Pac-12 announces 2024 men's golf postseason awards

Wenyi Ding of ARIZONA STATE became only the third player to sweep the Pac-12 Men’s Golfer and Freshman of the Year awards, and his Sun Devil coach Matt Thurmond was tabbed Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the 2023-24 season in a voting by the Pac-12 coaches. In addition, the 2024 Pac-12 Men’s Golf All-Conference Teams as selected by the coaches were announced.

Pac-12 Men's Golfer & Freshman of the Year: Wenyi Ding, Fr., ARIZONA STATE (Beijing, China)

Ding burst onto the collegiate golf scene with his Sun Devil debut in late January and has been nothing short of spectacular in only a semester. He has finished top 10 in 6-of-7 tournaments, including four top 5s and a record-shattering victory at the Amer Ari Invitational in just his second event. Ding carded a 27-under-par 189 (63-64-62) at the Amer Ari, obliterating the NCAA Division I 54-hole scoring records and becoming the first collegiate golfer to break 190.

The nation's top ranked player by Scoreboard/Clippd, Ding currently leads the Pac-12 with a 69.00 scoring average, which is on pace to equal Collin Morikawa (2018-19) for the third-lowest in league history. He is 1-of-2 Sun Devil semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award and a candidate for the Fred Haskins Award.

On the team front, Ding has helped ASU to a trio of tournament titles this spring, including last weekend's Pac-12 Championship - the program's first since 2008.

He is the third to sweep the Pac-12 Player and Freshman of the Year awards in the same season, joining UCLA's Patrick Cantlay in 2011 and USC's Jamie Lovemark in 2007.

Ding becomes the 11th different Sun Devil to earn Conference Golfer of the Year, but the first since Niklas Lemke was co-recipient with Lovemark in 2007. However, he is the fifth consecutive and seventh all-time ASU recipient of the league's Freshman of the Year honor.

Pac-12 Men's Golf Coach of the Year: Matt Thurmond, ARIZONA STATE

Thurmond guided Arizona State to the 2024 Pac-12 Championship, his fourth career Conference crown which ranks fifth in league history behind Stan Wood (12), Randy Lein (10), Bud Finger (five) and Conrad Ray (five).

Along with the Conference crown, Thurmond's Sun Devils also recorded victories at the Cypress Point Classic match play event in the fall and this spring's Cabo and Thunderbird Collegiates.

It marks Thurmond's fourth career Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor (2005, 2009, 2019, 2024), tied with Stanford's Conrad Ray for second-most all-time to legendary ASU and USC mentor Randy Lein (seven).

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The Pac-12 golf awards and the All-Pac-12 Team are voted on by the Conference head golf coaches. 

Following is the complete list of 2024 Pac-12 Men's Golf honors:

Pac-12 Golfer & Freshman of the Year: Wenyi Ding, ARIZONA STATE 
Pac-12 Coach of the Year: Matt Thurmond, ARIZONA STATE

2024 PAC-12 MEN'S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS

FIRST TEAM

SECOND TEAM

Honorable Mention (two-or-more coach votes, or top 10 at Pac-12 Championships): Javier Barcos, Utah; Preston Bebich, Washington State; Eric Doyle, Oregon; Chuan-Tai (Teddy) Lin, Washington; Greg Solhaug, Oregon; Nate Stember, Oregon.

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

Honorable Mention: Eric Lee, California; Connor Williams, Arizona State.