August 1, 2012
San Antonio – Two golfers hung up their St. Mary’s clubs last season but were honored once more, as Sam Jernigan and Chris Becker both received the All-America Scholar award from the Golf Coaches Association of America, it was announced today.
And this is the second-time coming for both, as each also received the award honoring academic success their junior years.
On par in academics, both former Rattlers have left a mark on the green as well.
Hitting for St. Mary’s all four years of his career, Jernigan quickly became of the Rattlers’ most on-target and celebrated players. He was selected All-Heartland Conference Second Team three times and helped St. Mary’s to a first -place conference finish and 11th-place regional finish his freshman year. Jernigan’s consistency earned him a place in the St. Mary’s record books, as he holds a third-place rank for most rounds played in a career at 120 and is tied for seventh place for most rounds shooting part or better in a career at 22. In his senior year last season, Jernigan teed a scoring average of 75.22 over 10 tournaments and had a season-best second-place finish at the Texoma Chevy Dealers Intercollegiate, which was one of his three top-10 finishes for the season. For his four years, Jernigan held a career scoring average of 75.37.
Making the switch to St. Mary’s his junior year, Becker played two seasons for the Rattlers, finding success in each. In his first season, Becker had four top-25 finishes over 29 rounds, averaging a score of 76.79 over the season’s 10 tournaments. In addition to his first GCAA All-America Scholar award last season, Becker was also selected Academic All-Heartland Conference that earned him a spot on the President’s Honor Roll. In his senior year, Becker helped the Rattlers to a fourth-place Heartland Conference Championship Tournament Finish with a 13th-place individual finish. He improved his record in his final year, swinging at an average of 76.41 over 27 rounds with three rounds on par or better. During his two-year career as a Rattler, Becker had 56 rounds with a career scoring average of 76.61.
With this year’s GCAA All-America Scholar award, Jernigan and Becker become the fourth and fifth Rattlers in program history to win the award twice.