Tyler Galleher wins inaugural SCGA One-Day Player of the Year award

November 24, 2014

The United States Marine Corps Sergeant runs away with year-long series title.

By Julia Pine

Since the beginning of May, SCGA member Tyler Galleher had his eyes glued to the SCGA One-Day Series Points List. A new initiative in 2014, the Points List was created to reward those loyal One-Day Series participants as well as encourage healthy, year-long competition. For Galleher, it did just that.

"I actually shot a really bad score in my first SCGA One-Day Tournament, so I really didn't pay any attention to the points list," said Galleher. "But I won the second tournament I played in and noticed I was close to the top of the list. That really sparked my interest and I was on a mission the rest of the year."

Galleher, a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, is a fairly new golfer. Two Christmas' ago, his wife bought him a pretty basic set of clubs. Other than playing with his buddies a handful of times growing up, Galleher really hadn't spent much time on the course. But after playing with gifted clubs for about six months, he realized he had natural golf talent.

"People kept telling me I should upgrade my equipment and take golf more seriously, so I did," said Galleher. "To be honest, now golf is my life. It's all that I do and think about, for the most part."

Originally joining the SCGA to receive a Handicap Index, Galleher's attention was caught when he saw the One-Day Tournament Series schedule.

"I never really even thought of playing in any tournaments, but I was on the website and noticed that the One-Days were fairly priced and occurred mostly on weekends, which works best for me."

Galleher became hooked, and played in 10 SCGA One-Day Tournaments in 2014, capturing first place in an impressive three of them. He also tacked on one third-place finish in September, to all but secure his place as the first-ever SCGA One-Day Series Player of the Year.

"Winning the Player of the Year honor means a lot to me," said Galleher. "I would like to think that winning it means more to me than it would to anyone else. That is why I tried so hard to win it. It meant so much because it was my very first year playing competitive golf so to have that type of success really means the world to me."

And Galleher's golf goals don't stop with the SCGA. When he transitions out of the Marines in two years, he hopes he'll have a golf resume impressive enough to show to a collegiate team.

"I'd like to see what I do with that," said Galleher. "In my first four years in the Marines, I did two tours to Afghanistan and one seven-month deployment around the world on a navy aircraft carrier. Good thing I didn't love golf so much during those years because I would have had no time for it! Now I have a less dangerous job that leaves me just enough time to work on my game."

The SCGA One-Day Tournaments are open to all SCGA members, regardless of Handicap Index. Events contain both net and gross flights, and range from individual to team competitions. Learn more about the program here.



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tcgalleher

Handicap Index: 1.6
Monday, November 24, 2014

Very nice Julia, Thank you very much it was an amazing season and lots of fun! Looking forward to next years match play championship!