(DUBLIN, Ohio / May 30, 2019) — Oklahoma State’s Matthew Wolff has been named the 2019 recipient of the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award it was announced today by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
A sophomore, Wolff set the school’s single-season record for wins in a season with six, including his five-shot victory this week at the NCAA Championship. With his win, Wolff became the ninth Cowboy to win an individual national championship. The Agoura Hills, Calif., native opened the year with four consecutive full-field victories, winning The Carmel Cup, Fighting Illini Invitational, Royal Oaks Intercollegiate and Amer Ari Invitational. He added his fifth win of the year at the Valspar Collegiate.
Wolff, who was also named a first-team All-American earlier this week, joins current OSU head coach Alan Bratton (1994), Charles Howell (2000), Hunter Mahan (2003) and Pablo Martin (2006) as Cowboys to win the award.
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 18-21, at the Champions at Keene Trace in Lexington, Ky. The Barbasol Shootout will be held Saturday, June 1 at The Ohio State University Golf Club’s Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio - the same club where Jack Nicklaus played collegiate golf for the Buckeyes.
Mr. Nicklaus will recognize the Nicklaus Award recipients the following day at 10 a.m. during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide at Muirfield Village Golf Club. As the Division I Nicklaus Award recipient, Wolff will also receive an exemption to the following year’s Memorial Tournament.
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. Winners of the Nicklaus Award include Tiger Woods (1996), Phil Mickelson (1990-92), David Duval (1993), Justin Leonard (1994), Stewart Cink (1995), Justin Thomas (2012), and Jon Rahm (2016) among many others.
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