Baylor MGOLF’s Keefer Named Scholar-Athlete of The Year for a Third-Straight Year

[Roberts, Matt]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – July 3, 2024

Baylor MGOLF’s Keefer Named Scholar-Athlete of The Year for a Third-Straight Year
The Bear is the third athlete in conference history to win the award three times
For more information, contact: Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – The Big 12 Conference announced Baylor men’s golfer Johnny Keefer as the Big 12’s Men’s Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year for a third year in a row on Wednesday, the third athlete in conference history to claim the award three times.

With Keefer’s third selection, BU men's golf has now claimed the Men's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year award in five of the last eight seasons. He joins Matthew Perrine (2017) and Colin Kober (2019), contributing to Baylor's 32 scholar-athletes of the year, which is second-most in the Big 12.

The men's golf program now has five Big 12 scholar-athletes of the year, surpassing women's golf and baseball (4) for the most winners among Baylor programs.

An accounting major from San Antonio, Texas, Keefer enjoyed another successful season, earning second-team All-America honors from the Golf Coaches Association of America and third-team honors from Golfweek, becoming the first player in program history to be named an All-American in three different seasons. A two-time All-Big 12 selection, he is one of two players in program history to be named Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year and All-Big 12 in the same season, and he has now done it on two occasions (2022 and 2024).

This season, he joined Jimmy Walker, Ryan Baca and Kyle Jones as the only BU players to make multiple All-Big 12 teams. He also re-wrote the Baylor history books this season, passing PGA Tour member and major champion Jimmy Walker for BU's career stroke-average mark with a 71.45. In the run up to a second-straight NCAA Championship appearance in 2023-24, he established the Bears’ 54-hole scoring record with a 12-under 198 at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. Keefer’s second-round 64 in Chapel Hill ranks as the fourth-best single-round in BU history and tied for the lowest postseason round in program history.

His stellar senior season saw him finish outside the top 25 just once while carding a team-leading two top-5s, five top-10s and 10 top-25s. Additionally, he paced Baylor in below-par percentage (23.2%), par-or-better percentage (83.8%), total birdies (139), par-4 scoring average (4.02) and par-5 scoring average (4.60).

The Big 12 Conference established its Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2012-13. A recipient is named in each conference-sponsored sport. Every Big 12 institution nominates one individual per sport, with the winners selected by the league head coaches for that sport, who are not allowed to vote for their student-athletes. Scholar-Athlete of the Year nominees must be a junior or senior (athletic and academic standing), have a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 or higher, participate in at least 20 percent of the team's scheduled contests and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution.

For more information on Baylor Men’s Golf, follow @BaylorMGolf on X, Instagram and Facebook.

BAYLOR'S BIG 12 SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR
Baseball – Doug Ashby (2014), Logan Brown (2015), Richard Cunningham (2017), Kyle Hill (2019)
Equestrian – Rachel Van Allen (2018), Rachael Davis (2020), Maddie Vorhies (2024)
Football – Nick Florence<https://baylorbears.com/staff.aspx?staff=26> (2012), Dillon Doyle (2022)
Men's Basketball – Freddie Gillespie (2020), Jared Butler (2021)
Men's Golf – Matthew Perrine (2017), Colin Kober (2019), Johnny Keefer (2022, 2023 and 2024)
Men's Tennis – Patrick Pradella (2014), Jimmy Bendeck (2019)
Men's XC – Blake Niccum (2012), Jonathan Tijerina (2014)
Soccer – Dana Larsen (2012), Precious Akanyirige (2017)
Softball – Kathy Shelton (2013), Heather Stearns (2015)
Volleyball – Shelly (Fanning) Stafford (2018 & 2019)
Women's Golf – Laura Lonardi (2015 & 2016), Elodie Chapelet<https://baylorbears.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=10292> (2021), Gurleen Kaur (2022)
Women's Tennis – Blair Shankle (2017)
Women's XC – Lindsey Bradley (2017)

BIG 12 SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR BY SCHOOL
Iowa State- 39
Baylor-32
Kansas State-28
West Virginia-26
Oklahoma State-28
Kansas-19
TCU-18
Texas Tech-15
Denver-3
North Dakota State-2
Northern Colorado-1
South Dakota State-1
Tennessee-1
Alabama- 1
BYU- 2
Cincinnati- 1
Houston- 1
UCF- 1




www.BaylorBears.com<http://www.BaylorBears.com>


Matt Roberts | Associate Director of Athletic Communications (MBB/MGOLF/ WGOLF)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-227-2280
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