NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt’s Wells Williams and Lynn Lim were recently named SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for men’s and women’s golf, respectively, a rare sweep of the prestigious conference award honoring academic and athletic excellence. It is just the second year in the award’s history that the same school swept the golf awards outright.
And earning top marks was nothing new for Williams, a senior who became the first Vanderbilt golfer from either program to receive the award in consecutive years.
The West Point, Mississippi, native is just the eighth SEC men’s golfer to accomplish the feat. This is also the third season in a row that a Commodore men’s golfer earned a share of the honors, with Cole Sherwood recognized in 2024.
“First of all, Wells is a first-class young man who represents Vanderbilt University with class and integrity in everything that he does,” Thomas F. Roush, M.D., and Family Vanderbilt Men’s Golf Head Coach Scott Limbaugh said. “I am so proud to be his coach as he is everything you want a student-athlete to be about.”
Already just the second Vanderbilt women’s golfer to be named SEC Freshman of the Year, Lim now closes her senior season with a fitting capstone to one of the most accomplished careers in program history. The product of Gallatin, Tennessee, is the women’s program’s second Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
“I’m so happy Lynn was voted the Scholar-Athlete of the Year,” head coach Greg Allen said. “I’m definitely biased, but I think our Vanderbilt kids deserve that award each year. Like most everything she does, Lynn takes her academics very seriously. There is not another young lady more deserving than Lynn Lim. I’m super proud of her!”
Both golfers are as adept at being above average in the classroom as they are below par on the course.
Williams is a two-time SEC Spring Academic Honor Roll honoree and was on the 2023 SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll. Additionally, he was a 2024-25 GCAA All-America Scholar. The Anthropology major holds a cumulative GPA of 3.86 at Vanderbilt.
A political science major, Lim owns a 3.965 GPA and has never received a grade below A-minus in any course at Vanderbilt. She is a three-time WGCA Academic All-American and will earn her fourth honor in the coming weeks. She has also received Dean’s List recognition in every semester.
On the course, Lim has a 72.30 scoring average with five top-25 finishes this season. She set the Vanderbilt record with a round of 9-under-par 63 to open the Clemson Invitational. She went on to earn co-medalist honors, her first career win in the collegiate ranks.
Williams leads the men’s team in scoring average this season at 70.10 through 30 rounds. The senior has posted seven top-10 finishes in 2025-26 and had his score count in 28 of the team’s 30 rounds. Williams holds a career scoring average of 70.86 through four seasons. His three individual medals are tied for fourth-most in program history.
Lim joins previous Vanderbilt winner Kate Sborov (2017), while Williams joins Sherwood, Theo Humphrey (2018) and Ryan Haselden (2011).
