Sean Elliott and Roadrunner Coach Ben Rickett
The Golf Coaches Association of America announced Friday that Dalton State rising junior Sean Elliott is the winner of the 2015 NAIA Jack Nicklaus Award, presented by Barbasol. The award is given to the group’s golfers of the year.
The Westfield, NJ native finished the 2014-2015 season with an NAIA best 70.67 scoring average.
Elliott had already captured the Arnold Palmer Award as the Individual Low Medalist in last month’s NAIA National Championship tournament, which was held at the LPGA Hills Course in Daytona Beach, Fla.
He broke two long standing records in the championship event… a 32-year-old 54-hole national championship scoring record (202) and a 60-year-old 72-hole national championship record (68-69-65-70 = 272).
The Roadrunner star was also medalist in the Southern States Conference Tournament at Montgomery (Ala.) Country Club (69-67-64 = 200). He was a 2015 First Team All-American and a First Team All-Conference player.
Ben Rickett, Dalton State’s men’s golf coach, is ecstatic about Elliott’s recognition. “”Wow! What an achievement for Sean,” said Rickett. “”It’s hard to believe how far he has come as a golfer and as a person. It puts the cherry on top of his remarkable season. It just shows that with the support of a great community and resources, incredible things can happen. I am so proud of Sean, but also couldn’t be more thankful for our supporters for everything they do to give these students the opportunities to be the best they can be.”
Elliott was chosen from finalists Alastair Tidcombe of Coastal Georgia, Bill McKenzie from William Woods (Mo.), Peter French of Johnson & Wales (Fla.) and Anthony Marchesani from Oklahoma City.
Also receiving the Jack Nicklaus Award this Sunday during the final day of the Memorial golf tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio will be Maverick McNealy of Stanford for NCAA Division I, Santiago Gomez of Nova Southeastern for NCAA D-2, Anthony Maccaglia of Oglethorpe for NCAA D-3 and Eastern Florida College’s Kerry Sweeney representing the National Junior College Athletic Association.
In addition to receiving the awards, the five honorees will compete in an 18-hole playoff to earn an exemption into the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship. The fivesome will tee off Saturday, June 6 at 12:10 p.m. at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Oh. Founded in 1916, Scioto is perennially ranked among the top courses in the country. It was designed by acclaimed architect Donald Ross and is celebrated as a great achievement in golf course architecture. Scioto Country Club is also where a young jack Nicklaus honed his game under the watchful eye of legendary teaching professional, Jack Grout.
Following the Saturday round Tom Murray, President and CEO of Perio, Inc., the parent company of Barbasol, will present the golfer with the lowest score an invitation to the Barbasol Championship which will be held July 16-19 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Grand National in Opelika, Ala.
Sean Elliot at NAIA Championship