Paolini Recipient of Byron Nelson Award presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon

NORMAN, Okla. – Brinson Paolini of Duke has been named recipient of the 2013 Byron Nelson Award presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon, in cooperation with the Four Seasons Resort and Club Las Colinas, the Salesmanship Club of Dallas and the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Candidates for the Nelson Award must be graduating seniors and the selection committee considers equally a nominee’s entire collegiate academic and golf career and his character and integrity while in college. Particular consideration will be given to a nominee’s good citizenship, as portrayed by Mr. Byron Nelson over the course of his life and golf career.

An All-America and three-time All-Region selection, Paolini has excelled both on the golf course and in the classroom during his Duke career. He has played in 44 tournaments for the Blue Devils and his 72.25 stroke average ranks second in school history. Paolini is also second in career rounds in the 60s (26), rounds even par or better (67) and top-five finishes (12). He ranks third in Duke annals in rounds under par (46) and top-10 (18) and top-20 (27) finishes. Paolini is a three-time All-ACC Academic team selection and has been named a Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar. He has been a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee two years serving as secretary this season.

Paolini has stayed active in his home community of Virginia Beach while also becoming involved in the Durham area during his tenure at Duke. He has continued to promote junior golf in Virginia Beach by hosting golf clinics at his home club, Princess Ann Country Club, and The First Tee of Virginia Beach. Paolini also helped form an award that would recognize the hardest working junior golfer both on and off the course for the year at Princess Ann Country Club.

He volunteered at the Durham City Soup Kitchen and participates in the Read with the Blue Devils program. This past January Paolini took part in Duke’s Stop Hunger Now MLK Million Meals Event, which packaged thousands of meals and distributed them worldwide to those in need. He also walked in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s “Light the Night Walk” - a fundraiser to celebrate and commemorate lives of those impacted by blood cancer.

“I am honored and humbled to receive the Byron Nelson Award,” said Paolini. “Mr. Nelson was an incredible golfer as well as a committed, generous and compassionate man. He has been a role model for me and many others in golf and in life. All of the five finalists are wonderful golfers and even better people and any one of us could have been selected. Receiving the award, though, allows me to honor the people who made it possible -- my teammates, my school, my coaches, my family and of course Mr. Nelson and his family. I am so grateful for the examples they’ve set. Going forward I will do my best to uphold the values, integrity, and citizenship that Mr. Nelson established as a standard for all of us.”