The Golf Coaches Association of America announced LSU sophomore All-American Sam Burns as a semifinalist for the 2017 NCAA Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award presented by Barbasol.
Burns, who is currently ranked as the No. 2 player in college golf by Golfstat and Golfweek, has 13-straight top-10 tournament finishes in 13 appearances. In addition, he has won two team events this year as he was crowned a co-champion in the David Toms Intercollegiate and winning the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette.
The Shreveport, La., native has a team-leading scoring average of 69.69 strokes per round through his 13 tournament appearances and a cumulative 62-under par with 29 of his collegiate rounds at par or better this season, according to LSU Athletics.
Finalists for the National Player of the Year Award will be announced May 25 before the start of the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships. The winner of the award will be revealed at the Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 1 by legendary golfer Jack Nickalus in a ceremony during the final round of the Memorial Tournament.
In addition to receiving the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award, recipients will compete in the Barbasol Shootout for an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s Barbasol Championship from July 20 to July 23 on Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Grand National in Opelika, Alabama.
The Barbasol Shootout is scheduled for Saturday, June 3, at the Scioto Country Club in Columbia, Ohio, where Nicklaus first learned the game of golf as a boy before becoming one of the legends of the game.
