Robby Shelton Named PING First Team All-American

For the second consecutive year, Alabama men’s golfer Robby Shelton has been named a PING First Team All-America honoree, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced Tuesday morning. With Shelton’s honor this year, the Crimson Tide has had at least one player earn the distinction in nine consecutive seasons.

”I am very proud of Robby,” Alabama head coach Jay Seawell said. “Making first team All-America in back-to-back years is a great accomplishment. It is a result of his dedication to the game and the talent he has.”

Shelton becomes the fourth golfer in program history to earn back-to-back first team All-America accolades, joining Bud Cauley (2009, 2010, 2011), Justin Thomas (2012, 2013) and Bobby Wyatt (2013, 2014).

Shelton, who finished the season ranked as the No. 7 golfer in the nation by Golfweek/Sagarin performance Index, led the Tide throughout the 2014-15 campaign. He finished the year with a 70.61 per round stroke average and an average vs. par of -0.81, both of which ranks third-lowest in program lore. Shelton finished the season by recording six top-five finishes and had 10 top-10 results in the team’s 11 tournaments on the year.

Shelton’s lone victory of the season came in dominating fashion when he captured the medalist honor at the Southern Highland Masters. The Wilmer, Ala., native won the event by six strokes with a season-low 54-hole score of 15-under par 201 (67-69-65) in a field that featured 12 of the top 25 golfers in the nation. Not only was the 201 his lowest tournament score of the season, but it also marked the second-best tournament tally of his career and was the ninth-lowest tournament total in the Alabama record books. In addition, the 15-under par tied for the second-best in relation to par by an individual golfer in program history.

Earlier in the season, Shelton was named to the United States Palmer Cup team and was also tabbed as a semifinalist for the prestigious Ben Hogan Award honoring the nation’s top amateur golfer. Furthermore, he became just the third Alabama golfer in program history to have 100 percent of his rounds count toward the team’s tournament total (33-of-33).