in JTNC events has prepared me for the next level,” Ding said. “I grew up playing in these events and found the transition to playing AJGA events easy because of how well (JTNC) prepares you.”