SPARTANBURG, S.C. – UNCG graduate Nick Lyerly has been named the Southern Conference Men’s Golf Player of the Year for the first time in his career, while Western Carolina’s Jake Peacock has been named the 2021-22 SoCon Freshman of the Year in voting conducted by the league’s eight head coaches. Jake Amos was named the Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season after leading the Bucs to a top-50 national ranking and the team and individual titles at the SoCon Men’s Golf Championship in April.

The league also named a 10-member all-conference team and a five-member all-freshman team, with the all-conference team and all-freshman team voted on by the coaches, who could not vote for their own players or themselves.
 
Lyerly, the second-highest-ranked golfer in the SoCon at No. 76 nationally, leads the SoCon with a 69.93 stroke average and has posted six top-five finishes this season, including wins at the Wolfpack Intercollegiate, the Grandover Collegiate and the Dorado Beach Intercollegiate, a fourth-place finish at the Advance Golf Partners Collegiate and a third-place tie at Rod Myers Invitational. Most recently, he placed second at the SoCon Men’s Golf Championship, concluding the tournament with a 10-under-par 206 performance. The Salisbury, North Carolina, native was the SoCon Player of the Month in October, February and March and earned SoCon Player of the Week honors four times this season, while also being named as a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. Of his 30 rounds this season, 22 have been under par, with 13 rounds in the 60s. The Player of the Year award is the first in UNCG’s men’s golf history, but second SoCon award for Lyerly, as the graduate clinched Freshman of the Year honors in 2018 after becoming the second Spartan to win the SoCon individual championship.

Peacock is ninth in the SoCon with a 72.03 stroke average this year. The rookie from Milton, Georgia, posted four top-10 finishes this season and finished in the top 25 in 11 of the 12 tournaments in which he competed. Peacock posted a 3-under 213 performance at the SoCon Men’s Golf Championship to finish tied for 11th with Furman’s Jack Crosby. In addition to earning a spot on the All-Freshman team, Peacock is the only freshman to earn a spot on the All-SoCon squad. He is the Catamounts’ first SoCon Freshman of the Year and first SoCon award winner since J.T. Poston took home Player of the Year honors in 2014.
 
Amos earns his second SoCon Coach of the Year honor and ETSU’s 16th overall. The third-year head coach has guided the Bucs to seven top-five showings in 10 tournaments so far this season, including a 19-stroke win at the SoCon Men’s Golf Championship, in which five Bucs finished in the top 10 individually, including Remi Chartier’s eight-stroke win. He also helped ETSU to first-place finishes at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate and Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate, a second-place finish at the White Sands Bahamas Invitational, third- and fourth-place finishes at the General Hackler Championship and Marquette Intercollegiate, respectively, and a fifth-place finish at the Wake Forest Invitational.
 
Amos, who has had his team ranked as high as No. 30 this spring, helms a squad that boasts three All-SoCon performers this season, with redshirt sophomore and 2021 SoCon Player of the Year honoree Archie Davies and redshirt freshman Mats Ege joining Chartier on the squad. Davies, the top-ranked golfer in the SoCon at No. 33 nationally, is third in the league in stroke average and finished tied for seventh at the SoCon tournament, while Ege is seventh in stroke average and finished sixth at the league tournament. With their SoCon tournament win, the Bucs claimed their 22nd SoCon title and second straight, as well as the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. Under the tenure of Amos, ETSU has now posted six team victories, while collecting six individual title wins.
  
Chartier became ETSU’s 17th SoCon medalist and third in the last three tournaments after shooting an 18-under 198 at the 2022 SoCon Men’s Golf Championship to secure his first individual collegiate title win. The Montreal, Canada, native posted a tournament- and career-low score of 63 in the second round followed by a 5-under 67 in the final to become the third straight Buccaneer to win the title since Shiso Go won in a sudden-death playoff in 2019 and Davies clinched the title in 2021. He finished the season with three top-five finishes and is fourth in the league in stroke average at 70.93.
 
For a second straight year, ETSU claimed a league best three All-SoCon selections, while Furman was second with Crosby and Ross Funderburke earning the honor. Mercer’s Tobias Jonsson, UNCG’s Lyerly, Chattanooga’s Paul Conroy, Western Carolina’s Peacock and Wofford’s Harry Jones round out the team.
 
Jonsson concluded the 2021-22 campaign with seven top-five finishes and is second in the league in stroke average at 69.96, while Crosby finished with three top-10 finishes and is fifth in the league in stroke average at 71.80.
 
Peacock headlines the All-Freshman team and is joined by ETSU’s Algot Kleen, Furman’s Will Morlan, Samford’s Brian Boles and Chattanooga’s Braedon Wear.
 
The Buccaneers clinched an automatic berth to the NCAA regionals. The NCAA field will be announced live on Wednesday, May 4, at 4 p.m. (ET), on the Golf Channel.
 
2021-22 Southern Conference Player of the Year
Nick Lyerly, Gr., UNCG
 
2021-22 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year
Jake Peacock, Western Carolina
 
2021-22 Southern Conference Coach of the Year
Jake Amos, ETSU
 
2021-22 All-Southern Conference Team
Remi Chartier, R-So., ETSU
Archie Davies, R-So., ETSU
Mats Ege, R-Fr., ETSU
Jack Crosby, Sr., Furman
Ross Funderburke, Jr., Furman
Tobias Jonsson, Jr., Mercer
Nick Lyerly, Gr., UNCG
Paul Conroy, So., Chattanooga
Jake Peacock, Fr., Western Carolina
Harry Jones, So., Wofford

2021-22 All-Freshman Team
Algot Kleen, ETSU
Will Morlan, Furman
Brian Boles, Samford
Braedon Wear, Chattanooga
Jake Peacock, Western Carolina