Texas Lutheran's Uecker and Maus Headline Men's Golf Postseason Honorees

Texas Lutheran's Uecker and Maus Headline Men's Golf Postseason Honorees

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), the league office today announced the 2019 men's golf postseason award winners.

Colin Uecker of Texas Lutheran University was named SCAC Golfer of the Year, while his teammatre, Chase Maus, was selected SCAC Freshman of the Year. University of Dallas head coach Garrett Smith was named the league's Coach of the Year.

Uecker, a senior from Kerrville, Texas, had a stellar season which included earning medalist honors at the 2019 SCAC Championships, one of five tournaments he won during the season - tying a school record. Uecker fired a five-under par 54-hole score of 211 (71-70-70) at Vaaler Creek Golf Club at the conference championship and his 54-hole total marked the second lowest in SCAC tournament history, The lone golfer in the field to finish under par, Uecker tied for the most birdies posted (12) and finished tied for the best par-five scoring average (4.33) to combine for eight-under par on the 12 par-fives during the championship. 

In addition to earning top honors at the SCAC championship, Uecker also took medalist honors at the adidas Intercollegiate, the John Bohmann Memorial, the Rockwind Links Intercollegiate and the West Region Invitational. He finished his illustrious career with eight tournament wins as a Bulldog. Uecker earned an individual berth into the 2019 NCAA Division III Championship, entering the event as the No. 9 rated golfer (Golfstat) in NCAA Division III.

Uecker was one of 30 semifinalists for the Jack Nicklaus Division III Player of the Year award and earned Division III Ping All-West Region honors for the second consecutive year.

Uecker's selection as Player-of-the-Year marks the second time a Texas Lutheran player has earned the league's top honor, following Adam Peterson in 2015.

Maus, a freshman from Manor, Texas, earned SCAC Men's Golfer of the Week honors for his play from March 20 through March 26 after finishing second at the UT-Dallas Texas Cup. He tied for first place at the event, but officially took home second-place honors after the tiebreaker was applied. Maus also posted top 20 finishes at six other events during the 2018-19 campaign, including a 12th place individual finish at the SCAC Championship where he helped the Bulldogs to a tie for second place in the team standings. He also finished 10th at the Trinity University Alamo City Classic, 11th at both the John Bohmann Memorial and the Rockwind Links Invitational, 17th at the West Region Invitational and 18th at the HSU Abilene Intercollegiate.

Maus is the second consecutive Bulldog to earn Freshman of the Year honors and the third in the last four years. He follows current teammate Matthew McArthur, who took home the award a year ago, and Colin Uecker, who was the league's top first-year player in 2016.

Smith earned Coach of the Year honors after leading the Crusaders to the school's first-ever SCAC title in any sport at the 2019 SCAC Men's Golf Championship. UD led in wire-to-wire fashion at the par-72, 6,864-yard Vaaler Creek Golf Club course in Blanco, Texas - firing identical rounds of 295 in the Day One's opening action and closed out the championship with a third-round team score of 296 to finish with a cumulative two-day and three-round total of 886 (+22) and two shots clear of both Southwestern and Texas Lutheran. Prior to this year's event, Dallas had never finished higher than fourth at the conference tournament.

Smith is just the second spring sport coach from the University of Dallas and fifth coach overall to earn SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors since the institution joined the conference prior to the 2011-12 academic year. Matt Buchhorn and his staff earned a share of SCAC Women's Track & Field Staff of the Year honors in 2013 while three different UD soccer coaches (Kristina Corona for women's soccer in 2012, Angelina Paine for women's soccer in 2014, and David Hoffmann for men's soccer in 2017) have earned the league's top coach recognition.