Starke Earns Spot on PING All-America Team

June 23, 2016

FORMBY, England — University of South Carolina Men’s Golf graduated senior Will Starke was selected as a 2015-16 PING Honorable Mention All-American, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced on Thursday. For Starke, it is the second career All-America award after he was a Second-Team pick last season.

Starke’s inclusion gives South Carolina two PING All-Americans this season. Fellow alumnus Matt NeSmith was honored as a First-Team selection in May. Rising junior Keenan Huskey joined NeSmith on the PING All-Southeast Region Team, also announced last month.

Starke was a Byron Nelson Award watch list selection as a senior and earned five top-20 finishes, including a 3rd place result at the Palmetto Intercollegiate. Perhaps his most impressive outing came at the NCAA Championship, where he placed T-13th in the stroke play portion of the event and led the tournament after 18 holes.

Led by Starke, the 2015-16 Gamecocks won four tournaments and finished seventh in the stroke play portion of the 2016 NCAA Championship, a program best. The Gamecocks advanced to match play for the first time and ended the season ranked 10th in the nation by Golfstat.

Starke, along with fellow Gamecock alumni NeSmith, Sean Kelly and Caleb Sturgeon, are currently playing professionally on the Mackenzie Tour. All four former Gamecocks are in action this week at the SIGA Dakota Dunes Open in Whitecap, Saskatchewan.

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

Second Team
Thomas Detry, Illinois
Doug Ghim, Texas
Gavin Hall, Texas
Rico Hoey, Southern California
Michael Johnson, Auburn
KK Limbhasut, California
Nahum Mendoza III, San Diego State
Adrian Meronk, East Tennessee State
Antoine Rozner, UMKC
Zach Wright, LSU

Third Team
Derek Bard, Virginia
Paul Barjon, TCU
Stephen Behr, Clemson
Will Gordon, Vanderbilt
Chase Koepka, USF
Tyler McDaniel, Kentucky
Max McGreevy, Oklahoma
Collin Morikawa, California
Greyson Sigg, Georgia
Kristoffer Ventura, Oklahoma State

Honorable Mention
Cheslo Barrett, TCU
David Boote, Stanford
Sam Burns, LSU
Ryan Cole, James Madison
Jared du Toit, Arizona State
Luis Gagne, LSU
Franklin Huang, Stanford
Tee-k Kelly, Ohio State
Charles Kim, Arkansas
Hank Lebioda, Florida State
Patrick Martin, Vanderbilt
Dylan Meyer, Illinois
Taylor Moore, Arkansas
Gordon Neale, Florida
Jordan Niebrugge, Oklahoma State
Stratton Nolan, Oklahoma State
John Oda, UNLV
Aksel Olsen, USF
Jeremy Paul, Colorado
Corey Pereira, Washington
Michael Perras, Houston
Robin Petersson, Augusta
William Rainey, College of Charleston
Ryann Ree, San Diego State
Davis Riley, Alabama
Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Louisville
Justin Suh, Southern California
Will Starke, South Carolina
Sepp Straka, Georgia
Lars van Meijel, Memphis
Will Zalatoris, Wake Forest