BEAUMONT — The Montagne Center at Lamar University hosted the eighth annual Babe Didrikson Zaharias Junior Golf Awards on Thursday.

The guest speaker for the event was 14-time PGA Tour winner Hal Sutton.

Sutton spoke to the award finalists from all over Southeast Texas. Port Neches-Groves had two finalists, Kensey Dukes and Timothy Feemster, who were up for the Girls Player of the Year and the Boys Player of the Year honors, respectively.

Myra Truong of Kelly won the girls award over Dukes, Mackenzie Sears of Silsbee, Kendall Stewart of West Brook, and Elizabeth Townsend of Kelly. Joining Feemster in his category were winner Tyler Gonzalez of Kelly, Jack Burke of Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Caleb Folmar of Buna and Jonathan Miller of Kelly.

Caroline Ogden of Hamshire-Fannett won the Girls Character/Leadership Award, with Haley Boone of Hardin-Jefferson, Skylar Smith of Hardin-Jefferson and Sears as finalists. Jake Woods of West Brook took home the Boys Character/Leadership Award with Brody Jeanes of Hardin-Jefferson, Jack Tindel of Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Collin Todora of Kelly as finalists.

The PNG golfers weren’t able to nab any awards on the night but they listened to priceless words from Sutton.

He wanted the finalists to understand that he was proud of them but that there is more to life than golf.

“I want to share with you a tidbit to you that is brilliant to me now but wasn’t when I was 18,” Sutton said. “Money does not make you rich. Everybody follow that? You can be rich and not have a lot of money. That’s a really important thing that you kids need to listen to right now.”

Sutton went on to talk about his priorities when he was younger.

“Let’s get back to 18-year-old Hal Sutton,” he said. “My plan was, I really wanted to be a really good player. I really wanted to be a good player.”

Sutton said his spirituality and relationship with God played a big part in his maturation and hopes the finalists can follow a similar path.

Then Sutton spoke about one of his proudest accomplishments on the golf course — winning the PGA beating his childhood idol, Jack Nicklaus.

“That was big dream of mine,” he said. “Every time I’d get to the 18th hole, I’m sure everyone has done this, I’d get to the last hole and have the last shot into the green and I would say, ‘Okay, I have got to birdie this hole to beat Jack Nicklaus in the U.S. Open. Guess what? That became reality. He’s standing on the green. I didn’t have to birdie. I just had to make par. Afterwards, they were asking me ‘Did you feel any pressure?’ I told them ‘No. I’ve been rehearsing this moment my whole life.’”

Sutton told the finalists that he had no idea he would play golf with three presidents and have dinner with seven presidents.

“What I’m trying to tell y’all is you don’t know where your life is going to go,” he said. “You have no idea who you are going to meet. You don’t know where you are going to end up. Every kid that comes to see me, I tell them golf is the best sport that will teach you about life. It parallels life. It teaches you how to be social. It teaches you how to be competitive. It teaches you humility. It teaches you how to achieve and chase success. All of the qualities it requires to play golf, you will be able to use in anything else you do.”