AMERICUS - Georgia Southwestern men's golfer Nicholas Ward was recently received NCAA Division II PING All-America Honorable Mention from the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Ward capped off a successful sophomore season having five Top 10 finishes, three of which were Top 5, and he tied for 28th at the D-II NCAA South/Southeast Regionals.
Ward took home third place at the North Georgia Fall Invitational October 6-7, tied for third at the Rock Barn Collegiate Invite three weeks later and placed fourth at the Newberry College Invitational in February.
The Eastbourne, England, native ended the year seventh in the Peach Belt Conference with a 72.9 scoring average, which places him second in GSW program history for lowest average in a season.
Ward posted his lowest round of the year, 66, at the Bobcat Invite on March 16. He shot his second-lowest round during Round 3 at NCAA Regionals, 68. Of the 30 rounds played in his 2014-15 season, he finished under par 12 times.
Ward was selected to the Division II PING All-Region Southeast Team and PBC All-Conference Second Team earlier this spring while garnering several academic awards along the way. He was named the GSW Male Scholar Athlete of the Year and a member of the PBC All-Academic Team.
GSW has placed four golfers on the All-America list over the past four seasons. Ward joins Nate Gahman (2013), Craig Gibson (2012) and JP Griffin (2012) as Hurricane golfers to receive the honor.
Below is the list of 2015 NCAA Division II PING All-America honorees.
Mike Anderson, Barry
Ray Richards, CSU Monterey Bay
Martin Cancino, Lynn
Kenneth Sames, IUP
Nico Cavero, Barry
Patrick Skakel, CU Colorado Springs
Ben Cook, Ferris State
Dalton Skinner, Montevallo
Johnson Holliday, USC Aiken
Alex Springer, Central Missouri
Jimmy Jones, Florida Southern
Adam Stone, CSU East Bay
Eric Kline, Central Oklahoma
Alex Thode, Lewis
Travis Mays, Central Missouri
Nicholas Ward, Georgia Southwestern State
Robert Mize, Columbus State
Elliott Whitley, Lynn
Thomas Neve, Western New Mexico
Justin Wiles, Chico State
Derek Oland, Midwestern State
Kenny You, Dixie State