Golfer Bill Haas Named First-Team All-America
6/3/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
June 3, 2002
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest golfer Bill Haas has been named to the 2002 PING All-America team, as announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA). Haas, who just completed his sophomore season with the WFU golf team, is the first Demon Deacon since 1986 to be named a first-team All-America.
Haas, a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection and honorable mention All-American a season ago, has led the team in stroke average the last two seasons. This year Haas averaged 70.86 strokes per round, one of the lowest averages in the ACC. He compiled eight top-five finishes in 12 events, including two first-place finishes. Bill won his first collegiate event, the Birkdale, in March and followed that up a month later with a career-best 13-under 203 to win individual medalist honors at The Intercollegiate. He also added a fourth-place finish at the ACC Championships to his resume', marking the second year in a row he's finished among the top six in the conference tournament.
Haas finished the 2001-02 campaign ranked No. 5 nationally in the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings and is one of eight collegiate golfer who will represent the United States in the Palmer Cup this summer.
Haas becomes the 10th player in Wake Forest golf history to be named a first-team All-America, and the first since Chris Kite in 1986. Haas and his father, Jay (a two-time first-team All-America for Wake Forest in 1975 and '76) are also believed to be the first father-son duo to be named first-team All-Americans.
The 10-member 2002 All-America team was loaded with underclassmen, with just one senior, Purdue's Lee Williamson, making the team. Haas was one of four sophomores on the squad, and joined Georgia Tech's Troy Matteson and Clemson's D.J. Trahan as the representatives from the ACC. No other conference had more than two golfers named to the team.
2001-02 PING All-America TeamPlayer Yr. School HometownBill Haas Soph. Wake Forest Greer, S.C.Ryan Hybl Soph. Georgia Colbert, Ga.Hunter Mahan Soph. Oklahoma State McKinney, TexasTroy Matteson Jr. Georgia Tech Austin, TexasGraeme McDowell Jr. UAB Portrush, Northern IrelandD.J. Trahan Jr. Clemson Inman, S.C.Camilo Villegas Soph. Florida Medellin, ColombiaNick Watney Jr. Fresno State Dixon, Calif.Lee Williamson Sr. Purdue Crawfordsville, Ind.Oliver Wilson Jr. Augusta State Mansfield, England