Four Men's Golfers Earn Conference Honors; Vongvanij Named SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 | Men's Golf
Led by the 2010 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year in Gator junior Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton, Fla.), four UF men's golfers received 2010 conference accolades, announced by the league.
Joining Vongvanij, Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) earned All-SEC first team honors and senior Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.) was named to the All-SEC second team. Phillip Choi (Orlando, Fla.) was tabbed as an SEC All-Freshman team honoree.
Vongvanij currently ranks second on the team with a 72.78 stroke average and finished sixth at the Chris Schenkel Intercollegiate and the SEC Championships. Academically, Vongvanij has a 3.62 grade point average, majoring in Finance. He is a two-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and in the Fall 2009 semester, earned a perfect 4.00 grade point average.
Alexander, who is also a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll recipient, currently leads the squad with a 72.2 stroke average. He capped his final regular season tournament of his career on top, earning a first-place finish at the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate. He carded a career-low 64 (-8) in his first round and posted a season-best tournament score of 205 (-11). Alexander is the only UF golfer to have participated in every tournament in 2009-10 and leads the team in rounds at or under par (15), tournaments at or under par (3), top-20 finishes (7) and birdies (92). Alexander was recently named the Southern Golf Association's Amateur of the Month after winning the 62nd Azalea Invitational in late March.
McKenney was named as an All-SEC second team honoree following the 2008-09 season as well and is also a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll selection. He posted three-straight finishes in the top-10 in the month of February. His resiliency was evident at both the Gator Invitational and John Hayt Invitational, in which he shot the teams highest scores in the first round and rallied back to improve with each round and finish in the lead among teammates. Recently, Tim had a career-best outing at the BancorpSouth Intercollegiate, carding a career-low 63 (-9) in his first round to and finished in second place with a career-low tournament score of 206 (-10). Tim has played in nine of the team's 10 tournaments in 2009-10 and ties for the team led in top-five finishes (3) and eagles (3). He ranks second in birdies with 89 on the season.
In his first season at Florida, Choi has appeared in seven of the team's 10 tournaments and currently boasts a 74.1 stroke average. He leads all UF freshmen in rounds at or under par (6) and birdies (53). His best finish of the year came at the Gator Invitational when he tied for seventh place.
The Gators will return to action on May 6 for the Golden Ocala Invitational, a one-day, 36-hole event hosted by UF.
2010 SEC Men's Golf Awards
Coach of the Year: Chris Haack, Georgia
Golfer of the Year: Russell Henley, Georgia
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Bank Vongvanij, Florida
Freshman of the Year: Bryden MacPherson, Georgia
First-Team All-SEC
Russell Henley, Georgia
Jonathan Randolph, Ole Miss
Harris English, Georgia
Tyson Alexander, Florida
David Lingmerth, Arkansas
George Bryan IV, South Carolina
Andrew Loupe, LSU
*Bud Cauley, Alabama
*Hunter Hamrick, Alabama
Second Team All-SEC
Wesley Bryan, South Carolina
Paul Woodbury, South Carolina
David Holmes, Tennessee
Kyle Kopsick, Auburn
Tim McKenney, Florida
Hudson Johnson, Vanderbilt
Robin Wingardh, Tennessee
Bryden MacPherson, Georgia
All-Freshman Team
Chase Parker, Kentucky
Bryden MacPherson, Georgia
Austin Cook, Arkansas
Phillip Choi, Florida
Pete Kellerman, Ole Miss
Jay Vandeventer, Tennessee
*David Zickler, Auburn
*Lee Knox, Alabama
*Tom Brown, Ole Miss
*-Ties
-UF-
