NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent has been named one of five finalists for the Jack Nicklaus Award, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced Thursday.
Nicklaus, a Big Ten and NCAA Champion at Ohio State, helped inspire and create the Jack Nicklaus Award in 1988. The award is now presented to the national player of the year in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, as well as NAIA and NJCAA.
The Nicklaus Award winner will be announced by Nicklaus on Tuesday during his annual news conference with awards presented to each of the recipients by Nicklaus and Workday during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. All five finalists are competing at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
Sargent, the reigning NCAA national champion and all-time leader in career wins (5) at Vandy, competed at the Masters Tournament in April and won individual titles at the East Lake Cup, John Hayt Invitational and Mason Rudolph Championship this season.
Atop both the Golfstat Individual Rankings and the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, Sargent is listed second in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and third by Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com. A member of the U.S. Palmer Cup team, his amateur highlights also include advancing to match play at the U.S. Amateur, placing fourth at the Northeast Amateur, tying for sixth at the Jones Cup Invitational, sharing 17th at the Western Amateur and being one of seven amateurs to compete at the 2023 Masters.
Sargent has placed in the top 10 in all 11 tournaments he has competed in this season, including eight top-fives, and carries a 68.1 season stroke average. He finished first in the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup standings and will compete for the United States again this summer.
The other finalists along with Sargent are Ludvig Aberg of Texas Tech, Adrien Dumont de Chassart of Illinois, Ben James of Virginia and Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford.
