Wake Forest Athletics
Gielow and Bedford Named To PING All-America Team
6/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
June 9, 2010
NORMAN, Okla. - Wake Forest golfers Brendan Gielow and Lee Bedford have each been named to the PING All-America Team as announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America on Wednesday. Gielow garnered third team honors and Bedford took home honorable mention accolades.
These are the first All-America honors of both players careers and it brings the Wake Forest men's golf total to 41 All-Americans. They duo is also the first pair of Demon Deacons earn All-America honors in the same season since Webb Simpson and Kyle Reifers each took home second team honors in 2006.
Gielow had a tremendous senior season, winning the JU Invitational and notching a total of nine top-20s in 11 events. He finished the year with a team-best 71.9 scoring average and ascending to the No. 1 individual ranking by Golfstat at the end of March. Gielow also led the team with 15 of 31 rounds at or under par and was the only player on the team to have every round count towards the team score.
The Muskegon, Mich., native capped his Demon Deacon career in style as he was named the 2010 Byron Nelson Award winner last month. The Byron Nelson Award recognizes the top graduating senior and the selection committee also considered equally a nominee's entire collegiate academic and golf career as well as his character and integrity while in college. Particular consideration was also given to a nominee's good citizenship, as portrayed by Mr. Byron Nelson over the course of his life and golf career.
Over his career, Gielow played in 47 tournaments for the Demon Deacons with a stroke average of 72.74. He claimed a pair of victories (2008 VCU Invitational and 2010 JU Invitational), had 18 top-10s and nearly 91 percent of his 137 total rounds counted towards the team score. Since 1981, his 72.74 career scoring averaging is fifth-best in school history behind the likes of Bill Haas, Webb Simpson and Kyle Reifers.
Bedford had a bit of a tough start to the season last fall but he rebounded with a very strong spring campaign. He didn't finish worse than tied for 17th in any of his eight tournaments including claiming his first collegiate victory at the Wexford Intercollegiate in February. The Cary, NC, native finished the year second on the team with a 72.7 stroke average and his last 19 tournament rounds counted towards the team score.
In the final round of The Hootie at Bulls Bay in April, Bedford fired a bogey-free 8-under 63 to finish runner-up in the event. That round was tied for the second-lowest round in school history. His finish in the event was also one of his team-best 10 top-20 finishes on the year.
Both players also earned PING All-Region honors earlier this spring as well as their first All-ACC honors. The duo had a strong hold on the ACC Player of the Month Award as well as Gielow took home the honor for his victory in February and Bedford claimed the award a month later after his sensational 63.
Next up for Gielow will be his professional debut at the EGolf Tour's Bolle Classic in Salisbury, NC, on June 16-19. Bedford is slated to play in a number of amateur tournaments this summer as he prepares to begin his junior season next fall.
PING All-America Teams
First-Team
John Chin, UC Irvine
Nils Floren, Texas Tech
Dustin Garza, Wichita State
Russell Henley, Georgia
Scott Langley, Illinois
Andrea Pavan, Texas A&M
Jonathan Randolph, Mississippi
Nick Taylor, Washington
Peter Uihlein, Oklahoma State
Diego Velasquez, Oregon State
Eugene Wong, Oregon
Second-Team
Bud Cauley, Alabama
Sean Dale, North Florida
Harris English, Georgia
Morgan Hoffmann, Oklahoma State
Daniel Miernicki, Oregon
Corey Nagy, Charlotte
Henrik Norlander, Augusta State
Patrick Reed, Augusta State
Kevin Tway, Oklahoma State
Chris Ward, Texas Tech
Third-Team
George Bryan IV, South Carolina
David Chung, Stanford
Derek Ernst, UNLV
Dylan Frittelli, Texas
Brendan Gielow, Wake Forest
Cody Gribble, Texas
Jesper Kennegard, Arizona State
Brooks Koepka, Florida State
Richard Lee, Washington
Chris Williams, Washington
Honorable Mention
Tyson Alexander, Florida
Lee Bedford, Wake Forest
Alex Ching, San Diego
Nick Delio, Cal State Northridge
Rhys Enoch, East Tennessee State
Robbie Fillmore, BYU
Kevin Foley, Penn State
J.T. Griffin, Georgia Tech
Chesson Hadley, Georgia Tech
John Hahn, Kent State
Paul Haley, Georgia Tech
Hunter Hamrick, Alabama
Matt Hill, NC State
T.J. Howe, Penn State
Bobby Hudson, Texas
Sihwan Kim, Stanford
Drew Kittleson, Florida State
Espen Kofstad, Denver
Ben Kohles, Virginia
David Lingmerth, Arkansas
Andrew Loupe, LSU
Gregor Main, UCLA
Ben Martin, Clemson
Eric Mina, California
Cameron Peck, Texas A&M
John Peterson, LSU
Jordan Russell, Texas A&M
Alex Shi Yup Kim, UCLA
T.J. Vogel, Southern California
Steve Ziegler, Stanford
