Press Releases

METROPOLITAN GOLF WRITERS ASSOCIATION

TO HONOR BILL PENNINGTON WITH THE

LINCOLN WERDEN GOLF JOURNALISM AWARD

ELMSFORD, N.Y. (May 29, 2025)  Longtime New York Times sports writer Bill Pennington will receive the coveted MGWA Lincoln Werden Golf Journalism Award at its 73rd National Awards Dinner.  The award will be presented on Tuesday, October 7^th at Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York.  Mr. Pennington joins a distinguished lineup of 2025 MGWA honorees, including previously announced Gold Tee Award winner Billy Payne,  Paul Dillon Distinguished Service Award winner Sean McManus, and Bing Crosby Tournament Sponsor Award winner Mizuho Americas.  Other 2025 honorees will be revealed shortly.

The MGWA’s Lincoln Werden Journalism Award is presented to a writer, broadcaster, photographer, artist, or other individual for outstanding contributions in the field of golf journalism. Previous recipients of this esteemed award include famed correspondents Jim McKay, Jack Whitaker, Jim Nantz and Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Anderson. More recently, Hank Gola (2018), Larry Dorman (2019), Johnny Miller (2020-21), Mark Cannizzaro (2022), Jimmy Roberts (2023) and last year’s recipient, Steve DiMeglio, were honored with this prestigious recognition.

Pennington is best known for creating the New York Times’ popular, long-running “On Par” golf column and video series.  In his 25 years at the Times, he also covered 70 major golf championships and eight Ryder Cup matches.  In all, he reported on 30 different sports, which included assignments at 10 summer and winter Olympic games.  He authored five books, including On Par: The Everyday Golfer’s Survival Guide as well as the NY Times bestseller, Billy Martin: Baseball’s Flawed Genius.

Born and raised in Connecticut, Pennington’s career choice was solidified when, while still in grade school, he created the “Pennington Times.”  Carefully written on a manual typewriter, this weekly family paper, in Bill’s words, “would include everything from summaries of spirited dinner conversations to decorative changes my mother made in the living room to what grades my older brother and sister received on school tests – with post-exam reactions!” 

Pennington’s writing continued during his high school years, when he covered high school sporting events (including games he had played in) for the local Bristol Press.  While at Boston University, he played varsity football, while writing for the daily student newspaper and working as a stringer for both the Associated Press in Boston and the Providence, Rhode Island Journal-Bulletin, where he also was a summer intern.  After graduating with a journalism degree from BU’s School of Communications, Pennington worked at the Stamford Advocate, and then spent eight years as a sports columnist at New Jersey’s Bergen Record. 

Pennington is a 10-time recipient of the Associated Press Sports Editors National Writing Award.  He retired from full-time work at the Times in 2022, though he still freelances for them and other publications to this day.

In announcing the award, MGWA president Hank Gola said, “I shared many a press room and many a laugh with Bill over the course of our careers and couldn’t be happier for him. He is a gifted sportswriter and author whose contributions to golf journalism didn’t end with his coverage of the big events. He delighted readers with his On Par columns and book, taking them behind the scenes and out of the box with tales not just of the pros but of everyday golfers. He is truly deserving of this honored place as part of the rich legacy of met area golf media.”

The MGWA has celebrated the game of golf and promoted golf journalism since its inception in 1952, and its National Awards Dinner has been one of the highlights of the golf calendar since then.  It has honored – and been attended by – some of the  greatest names in the sport: Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, JoAnne Carner, Gary Player, Billy Casper, Nancy Lopez, Tom Watson, and Annika Sorenstam, to name just a few.  This highly anticipated event is supported by golf’s leading organizations and corporate supporters, Met Area clubs and club leaders, as well as local and national golf media. Through the Dinner and other events, the MGWA has raised millions of dollars for Caddie Scholarship programs in the Metropolitan New York area, the MGA Foundation, and the Dave Marr Journalism Scholarship. 

Click here to purchase tickets to the Dinner.  For more information, view this one-minute video or contact Robin Sauerhaft, MGWA Executive Administrator, at: rsauerhaft@mgagolf.org.

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