BATON ROUGE – In honor of arguably the greatest golfer to wear the purple and gold as an LSU Tiger, the Golf Coaches Association of America has instituted the David Toms Award to be presented each year to a men’s collegiate golfer who has overcome adversity to achieve excellence in the college game.
The inaugural David Toms Award was presented on May 6 to junior Billy Shida of Georgia College over three other finalists, including Zack Byrd of Coastal Carolina, R.J. Schwalbach of Benedictine University (Ill.)and Derek Tolan of the University of Colorado.
The honoree is selected by the David Toms Awards Committee in association with the GCAA and will be available to one player each year in NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA or NJCAA.
“Congratulations to Billy for winning the award,” Toms said. “He has shown a great deal of perseverance to overcome illness and other personal issues to not only excel on the golf course, but the classroom as well. He is a great role model for a lot of his peers in collegiate golf. I know great things are ahead for his future and I wish him the best. He is certainly a deserving recipient.”
The winner of the David Toms Award must be an active participant of his school’s golf team with a good standing in both academics and athletics in his college or university. A student-athlete is only eligible to receive the award only once during his collegiate career.