Five finalists have been named for the 2016 Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award presented by Barbasol. Charlie Danielson (Illinois), Beau Hossler (Texas), Lee McCoy (Georgia), Maverick McNealy (Stanford) and Jon Rahm (Arizona State) are finalists for the award. McCoy, McNealy and Rahm were also finalists last season with McNealy the reigning Nicklaus Award recipient. The winner will be announced June 2 at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, and presented by award namesake Jack Nicklaus at a ceremony during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide.
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 14-17, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Grand National in Opelika, Ala. McNealy won last year’s Barbasol Shootout. He made the cut and placed 78th at the Barbasol Championship. The Barbasol Shootout will be held Saturday, June 4 at storied Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio — the same club where Jack Nicklaus learned the game of golf as a young boy.
Danielson led Illinois with two event titles this year. He was chosen as a semifinalist for both the Ben Hogan Award and Byron Nelson Award. The Big Ten Player of the Year, Daneilson leads the Illini with a 70.70 season stroke average and has shot under par in 15 rounds played this season. The senior was also named this year’s Big Ten Medal of Honor Recipient. Danielson was selected to represent the United States in this summer’s Arnold Palmer Cup.
Hossler leads the nation with five collegiate victories in 2015-16, which includes four spring tournament wins. He owns a 69.70 scoring average. For the season, Hossler has top-10 finishes in 10 of 11 tournaments for the Longhorns, including a runner-up showing at the Big 12 Championship. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Year and first-team All-Big 12. Hossler was also named a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award.
McCoy has won two times this season, including medalist honors at the SEC Championship. He has finished in the top seven in seven of the 10 tournaments in which he has played. McCoy has a season scoring average of 69.97 and a career average of 70.89, each better than the current school mark. The SEC Player of the Year, McCoy was also named a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award.
McNealy has four college tournament titles this season, tied for the second most in the country. He has placed inside the top 10 nine times for the Stanford. In addition, the junior boasts a 69.15 scoring average and broke the school’s 54-hole scoring record at the Western Intercollegiate (194). He was honored as the Pac-12 Golfer of the Year and first-team All-Pac-12. McNealy was selected to represent the United States in this summer’s Arnold Palmer Cup.
Rahm secured top-10 placements in all 12 collegiate events for the Arizona State this year. He is tied for second nationally with four victories, which includes wins in three of his last four starts. The senior, who carries a 69.38 scoring average and won the Pac-12 Championships by four strokes, was named first-team All-Pac-12 Conference. Earlier this week Rahm was named recipient of the Ben Hogan Award, becoming the trophy’s first two-time honoree.
Nicklaus, a Big Ten and NCAA Champion at The Ohio State University, helped inspire and create the Jack Nicklaus Award in 1988 and it is now presented to the National Player of the year in NCAA Divisions I, II and III, as well as NAIA and NJCAA Divisions I and II.
Chandler Blanchet (West Florida), John Coultas (Florida Southern), Alistair Docherty and Lee Gearhart (both of of Chico State) and Barrett Waters (West Georgia) are finalists for Division II Award; Jackson Collier (Methodist), David Kleckner (Oglethorpe), Addison Lambeth (Huntingdon), Logan Lanier (LaGrange) and Phillip Stewart (Schreiner) are finalists for the Division III Award; and Jackson Bugdalski (Indian Hills), Stefan Cronje (Midland), Connor Klein (South Mountain), Marco Maldonado (Tyler), Grant Motter (Mississippi Gulf Coast) and Kerry Sweeney (Eastern Florida State) are finalists for the NCJAA award.
