May 31, 2016

EUGENE, Ore. — South Carolina men’s golf standout Matt NeSmith was tabbed a PING First Team All-American, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced today at the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship. NeSmith is the first golfer in program history to receive First-Team All-America honors.

Tuesday’s announcement marks the third time the North Augusta, S.C., native has been recognized as an All-American. NeSmith grabbed All-America Honorable Mention accolades as a freshman in 2013 before earning a spot on the PING All-America Third Team last season. He is one of just four Gamecocks to garner three All-America laurels in his career.

NeSmith, who led the Gamecocks and ranked 36^th nationally with a 71.24 stroke average this season, won two tournaments in his final year at South Carolina. He captured medalist honors at the Palmetto Intercollegiate (March 7-8) before finishing atop the leaderboard at the General Hackler Championship (March 12-13) five days later. NeSmith finished his collegiate career with the second-most medalist honors (4) and the lowest stroke average (71.65) in program history.

With the help of the NeSmith, the Gamecocks won four events this season and made their 20^th NCAA Championship appearance. South Carolina reached match play at the NCAA Championship before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Illinois earlier today.

PING First Team All-Americans
Charlie Danielson, Illinois
Sam Horsfield, Florida
Beau Hossler, Texas
Lee McCoy, Georgia
Maverick McNealy, Stanford
Matt NeSmith, South Carolina
Jon Rahm, Arizona State
Matthias Schwab, Vanderbilt
Robby Shelton, Alabama
Aaron Wise, Oregon