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Gligic wins Canadian Player of the Year award
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September 16, 2018
By Adam Stanley, PGATOUR.COM
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Michael Gligic will receive a $25,000 bonus for winning the award. (Claus Andersen/Mackenzie Tour)
LONDON, Ont. – After a season that featured three top-10 finishes, Michael Gligic captured the 2018 Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year honour.
Gligic, whose name will be etched on the Dan Halldorson Trophy, will also receive a $25,000 bonus.
“There are a lot of goals playing this Tour, whether it’s getting into The Five or finishing top-10 or getting to No. 1 on the money list. For us Canadians we are pretty fortunate to have Freedom 55 Financial there to give us another something to play for,” said Gligic.
“It’s a pretty good perk and I’m pretty fortunate to come out on top.”
The native of Burlington, Ont. shot 3-over-par 73 Sunday at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship to finish tied for 18th. He ended up 16th on the Order of Merit. With his position on the money list, Gligic earned a spot in Second Stage of Web.com Tour Q-School.
“Michael performed exceptionally well this season, and we are so pleased to award him this year’s Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year award,” said Abbie MacMillan Vice President, Freedom 55 Financial. “We are steadfast in our commitment to inspire the next generation of Canadian athletes achieving their dreams. We are confident Michael will have tremendous success as he continues his golf career.”
The 28-year-old has been a professional golfer for more than a decade, and told PGATOUR.com three weeks ago he felt like he was playing some of the best golf of his career.
“It was impressive to see Michael's play this season that led him to Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year honours,” said Mackenzie Tour President Jeff Monday. “Our thanks to Freedom 55 Financial for all their support of our Tour, including these awards. Thanks to their support of Canadian golf, some of our best and brightest players are able to take a big step forward in achieving their goals.”
Gligic missed the first three cuts of the year, but after finishing tied for 34th at the Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open, he finished tied for second at the Windsor Championship, his best result of the year. He missed only one cut the rest of the year.
“If you asked me at the beginning of the year, going into Lethbridge, how things were going, I would probably have talked to you about the job I was going to be getting,” he said with a laugh. “The last few weeks have been battling back and I’ve been fortunate to sneak the Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year out.”
Gligic joins the following golfers as past Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Players of the Year: Mackenzie Hughes (2013), Ryan Williams (2014), Taylor Pendrith (2015), Adam Cornelson (2016), and Jared du Toit (2017).
Du Toit won the Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Week honour at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship Sunday, the second such time he’s won the award this year.
Freedom 55 Financial established the Canadian Player of the Week award in 2013 to recognize top Canadian players on the Mackenzie Tour. At each event, Freedom 55 Financial presented this award to the Canadian player who had the lowest total score.
Winners also received $2,500 to use toward attaining future goals. Below are the winners of the award in 2018.
EVENT
PLAYER
Freedom 55 Financial Open
Riley Wheeldon
Bayview Place DCBank Open presented by Times Colonist
Wes Heffernan
GolfBC Championship
Jared du Toit
Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open
Taylor Pendrith
Windsor Championship
Michael Gligic
Staal Foundation Open presented by tbaytel
Riley Wheeldon
Osprey Valley Open
James Love
Syncrude Oil Country Championship presented by AECON
Aaron Crawford
ATB Financial Open
Wes Heffernan
The Players Cup
Michael Gligic
Mackenzie Investments Open presented by Jaguar Laval
Michael Gligic
Freedom 55 Financial Championship
Jared du Toit
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