First-Teamers Hagy and Stalter Lead Cal’s All-Pac-12 Selections

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – Cal seniors Brandon Hagy and Joël Stalter were All-Pac-12 Men’s Golf first-team selections by the league’s head coaches announced Monday to lead five Golden Bears honored. Seniors Pace Johnson and Michael Weaver along with sophomore Keelan Kilpatrick were honorable mention picks.

Hagy, Stalter and Weaver were all honored on the All-Pac-12 team for the third time in their collegiate careers, while Johnson and Kilpatrick were recognized on the first occasion. Hagy had earned second-team honors each of the past two seasons, while Stalter was a second-team selection last year after picking up honorable mention recognition in 2011-12. Weaver was previously a first-team pick in 2012-13 and an honorable mention choice in 2009-10.

The honor was the latest on a long list in 2013-14 for Hagy, who most recently became the first player from Cal to earn the Pac-12 Men’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year last Thursday presented to him on the eve of the Pac-12 Championship. Earlier this month he was selected to represent Team USA at the 2014 Palmer Cup, named a national semifinalist for The Ben Hogan Award and chosen as a national finalist for the Byron Nelson Award along with Stalter.

Hagy, a 2013-14 national player of the year candidate, is ranked No. 4 on the most recent watch list for the Haskins Award released April 18. He is also the nation’s No. 6 collegiate player overall in the latest Golfstat and Golfweek rankings. Hagy has been an individual medalist three times this season (Jack Nicklaus Invitational, Arizona Intercollegiate, Aggie Invitational) and finished in the top 10 in nine of 12 events with eight of those in the top five. Hagy leads Cal with a 70.83 stroke average and is the only Golden Bear to have played in each of the team’s 12 events and 36 rounds in 2013-14.

Stalter is ranked No. 16 nationally in the most recent Golfweek rankings while Golfstat has him at No. 23. He has matched Hagy’s three victories in 2013-14 (Alister MacKenzie Invitational, Arizona Intercollegiate, National Invitational Tournament) while totaling six top-five finishes and seven top-10 showings among his 11 events. He has also arguably been Cal’s hottest golfer since the team’s fourth event of the year as the team’s top finisher or tied for the top in seven of the Bears’ last nine tournaments, including a tied for fourth place showing at the Pac-12 Championship that was the best finish of his career at the event. Stalter has a 71.61 season stroke average that is second on the team behind only Hagy. He is also a national finalist for the Byron Nelson Award.

Johnson has a pair of third-place showings that have equaled the best in his career to his credit in 2013-14 at the Jack Nicklaus Invitational and Alister MacKenzie Invitational. He was also tied for eighth twice in a row during the first two tournaments of the spring at the Arizona Intercollegiate and John A. Burns Intercollegiate. He has a 73.03 season stroke average over 10 events and 29 rounds.

Kilpatrick has come on strong in the spring after playing in just one of five tournaments in the fall. He has been in the lineup for each of the team’s last six events, finishing in the top 15 four times including a tied for 12th place showing at the Pac-12 Championship. He had a career-best tied for eighth-place showing in his first event of the spring at the John A. Burns Intercollegiate after having played just once in the previous season and a half. Kilpatrick has a 72.86 stroke average over seven events and 21 rounds in 2013-14.

Weaver began his 2013-14 season with a second-place finish at the Saint Mary’s Invitational and has been in the top 10 three times. He has a 73.27 season stroke average over 12 events and 36 rounds.

Cal will be out of action until May 15-17 when NCAA Regionals take place at six sites around the country. The six sites are Auburn, Ala. (Auburn University Club, Host – Auburn); Columbia, Mo. (The Club at Old Hawthorne, Host – Missouri); Eugene, Ore. (Eugene Country Club, Host – Oregon); Raleigh, N.C. (Lonnie Pole Golf Course, Host – North Carolina State); San Antonio, Tex. (Briggs Ranch Golf Club; Host – UTSA); and Sugar Grove, Ill. (Rich Harvest Farms, Host – Northern Illinois).

The NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship selections and fields for each of the six regionals will be announced live during Golf Channel’s Morning Drive on May 5 (7-8 a.m. PT). The top five teams from each of the six regionals will advance to the NCAA Championship hosted by Wichita State and played May 23-28 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.