2024
Caleb Billings
The inaugural recipient returned after missing 2023. His peers compared the golfer they had seen in 2022 with the one who came back in 2024 and recognized how much his game had improved.
Caleb’s profileSelected by the players · Established 2024
The Dean Johnson
Most Improved
Golfer Award
For the work that shows up in your game—and the teammates who notice it.
The award winners
The roll of honour
Improvement their peers could see.
Three recipients. Different paths to better golf. Each chosen by the men who played alongside him.
2025
Eli Schaefer
A final-round 75 with Andy helped produce the best team score of the day. Eli also shot in the 70s in Ryder Cup singles, giving the group plenty of evidence of the player he was becoming.
Eli’s profile2026
Reed Tomsheck
Reed broke 100 for the first time on the trip, then did it again. His two 97s and closing 102 brought his trip average down by seventeen strokes from the previous year.
Reed’s profile
The man behind the name
Years of work.
A place at the heart of the trip.
Dean has been part of the trip since its first chapter in 2018. One of the group’s senior members, he has helped give it continuity, character, and a reason to keep coming back. His name on this award recognizes both the golfer who kept working and the man who has meant so much to the people beside him.
Dean’s opening ABC-D round in 2018 was 117. But 2022 and 2023 tell the story of the work that gave this award its name. During that stretch, he was making a determined effort to transform his swing. His three rounds in the 2022 Classic averaged 123.3, leaving plenty of room for the changes he was working toward.
In 2023, that work produced a breakthrough. Dean shot 100 in the opening ABC-D, his best round on the trip, and helped Jake, Tom, and Bob win the event. He followed it with 118 and 114, bringing his trip average down to 110.7—nearly thirteen strokes better than the year before and his best average on the trip.
123.32022 trip average
110.72023 trip average · His best year
Trip averages include all three recorded individual rounds: ABC-D, Ryder Cup, and the final round.
That season showed what persistence could produce. His 2025 Ryder Cup comeback as captain and the bunker shot he called before hitting it close in the Ramble playoff added moments his teammates will remember.
As Vice President of Golf Operations and founder of the Cemented Classic, Dean’s contribution reaches well beyond a scorecard. He has helped shape the competitions while remaining one of the trip’s most enthusiastic teammates. The group’s traditions honor the people who helped make it what it is: Bryan’s name belongs on the championship trophy, and Dean’s belongs on an award that celebrates the willingness to keep getting better.
More about DeanA trophy with a second chapter
The old trophy found a new purpose.
When the Bryan Willis Trophy became the championship trophy in 2024, the group added a new plaque to the original trophy and made it the Dean Johnson Most Improved Golfer Award. Caleb became its first recipient that same year.
An honour from your teammates
Chosen by your peers.
The players vote for the golfer whose improvement they recognize most. It gives the trip a way to celebrate the work between appearances, the confidence built over time, and better golf when the group comes together again.