Everglades Country Club Professional, Darren Chivas, Jack Newton Junior Golf coach, Khan Pullen, and 2014 Nanshan NSW PGA winner, Lincoln Tighe, have taken out major honours at this year’s NSW/ACT PGA Awards Evening.

Held at the Royal Sydney Golf Club last week, Chivas won the NSW Club Professional of the Year while Pullen took home the NSW Teaching Professional of the Year award and Tighe, Player of the Year.

Chivas humbly accepted his award acknowledging the support of the golf club and his Pro Shop staff.

"A lot of this belongs to my staff; we’ve got a great team and we always strive to enhance the Pro Shop experience for our members," said Chivas.

Chivas has been the Head Professional at Everglades Country Club for the past 16 years and has become an integral part of the club working alongside the Board of Directors and Management in providing direction to the club

"We have a great relationship and we are all working together in the best interests of the Club."

Alex Mercer, a PGA Life Member and one of Australia’s most popular and successful coaches, presented Pullen with his award.

In his acceptance speech Pullen paid homage to a host of PGA Members who had influenced his teaching philosophy, none more so than Mercer who he described as a mentor.

The evening also saw the prestigious NSW tournament awards announced with the IC Firth & Associates Castle Hill Pro-Am and the Ron Crouch Transport Wagga Wagga Pro-Am both defending their 2014 crown; claiming consecutive victories in the NSW City and Country Pro-Ams respectively.

The NSW PGA Legends Pro-Am of the Year was taken out by Club Catalina who ran their inaugural Legends Pro-Am after running the National PGA Trainee Futures Championships for six years.

The highlight of the night was undoubtably the induction of the PGA’s newest members, the graduating trainees. After three years of intensive work, study and tournaments 16 graduates were on hand to accept their certificates from PGA Life Member, Tom Moore.

In a rare occurrence Mark and Cherie Alison had multiple reasons to celebrate, not only did they become the first husband and wife duo to graduate together but Mark was also awarded the NSW Trainee Professional of the Year.

Full award winners:

Club Professional of the Year           Darren Chivas (Everglades Country Club)
Teaching Professional of the Year    Khan Pullen (JNJG)
Player of the Year                             Lincoln Tighe
Rookie of the Year                            Luke Whitbread
Trainee of the Year                           Mark Alison
City Pro-Am of the Year                   IC Frith & Associates Castle Hill Pro-Am
Country Pro-Am of the Year             Ron Crouch Transport Wagga Wagga Pro-Am
Legends Pro-Am of the Year            Club Catalina Legends Pro-Am