Founders Club honors four female golfers

The Pahrump Valley Youth Golf Founders Club found itself in a quandary this year.

With four senior girls applying for scholarship money and all having such glowing credentials, it was difficult to leave any of them out.

Generally, the Founders Club gives out a $5,000 scholarship to a worthy individual. But this year, it made an exception. It handed out $5,000 to Lori Hopkins. The club also awarded $1,000 each to Terri Nilson, Emily Cross and Breanna Raner.

The announcement was the highlight of last Sunday's fifth annual Awards Night, sponsored by the PVYGFC at Mountain View Convention Center.

All four girls along with Mike Thurlow, who capped his career with a second-place finish in the NIAA/U.S. Bank Class 3A golf championships, served as masters of ceremony. In absentia was Ashley Washington.

All four scholarship winners were part of a Trojans' golf team that finished second in the state their senior year, as well as notching top-three finishes for the last four years.

Special award winners were Thurlow, Hopkins, William Bertz and Rachel Lindemann, all honored for the amount of time and effort they put into junior golf endeavors in the past year.

Girls' golf coach Bob Hopkins was officially introduced as the boys coach this year, drawing a round of applause from all in attendance. Hopkins, a successful golf coach in his native South Dakota and most recently in charge of the Rosemary Clarke Middle School program, is also girls' high school basketball coach.

PVYGFC President Larry Goins announced that Jack Hopkins would become executive director of Pahrump Valley junior golf.

An update on past scholarship winners was given, and 2000 award winner Justin Blakely, now a University of Nevada, Reno freshman, was on hand to offer comments. The 1998 winner Hannah Nilson, Terri's older sister, is a senior at Pacific University near Portland, Ore.

Chad Goins, who transferred from the University of Northern Colorado, is a senior at Methodist College in North Carolina where he is in their golf management program. Larry Goins noted that his son is working in Darien, Conn., this summer, and will likely try some satellite golf tours upon graduation.

Goins explained to the young golfers and parents the parameters for being eligible for the $5,000 scholarship -- maintaining good grades and moving toward a degree. More specifically, requirements are the ability of the individual to succeed in college and contributions to golf.

The $5,000 is broken down into $500 for the freshman year, $1,000 for the sophomore year, $1,500 for the junior year and $2,000 for the senior year. Interestingly, Hopkins and the $1,000 recipients are all heading to UNLV in the fall.

A total of 99 golfers are members of either the Rosemary Clarke or Pahrump Valley High School team, and members of the Pahrump Valley Junior Golf Association.