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Lee-Anne Pace became the first female golfer to win outright the prestigious Golfer of the Year in her home country of South Africa.
Compleat Golfer hosted the 22nd edition of its Annual Awards Dinner at Country Club Johannesburg earlier this week.
Pace shared the 2010 award with Louis Oosthuizen, who had won the Open Championship, however this was the first time she took home the award outright. She also picked up the WPGA (female) Golfer of the Year for the fourth straight year.
2013 was another stellar season for the Pearl Valley golfer, she was the only player to win three titles on the LET in 2013, taking her career total to eight wins. Pace was a model of consistency throughout the season, she won the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open in May, the Open de Espana in July and the Sanya Ladies Open in China in October. She notched six additional top ten finishes – including a second place at the Allianz Ladies Slovak Open. She ended the year ranked second on the ISPS HANDA Order of Merit with season’s earnings of €250,927.42, behind Suzann Pettersen.
The affable player was also voted as the ‘Player’s Player of the Year by her fellow professional golfers on the Ladies European Tour for the second time, three years after last winning this award in 2010.
The 33-year-old was honoured to have won the award. Speaking from first major of the year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship in Palm Springs, California, the Pearl Valley Golfer said: “I feel very honoured to have won the Golfer of the Year award.”
“I want to thank the Compleat Golfer for holding the awards each year, they are fantastic supporters of all golfers at home and I certainly appreciate everything they do, particularly for women players.”
“To be the first female professional golfer to win the award outright is a tremendous privilege and hopefully it will continue to help grow our tour here at home.”
“I also want to thank my sponsors from last year, Investec, Puma, First Car Rental and Oakley. I certainly would not have won the award without their support.”
