Southern Am winner Zachary Olsen SGA Player of Month

BIRMINGHAM, ALA. (Aug. 1, 2013) – Youthful, Oklahoma State-bound Zachary Olsen of Cordova, TN has been selected as the Southern Golf Association’s National Amateur of the Month for July after capturing the 107th Southern Amateur at The Club at Carlton Woods near Houston.

Olsen, who had just turned 19 and was one of the youngest players in the field, won in dramatic fashion by sinking a 12-foot putt on the 72nd hole to climb into a 3-man playoff, then won the title by sinking a 20-footer for birdie on the first extra hole.

Recent SGA Ams of the Month Winners September: Nathan Smith, U.S. Mid-Am | More October: Meghan Stasi, U.S. Women's Mid-Am | More March: Patrick Rodgers, Stanford | More April: Tianlang Guan, Masters | More May: Max Homa, Cal | More June: Cory Whitsett, Alabama | More

The incoming freshman for the Oklahoma State golf team won the storied event against a field loaded with world-ranked amateurs by posting a 12-under total of 276 on the long and difficult Carlton Woods layout to gain a spot in the playoff against Alabama- Birmingham senior Sam Love and Georgia senior Joey Garber.

Among the world top-10 ams in Olsen’s wake were Alabama stars Corey Whitsett and Bobby Wyatt, U.S. Amateur runnerup Michael Weaver and Australian Brady Watt. The victory gained Olsen a spot in the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational next March in Orlando.

July honorable mention went to USGA Public Links winner Jordan Niebrugge, who will be one of Olsen’s teammates at Oklahoma State.

The Am of the Month award is selected by a national, blue- ribbon panel of golf officials, coaches and journalists. This year’s previous winners of the March-thru-October award were Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers, Chinese teen Masters sensation Guan Tianlang, Cal’s Max Homa and Whitsett. The honor is one of the ways the SGA promotes and advances amateur golf, including its storied Southern Amateur, the 108th playing scheduled next July at the exclusive Honors Course near Chattanooga.