Payton Schanen, a junior at Mercer, was recently named the 2017 Georgia State Golf Association Women’s Player of the Year. She is the first from the Mercer golf program to receive this honor.

“I just really want to leave a legacy here. That’s not just my goal but our team’s goal,” Schanen said.

It all started when her father took her to a range more than 13 years ago. Schanen said she fell in love. As a young girl, golf came easily to Schanen.

“It sounds very conceited but it just did…I played other sports. I played soccer, basketball,” Schanen said, “But there’s something about golf. You were never perfect at anything and if you were good at one thing you were probably bad at something so I just kept coming back to perfect it.”

In 2016, as a freshman, Schanen was named GSGA Girl’s Player of the Year. There was a different dynamic when Schanen joined the collegiate team as a freshman.

Schanen said golf was more of a team sport in college than in junior golf.

“[The team] is very competitive so we always push each other to get better,” Schanen said.

In the past year, Schanen has won several tournaments, including Idle Hour at home, and qualified for the Women’s Amateur Golf Tournament, one of the leading amateur golf tournaments in the United States.

The GSGA awards are determined using a point system based on tournaments.

The woman with the most points at the end of each year receives the designation of Women’s Player of the Year.

Since her freshman year, Schanen has been in the top 5 finalists each year. In early December, Schanen made it to number one with 600 points.

“I believe her best is yet to come and I’m excited about our team’s future,” said Head Coach Michele Drinkard in a press release by Geritt W. Van Genderen.