Workday Is the New Sponsor of Jack Nicklaus Awards
NORMAN, Okla. – The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), in conjunction with the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday announced that Workday, a leader in enterprise cloud based applications for finance and human resources, is the new presenting sponsor of the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Awards.
Nicklaus, a Big Ten and NCAA Champion at Ohio State, helped inspire and create the Jack Nicklaus Award in 1988. The award is now presented to the national player of the year in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, as well as NAIA and NJCAA.
“Workday continues to show they are great friends to the game of golf,” Jack Nicklaus said. “Not only do they have a strong commitment to showcasing the game at the highest level, with its sponsorship of the Memorial Tournament, but they are stewards of the game at the developmental level by being significant supporters of collegiate golf for both men and women. We thank our friend Aneel Bhusri and Workday for aligning with the Jack Nicklaus Award and for celebrating these great young players.”
Additionally, five finalists have been named for the 2023 NCAA Division I Jack Nicklaus Award presented by Workday. They are Ludvig Åberg of Texas Tech, Adrien Dumont de Chassart of Illinois, Virginia’s Ben James, Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt, and Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen. The winner will be announced by Nicklaus on Tuesday, May 30 during his annual Memorial press conference with awards presented to each of the recipients by Nicklaus and Workday during the final round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.
Åberg, the top-ranked amateur in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, has collected victories in a program-record four of his last six starts, including carding the lowest tournament score in Big 12 Championship history and winning the 2023 NCAA Norman Regional. The senior from Eslov, Sweden, has finished no worse than T8 this season and on Monday became just the second golfer to win the Ben Hogan Award presented by PNC Bank multiple times, joining current World No. 1 and former Arizona State star and Nicklaus Award recipient Jon Rahm.
Dumont de Chassart was named Big Ten Golfer of the Year for the third-straight season after finishing in the top 20 in all 12 tournaments this season. The fifth-year senior from Villers la Ville, Belgium, won his second-straight Les Bolstad Award for having the Big Ten’s lowest scoring average and his fourth career collegiate tournament in last month’s Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate.
James won five tournaments this season, including the 2023 NCAA Las Vegas Regional, en route to ACC Freshman of the Year and All-ACC honors. The Milford, Conn., native recorded 10 top-10 finishes in 12 tournaments and claimed victory in his collegiate debut at the Streamsong Invitational with a 20-under 196 that included a first-round 63.
Sargent, the defending NCAA Champion, has produced the best two-year stretch in Commodore history. The 2023 SEC Player of the Year and 2023 Ben Hogan Award finalist from Birmingham, Ala., has produced three victories this season. In April, Sargent became the first amateur to accept a special invitation to the Masters since 2000.
Thorbjornsen has recorded eight top-10 finishes in 10 tournaments in 2022-23. He became the first Stanford golfer since 2015 Nicklaus Award recipient Maverick McNealy to win the Pac-12 individual title. The 2023 Pac-12 Men’s Golfer of the Year and 2023 Ben Hogan Award finalist from Wellesley, Mass., picked up his first collegiate victory at the season-opening Fighting Illini Invitational in September.
All five finalists are competing at the 2023 NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
About the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday
The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday is held annually at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. The Tournament, founded and hosted by Jack Nicklaus, is conducted each year with three goals in mind: to honor the memory of individuals living and deceased who have distinguished themselves in the game of golf; to showcase the world’s best golfers competing on one of the most challenging venues in the world for the enjoyment of spectators; and to benefit many Greater Columbus Charities in alliance with the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation and numerous other local organizations. For more information, visit www.thememorialtournament.com or call 614-889-6700.
About Workday
Workday is a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, helping customers adapt and thrive in a changing world. Workday applications for financial management, human resources, planning, spend management, and analytics are built with artificial intelligence and machine learning at the core to help organizations around the world embrace the future of work. Workday is used by more than 10,000 organizations around the world and across industries – from medium-sized businesses to more than 50% of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.
About GCAA
Established in 1958, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) is the professional organization of men’s collegiate golf coaches. The GCAA’s mission is to support its member coaches from six divisions, including the NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA, by creating educational opportunities, providing resources, and promoting its members with the purpose of enhancing their overall performance as coaches, mentors, and teachers. The GCAA also recognizes the excellence and achievements of its members and their student athletes in academic, athletic, and civic endeavors.