NORMAN, Okla. -- Matthew Christl, Cade Osgood, and Sutherland Stith of Southwestern University, along with Colin Uecker of Texas Lutheran University, have each been named semifinalists for the NCAA Division III Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced in a press release last week.
The Southwestern trio helped lead the Pirates men's golf team to a top 10 national ranking, ending the regular season at No. 7, and a bid to compete in the 2019 NCAA DIII Men's Golf Championships in Nicholasville, Kentucky from May 14-17.
Uecker is the 2019 SCAC champion and a qualifier for the 2019 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships.
Division III finalists for the award will be named May 14 while Division II finalists will be announced May 15.
The SCAC was one of only three conferences with four or more honorees and only one conference - the UAA with five - had more.
Nicklaus Award recipients will be announced May 30 with the honor presented by Jack Nicklaus at a ceremony during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
In addition to receiving the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award, the five recipients will compete in the Barbasol Shootout for an exemption into the PGA TOUR's Barbasol Championship, held July 18-21, at the Champions at Keene Trace in Lexington, Ky. The Barbasol Shootout will be held Saturday, June 1 at The Ohio State University Golf Club's Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio - the same club where Jack Nicklaus played collegiate golf for the Buckeyes.
The complete list of DIII semifinalists is as follows:
Andrew Abel, Illinois Wesleyan
Jacob Arnett, Oglethorpe
Matthew Christl, Southwestern (TX)
Henry Gee, Huntingdon
Josh Gibson, Hope
Sam Goldenring, Williams
Larkin Gross, Methodist
Emmet Herb, St. Thomas (MN)
Josh Hill, Guilford
Ben Johnson, Illinois Wesleyan
Ken Kong, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
Colin Laszlo, Wittenberg
Jason Li, Carnegie Mellon
Drew Mathers, Huntingdon
James Mishoe, Guilford
Matt Organisak, Emory
Cade Osgood, Southwestern (TX)
Brian Peccie, Washington & Lee
Drew Pershing, Illinois Wesleyan
Will Rosenfield, Trinity (CT)
Logan Ryan, Emory
Stephen Shephard, Huntingdon
Dan Shepherd, Methodist
Luke Smith, Hardin-Simmons
Sutherland Stith, Southwestern (TX)
Colin Uecker, Texas Lutheran
Cameron Willis, Wittenberg
Rob Wuethrich, Illinois Wesleyan
Connor Yakubov, Emory
Eric Yiu, Emory
