LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), the league office today announced the 2022 men's golf postseason award winners. 2022 All-SCAC Men's Golf Team
Christian Rodriguez of Southwestern University was named SCAC Golfer of the Year, while his head coach, Greg Sigler, earned Coach of the Year honors. In that same balloting, Tobey Wills of Texas Lutheran University was selected SCAC Freshman of the Year.
Rodriguez, a junior from Houston, Texas, led Southwestern to the 2022 SCAC men's team title, firing rounds of 71, 68 and 73 to finish at 212 and four under. He earned medalist honors after defeating TLU's Wills on the third playoff hole.
One of just three golfers to finish under par at the championship, his three-round score of 212 was the third-lowest in championship history. Rodriguez finished third at the championship with 13 birdies and tied for fifth with 34 pars, including his par putt on 18 which proved to be the differentiator and provided the final one stroke margin as Southwestern fought from as many as five shots down the stretch to earn the one shot victory over Trinity.
After earning one of six individual berths into the NCAA Championships - and SCAC individuals made up half of the at-large entries, Rodriguez was the highest conference finisher after firing a two-day total of 154 to post +11, tied for 69th. He opened with a round of 75 and was the lone SCAC athlete to post a pair of rounds in the 70s, closing out with a 79 on Wednesday. He finished the two days with six birdies, tied for 35th in the field in that category. Currently ranked 30th in the nation with an adjusted scoring average of 72.81, Rodriguez earned Division III PING All-Region accolades earlier in May.
Rodriguez's selection marks the fourth time a Southwestern golfer has earned SCAC Men's Golfer of the Year honors. Tyler Gammill earned back-to-back Player of the Year honors following the 2016 and 2017 seasons and former Pirate Cade Osgood was the league's Golfer of the Year in 2018.
After starting the tournament with rounds of 71 and 75, Wills, a freshman from Richmond, Texas, shot a blistering final round 66, the lowest third-round in the history of the event, to thrust himself into contention for the top spot on the leaderboard at the SCAC Championships. His par on 18 - his 30th of the weekend - placed him in a tie with Southwestern's Rodriguez with a 212 (the third-lowest 54-hole total in championship history) and forced a playoff for medalist honors. In the longest men's playoff in the 54-hole championship, Wills succumbed to Rodriguez on the third playoff hole.
An All-SCAC First Team honoree, Wills is the fourth Texas Lutheran men's golfer to earn Freshman of the Year honors, following in the footsteps of Colin Uecker (2016) as well as current teammates Matthew McArthur (2018) and Chase Maus (2019).
Sigler earned Coach of the Year honors after leading Southwestern to the 2022 SCAC Men's Golf Championship, the program's first team title since earning back-to-back-to-back championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018. The Pirates, who trailed by as many as five shots down the stretch of Tuesday's final round, staged a late comeback to earn this year's conference crown. Fueled by the team's four scoring players combining to finish two under par on the tournament's final three holes, Southwestern emerged with a one-shot victory over Trinity at the par-72, 6,864-yard Vaaler Creek Golf Club in Blanco, Texas.
The title is the fifth overall for the Southwestern men's program, and places them in a tie with Trinity for the fifth most by any school in SCAC history. Southwestern finished with a three-round total of 889 (+25) after rounds of 293, 300 and 296, one stroke clear of Trinity who fired rounds of 296, 295 and 299 to finish at 890 (+26).
In his seventh season at the helm of both Pirates' golfing programs, the SCAC COTY honor is the fourth for Sigler on the men's side (2016, 2017, 2018) and sixth overall as he was the league's Women's Coach of the Year in both 2017 and 2018.
