Southwood's Colwyn Abgrall and Rhonda Orr were named the 2019 Amateur Golfers of the Year at Golf Manitoba's annual awards reception Wednesday night at the St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg.

Abgrall beat out Manitoba Junior champion Jacob Armstrong of St. Boniface and Provincial Match Play champion Austin Dobrescu of Shilo for the award.

"It's obviously a very special honour to be nominated and especially to be selected the Male Golfer of the Year," said Abgrall. "It's one of those things where you want to win it but you can't expect to win it because you're up against other great nominees like Austin and Jacob. They both had great years in their own respect. That's part of the reason why I didn't prepare anything to say. You just don't expect to win it but it's obviously a great bonus."

The 22-year-old Niverville product lost out to Dobrescu in the final of the Provincial Men's Match Play Championship at Breezy Bend in early June.

The following month Abgrall and Dobrescu shared centre stage during the final round of the Manitoba Men's Amateur Championship.

Abgrall birdied the 72nd hole and captured his first Provincial Men's Amateur title finishing two shots ahead of Dobrescu.

"We saw a lot of each other," said Abgrall. "It was a great battle every tournament that we played in. Austin had a great match play final against me and definitely deserved to win that one. I was pretty thrilled to be able to get the upper hand on him at the Men's Amateur at Quarry Oaks. He finished the year very strong. I believe he was the only Manitoban to make the cut at the Canadian Amateur since 2016 so obviously he had a great season. I was lucky enough to caddy for him four times - twice at the Canadian Am and then two times at the Players Cup at Southwood. We saw a lot of each other and expect it again next year."

This summer Abgrall tied for medalist honours at the regional qualifier in Fargo and earned a spot in the field at the 119th United States Men's Amateur Championship in North Carolina where he got to play at Pinehurst Resort.

"I think the biggest accomplishment that people might not know how tough it is to do is to qualify for the United States Amateur," said Abgrall. "That was just a crazy experience both at the qualifier and at Pinehurst. Definitely the highlight of my year for sure was being able to punch my ticket and get to play a few rounds at Pinehurst course #4 and course #2."

A 36-hole total of five-over par 145 was needed to get into the low 64 and qualify for match play.

Abgrall was 77-81 at Pinehurst #2 and finished at 158.

"I set my expectations very realistically. I knew I wasn't going to do anything special out there. Not to be in a negative mindset or anything like that but I knew how tough those courses were going to be. I knew the strength of the field and the history of the course. I saw some guys that I've seen online at these tournaments, they're amateurs but they have this celebrity superstar feel to them and you're hitting balls next to them on the range. It's a crazy atmosphere to be in. It was a mindblowing experience and one that I wouldn't trade for the world."

Orr, who captured the Manitoba Senior Women's Championship for the fourth year in a row and sixth time in the last seven years, beat out City and District champion Charmaine Mackid of Breezy Bend and Provincial Women's Match Play champion Hannah Diamond of St. Charles for the the award.

"It's certainly pretty special," Orr said. "I did have a good year though. I was hopeful but you never know. Charmaine and Hannah also had excellent years. You just never know. All you do is you go out there and you have certain goals. You try to achieve them through the year and see what happens at the end."

Like Colwyn Abgrall, Orr also qualified for a United States Amateur Championship.

She played in the USGA's Senior Women's Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa where her 21-year-old son Brendan was her caddy.

"It was special," said Orr. "He told a friend of mine before we left, 'I just don't want to do anything that will annoy her.' He did an excellent job. There was one incident where I got a little miffed but it was just in the heat of the competition. He was fantastic. It was literally just walking down that first fairway and watching him be so proud to put on that USGA bib with my name on it - it was a memory I will treasure forever."

Orr fired rounds of 80 and 79 and finished tied for 53rd in stroke play.

She defeated Diane Lang of Florida 4 & 3 in the round of 64 and then lost 4 & 3 to Patricia Ehrhart of Hawaii in the round of 32.

photo courtesy Bob Poole/Golf Manitoba