UNLV’S BAN AND ODA NAMED ALL-AMERICA SCHOLARS
Rebels also honored with All-Academic Team recognition
@UNLVGolf
UNLV men’s golf rising seniors Shintaro Ban and John Oda were both named a Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced Wednesday. In addition, the Rebels as a team were recognized earlier this month as an All-Academic Team.
This is the first time UNLV has had two All-America Scholar honorees in the same year since 2007 (CJ Gatto, Jarred Texter).
60 players earned the All-America Scholar honor in Division I this year. To be eligible, student-athletes must have been a junior or senior academically during the 2016-17 season, have competed in at least three full years at the collegiate level, participated in 50 percent of their team’s competitive rounds, had a stroke average under 76.0 and maintained a minimum cumulative career grade-point average of 3.2. A recipient must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at his college or university.
To be included on the GCAA’s All-Academic Team list, the squad must have recorded a team GPA of 3.00 or higher.
Ban and Oda, both economics majors, were also recently named to the Academic All-Mountain West team, while Oda earned the MW Scholar-Athlete Award.
On the course this past season, Oda was a PING First Team All-America honoree (UNLV’s first since 2005) and also was one of 24 named to the All-Nicklaus Team. He was also the Mountain West Golfer of the Year. He led the No. 12 Rebels to an Elite Eight finish at the NCAA Championship, where he was UNLV’s top individual stroke-play finisher, tying for eighth.
Oda recorded the lowest scoring average on the team with 70.43 strokes per round in a total of 15 tournaments. That ranked 11th in the country and first in the MW. He won two individual titles and recorded 12 top-10 finishes, including in each of his last nine events. He shot par or better in 31 of 46 total rounds played and was in the 60s 19 times.
Ban earned honorable mention All-America honors this year after a scoring average of 71.26 strokes per round (15 tournaments played). His best finish was a tie for second, while he had a total of five top-five individual performances and two more in the top 10. He shot par or better in 29 of 43 rounds and was in the 60s 12 times.