Sahith Theegala makes it three with Jack Nicklaus Award win
7/8/2020 | by Brayden Conover of AmateurGolf.com
see also: Jack Nicklaus Award, Golf Coaches Association of America
With the win, Theegala completes the sweep of collegiate golf's three most prestigious awards
Bring out the brooms.
Pepperdine’s Sahith Theegala became just the fifth player to sweep the three most prestigious awards in collegiate golf.
Named the Hogan Award and Haskins Award winner earlier this year, Theegala was named the Jack Nicklaus Division I player of the year on Wednesday.
Related: After long road to recovery, Theegala goes out on top
Since 1990, when all three awards began handing out hardware, there have been just five athletes to sweep all three. The first to do so was Oklahoma State’s Hunter Mahan in 2003. Splitting the Hogan Award with Arizona’s Ricky Barnes, Mahan secured both the Haskins and Nicklaus to himself.
2004 and 2005 saw dominance once again as UNLV’s Ryan Moore took home the triple crown in 2004 and Wake Forest’s Bill Haas doing the same in 2005. The sweep would not happen for nine years when Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers claimed top prestige in 2014.
With five players to grab all three awards in the same season, two others have nabbed all three throughout their collegiate careers. UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay received Haskins and Nicklaus honors in 2011 and completed the career-sweep with the Hogan in 2012. Stanford’s Maverick McNealy did the same, claiming the 2015 Haskins and Nicklaus before being crowed with the Hogan in 2017.
Theegala, the first Pepperdine recipient of any of the three awards, just recently turned pro on the PGA Tour with a start at the Travelers Championship just two weeks ago. Missing the cut, Theegala will have opportunities with sponsor exemptions at the 3M Open Championship and the Barracuda Championship.
Delta State’s Zach Zediker, Rob Wuethrich of Illinois Wesleyan, Dalton State’s Ben Rebne, and Jon Hopkins of Mississippi Gulf Coast join Theegala as winners of the Jack Nicklaus Award for their respective divisions (D-II through NJCAA).
About the Nicklaus Award
The Jack Nicklaus Award recognizes the national men's college player of the year at the Division I, II, III, NAIA, and NJCAA levels. Nicklaus, a Big Ten and NCAA Champion at Ohio State, helped inspire and create the Jack Nicklaus Award in 1988.
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