ROSEMONT, Ill. -- The Big Ten Conference announced its annual list of men's golf preseason honorees Wednesday with three Penn Staters, seniors Alec Bard (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Ryan Davis (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) and junior Lou Olsakovsky (Upper St. Clair, Pa.) tabbed for 2019-20.
With two of his career top-10 finishes as a junior, Bard posted two career-low rounds of 69 in 2018-19, which ranked among the Nittany Lions' season bests. A two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, he was recognized as a 2019 Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-American Scholar for excellence in the classroom and on the golf course.
Davis, also a 2019 GCAA All-American Scholar, was the top amateur at his U.S. Open qualifier with third-place finish with 3-under 69 to advance to sectionals earlier this summer. The three-time All-Northeast Region pick registered his career low 66 at the 2018 Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate and was the top Nittany Lion at the 2019 Rutherford Intercollegiate with a third-place finish.
Competing in two of his three events in his first season with the Nittany Lions, Olsakovsky was fourth overall in the 2019 Rutherford Intercollegiate with a 2-under 211. He matched his career-low round of 67 in the second round of play for one of Penn State's best individual scores of 2018-19.
The Nittany Lions open their fall 2019 season at the Rod Myers Invitational in Durham, N.C., Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 14-15.
Keep up to date with the latest information about the Nittany Lion Men's Golf team on Twitter @PennStateMGolf and Facebook. Follow Coach Greg Nye on Instagram at @CoachNyePSU.
