UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Three Penn State men's golf student-athletes, Alec Bard, Ryan Davis and Lou Olsakovsky, were announced as Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Friday afternoon.
The annual list included three Nittany Lions for the fifth time in program history and for the second-straight year. Thirty-four Penn Staters have earned All-America Scholar accolades since the GCAA instituted the award in recognition, 32 during head coach Greg Nye's era. Bard and Davis are three-time GCAA All-America Scholar selections, while Olsakovsky earns the honor for the second-straight year.
To be eligible the for the honor, a student-athlete must be a sophomore, junior or senior both academically and athletically and maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.2 In addition, they must participate in 40-percent of their team's competitive rounds, have a stroke-average under 76.0 in NCAA Division I.
Bard earned GCAA All-Northeast Region honors for the second-straight year after a 2020-21 season in which he posted Penn State's best totals in two events, the Florida Gators Invitational and the 2021 Big Ten Championships. Bard, from New Hartford, New York, recorded three of the Nittany Lions' low single-round scores in 2020-21. He was named to the Academic All-Big Ten list for the fourth time and is a now a three-time GCAA All-America Scholar.
Davis, from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, is a five-time GCAA All-Region honoree as he competed all four years as an undergraduate from 2016-2020 and as a graduate student in 2020-2021. A first-team All-Big Ten honoree, Davis finished his Nittany Lion career third on Penn State's all-time scoring list with a 72.86 average and with 13 top-10 finishes to his credit. Davis was recognized for Academic All-Big Ten honors for the fourth time in 2020-21, as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar twice and now a three-time GCAA All-America Scholar.
Olsakovsky is a two-time GCAA all-region selection, and in spring 2021 he recorded three of Penn State's best single-round scores, including the team's low round on the final day of the Kepler Intercollegiate to help the Nittany Lions to a second-place finish at that tournament. Olsakovsky, from Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, was the Nittany Lions' top finisher at two events in his senior season. He is now a two-time GCAA All-America scholar and earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition for the second time following the 2020-21 season.
To view the complete list of the 2020 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars, click HERE.
