ELSMFORD, N.Y. (December 2, 2010) – Fomer MGA President Paul R. Dillon and Joe Saladino of Huntington Country Club were honored at the  Metropolitan Golf Association Annual Meeting and Dinner on Wednesday, December 1, at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y. Dillon received the 2010 MGA Distinguished Service Award, the Association’s highest honor, and Saladino received the 2010 MGA Jerry Courville Sr. Player of the Year Award.

Dillon’s dedication to spreading the game’s values and traditions allowed him to rise through the volunteer ranks of the MGA, including a post as the Public Links Committee chairman and two terms as MGA President and MGA Foundation chairman (2003-’04). He was instrumental in launching the MGA’s Capital Campaign, “Golf Grows Here,” on which he served as co-chairman with Lowell Schulman, and in expanding the MGA Foundation’s cornerstone junior programs, GOLFWORKS and The First Tee. The success of the Foundation’s programs and the current Golf Central building expansion are direct results of Dillon’s efforts to promote the importance of golf to future generations. He remains active in these pursuits to this day.

In addition to his service with the MGA and WGA, Dillon has been the head coach of Fordham University’s men’s golf team since 1995. He has also served golf with his paint brush. Dillon is the Met Area’s most prolific and celebrated golf artist, and has donated hundreds of paintings of important figures both in and out of golf. For more information on Dillon’s contributions to the game, please click here.

Saladino, 30, hovered near the lead of the Polo Golf MGA Player of the Year Point Standings for much of 2010 thanks in part to wins at the Havemeyer and Mittelmark Invitationals, and a top-five finish at the Ike. “Getting MGA Player of the Year honors is always a goal, and I set my schedule early in the season and just tried to get a couple wins,” he said.

In late August, the Long Island native made match play for the first time at the U.S. Amateur and earned 125 Player of the Year points for that performance on a national stage, and two weeks later he won the Bergen County Amateur to close in on player-of-the-year points leader Evan Beirne of Bethpage. In late September, Saladino reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur held at Atlantic Golf Club on Long Island.

He then won the Nassau Invitational, his last event of the season, on the strength of an opening-round 63, a new course record, and emerged with a lock on the Player of the Year title. His 1,002 points for the season are the second-highest total in the last seven years, falling just shy of his 1,117 points in 2008, when he won the award for the first time. For more information on Saladino’s 2010 campaign, please click here.

The MGA Annual Dinner and Meeting also included the election of officers for the MGA and recognized the 2010 MGA tournament champions and host clubs. For more information please contact Billy Condon at bcondon@mgagolf.org or 914-347-4653, ext. 315.