Hocker Earns All-American Nod
Webster University men's golfer Will Hocker made history on Wednesday afternoon as the junior earned First-Team NCAA Division III PING All-American honors from the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Hocker, who was named a PING All-Central Region selection last week, becomes the first Gorlok to earn All-American honors in men's golf and he is also the first golfer from the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to earn All-American accolades.
"This is a terrific honor for Will to receive and I can't think of anyone more deserving of this honor. He works hard both on and off the golf course and it is fun to watch him play," said Webster men's golf coach said Andrew Belsky said. "I'm thankful every day that I get to be part of his journey through college golf."
The Webster junior was one of nine Division III players named a First-Team All-American and one of 56 players that earned All-American honors in Division III men's golf this year.
Hocker earns his PING All-American honor after posting a team-best 72.00 scoring average in 18 rounds and seven events in the shortened 2019-20 season. On the season, he led the team with seven rounds of par or better and finished in the Top 10 in six of Webster's seven events, including four Top 5 placements and winning medalist honors at the season-opening Culver's Edgewood College Fall Classic. Finished the season with a 602-31 combined record and shot a school-record round of 63 (8-under par) in the final round of the Tim Kopka Memorial Tournament and that round of 63 was the lowest round this season among all Division III golfers, while his 8-under par was tied for the lowest round relative to par in Division III. Along with winning medalist honors at the Culver's Edgewood Fall Classic, Hocker was runner-up at the Tempest Intercollegiate and tied for second at the season-ending BSN Sports-Dataw Island Invitational. Hocker has five of the lowest scoring rounds this season for the Gorloks.
Joining Hocker on the PING First-Team Division III All-American Team are Averett's Elias Haavisto, St. Thomas' (Minn.) Emmet Herb, Carnegie Mellon's Jason Li, Huntingdon's Drew Mathers, Guilford's James Mishoe, Illinois Wesleyan's Jimmy Morton, Southwestern's Cade Osgood, and Illinois Wesleyan's Rob Wuethrich.
The PING All-American Second Team features Illinois Wesleyan's Andrew Abel, Methodist's Zane Brownrigg, George Fox's Mason Koch, Hampden-Sydney's Hunter Martin, RPI's Ryan Quinn, Emory's Logan Ryan, Emory's Max Schwarz, Huntingdon's Cameron Willis, and LaGrange's Ben Womack.
Babson's Chris Bornhorst, Babson's Nicholas Gianelos, Williams' Sam Goldenring, Carnegie Mellon's Raymond Li, Piedmont's Matthew Leemann, Denison's Marc Mitchell, Trinity's (Texas) Daniel Nunez, Emory's Matt Organisak and Washington & Lee's Brian Peccie were named PING Third Team All-Americans.
The PING Honorable Mention All-American Team features 29 players.
STORY COURTESY OF WEBSTER UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
