GAM Junior Girls Player of the Year: Highland’s Sophie Stevens

Sophie Stevens of Highland is already looking forward to next summer’s golf schedule, her last as a junior golfer before heading off to the University of Florida.

“I have little goals, big goals and all kinds in between before I go to college,” she said. “I want to play in as many tournaments as I can. I love to play and travel and I want to make the most of my last summer as a junior.”

Stevens, who recently turned 17, accomplished a lot in the 2022 golf season and topped the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) junior girls’ points list – earning GAM Junior Girls’ Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Stevens, who is home-schooled, said she had a more consistent golf season in 2022 compared to 2021.

“I got comfortable shooting low numbers this year (2022),” she said. “I made a lot of birdies, a lot more than I have in the past and that was a big factor in having a more consistent year, too. I played better week to week as the year went along. I’m definitely better than I was at the end of last year.”

Stevens, a GAM member through Prestwick Village Golf Club, qualified for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur, won the GAM Women’s Championship, won the Michigan Junior Girls’ State Amateur Stroke Play title and won an AJGA tournament in Florida in the fall. She totaled 1,825 points. Kate Brody of Grand Blanc and Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club, who has signed with the University of Wisconsin and was named Michigan’s Miss Golf this fall, was second with 1,250 points.

Stevens, who also won the GAM Women’s Tournament of Champions at the close of the golf season, said she spent last winter making changes in her golf swing. This winter she plans to play in at least one Florida tournament and continue to work on her complete game.  She called it an honor to win Player of the Year honors for a second consecutive year.