A pair of golf champions were voted the United States Sports Academy’s Athletes of the Month after their performances on the world stage in the month of April. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit earned the honors after both golfers made history at their respective events.
Matsuyama shot a 10-under 278 to win The Masters title in Augusta, Ga., on 11 April 2021. Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win a golf major.
Tavatanakit shot an 18-under 270 to capture a 2 stroke victory over New Zealand’s Lydia Ko at the ANA Inspiration in California on 4 April 2021. Tavatanakit’s 18-under score was just one shot shy of Dottie Pepper’s 19-under record held since 1999. She is the first rookie to win the event since American Juli Inkster did so in 1984.
The second place finisher on the men’s side was American basketball star Stephen Curry and third place went to Greek tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Curry earned NBA Western Conference Player of the Month honors after averaging a league-high 37.3 points on 52.8 percent shooting in the month. Curry made 96 three pointers in April, the most ever made in a single month.
Tsitsipas defeated Russia’s Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 to capture his first Masters 1000 title at the Monte-Carlo Masters tournament on 18 April 2021. He also became the first Greek player in history to win a Masters 1000 title.
The second place finisher on the women’s side was American volleyball player Madison Lilley and third place went to Kenyan runner Ruth Chepngetich.
Lilley, the University of Kentucky setter and national player of the year, was named the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament Most Outstanding Player after recording 53 set assists as the Wildcats defeated the University of Texas in four sets in the championship match in Omaha, Neb., on 24 April 2021. It was Kentucky’s first national title in volleyball and also the first for any Southeastern Conference (SEC) team.
Chepngetich broke the women’s world record in the half marathon with a time of 1:04:02 in Istanbul on 4 April 2021. Chepngetich’s time took 29 seconds off the previous world record set by Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh earlier this year.
Each month, the public is invited to participate in the Academy’s worldwide Athlete of the Month program by nominating athletes and then voting online during the first week of every month. The online votes are used to guide the Academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who then become eligible for selection to the prestigious Athlete of the Year ballot. A worldwide public vote on the annual ballot is used to guide the committee in making the final selection.
The Athlete of the Year Award is part of the United States Sports Academy’s Awards of Sport program, which each year serves as “A Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.” The Academy presents the awards to pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to sport, in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete in several different arenas of sport.
The awards honor exemplary achievement in coaching, all-around athletic performance, courage, humanitarian activity, fitness and media, among others. The Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) annually recognizes these men and women through its Sport Artist of the Year, Honorary Doctorates, Distinguished Service Awards, Outstanding Athletes, and Alumni of the Year awards. This is the 37th year of the Academy’s Awards of Sport program.
