Friday, July 09, 2010

NORMAN, Okla. - Eight Atlantic Sun men’s golfers have been named Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars as announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

ETSU men’s golfers Rhys Enoch (Cornwall, England), Paul O’Kane (Castledawson, Northern Ireland), and Seamus Power (Waterford, Ireland) have been named Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars, the Golf Coaches Asssociation of America (GCAA) announced today.

Power received the award for the second straight season and becomes the second ETSU player to receive the award in back-to-back years. Gareth Shaw (Lisburn, Northern Ireland) became the first Buc to win in two-straight seasons as he won the honor in both 2007 and 2008. Power, the 2010 Atlantic Sun individual champion, has also been named First-Team All-Conference and was also named to the Ping All-Region Team.

Enoch continues to rack up plenty of accolades as he has already been named First-Team All-Atlantic Sun, Ping All-American, and Ping All-Region honors. He just recently competed in the prestigious Palmer Cup matches.

“We have been fortunate to have Rhys, Seamus and Paul as a part of our Golf program, athletic department and university, said Bob Baker, ETSU Assistant Athletic Director of Academic Services. “They are role models for all student-athletes on how to excel at both the scholar and the athlete part of the term scholar-athlete.”

First time winners, Enoch and O’Kane join Power, Shaw, and Eamon Brady (1999) as the only ETSU golfers to receive the prestigious honor.

Two Belmont golfers, Scott O'Brien and Dan Smith were named Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-American Scholars

For Scott O'Brien, this is the second straight season he has been named a GCAA All-American Scholar. During the 2009-10 season, the Brookings, South Dakota native led the Bruins in scoring with a 73.9 average. He had four top-20 finishes, including a tie for sixth place at the Yestingsmeier Invitational last fall. In addition, O'Brien finished fifth in Belmont's record books for career scoring average with a mark of 74.9. Scott graduated from Belmont last May with a degrees in Finance and Mathematics.

Dan Smith earns All-American Scholar status for the first time. During the 2009-10 season, the rising senior from Bournemouth, England ranked fifth on the team in scoring average at 75.7. His best finish was a tie for 25th place at the Murray State Fall Invitational last October. Smith is currently majoring in Finance at Belmont.

Despite graduating from USC Upstate in May, former Spartan golf great and Gaffney, S.C., native Josh Gallman continues to haul in honors for his performance on the golf course and in the classroom. The latest achievement was earning his second straight Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-American Scholar honor.

Gallman graduated with a bachelor's degree in business marketing in May. He finished his college career with a 3.726 GPA and graduated with honors in the George Dean Johnson, Jr., College of Business. He earned ESPN The Magazine Third Team Academic All-America honors in June. He was inducted into the Chi Alpha Sigma National Student-Athlete Honor Society, the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Fraternity in the Johnson College of Business and earned the Top Business Marketing Student Award. He was also named the USC Upstate Male Student-Athlete of the Year, an award that combines both academic and athletic excellence, for the second time in his four years as a Spartan.

Gallman finished his career at Upstate as the program's all-time top player, and one of the top student-athletes to come through the Athletics program. He holds every career and single-season school record, including seven career wins, 21 career top five finishes, 33 career top 10 performances and a 72.7 career stroke average. His 71.4 stroke average in 2009-10 is the top single-season average in school history, while his .938 winning percentage as a sophomore also tops the single-season list. His 66 in the second round of the Rutgers Invitational, which he won, stands as the lowest round in school history.

Matt Moot of Campbell University has been named a Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar. A three-time Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic Team member, Moot owns a 3.742 grade-point average as a business administration major. He played in all 10 events for the Camels in '09-10 and posted a 73.5 stroke average.

Moot earned Atlantic Sun All-Tournament honors in April after finishing in a fourth-place tie at the league championship. He shot 75-71-69-215 on the par-72, 6975-yard Legends Course at Chateau Elan in Braselton, Ga., including three-straight birdies to close the final round.

The A-Sun performance marked one of four top-10 showings for Moot in 2009-10. He tied for fifth at the Xavier Renaissance Invitational in Ft. Myers, Fla., where he shot a collegiate career-low 65 in the opening round and finished the 54-hole event at 12-under-par (65-68-71-204).

Kennesaw State's J.P Putman rounds out the A-Sun representation among the Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars.

The senior who twice earned Atlantic Sun All-Academic honors posted the second-best scoring average in 2009-10 for the Owls at 74.0. He turned in three top-10 finishes highlighted by a third-place showing at the Irish Creek Collegiate. Twice he carded rounds of 68, during the first round at the Samford Intercollegiate and again in the first round at the Irish Creek Collegiate.

There were 119 players in Division I that received the honor. To be eligible for Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar status an individual must be a junior or senior academically, compete in at least two full years at the collegiate level, participate in 70-percent of his team’s competitive rounds or compete in the NCAA Championships, have a stroke-average under 76.0 in Division I, 78.0 in Division II and NAIA and 79.0 in Division III, and maintain a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 in Division I, II and III and 3.5 in NAIA. A recipient must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at his college or university.