Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced this past Friday their second, third, and fourth honorable mentions for the 2024 Division III PING All-America Teams. Among the names that earned an honorable mention was Kenyon College’s Jonathan Oakes.
The GCAA’s All-America team was announced soon after the NCAA Championship. The second and third team selections feature eight players, while 22 earned honorable mentions.
Oakes had made an undeniable impact on the Kenyon Men’s Golf Team this past season. The freshman led the Owls with a 72.80 scoring average, going down in the books as a program single-season record. Oakes individually had six top-10 finishes and two top-5 finishes in 12 events played.
Though Oakes played well during the fall season, he took it up a notch during the spring. He kicked off the season by posting a three-round score of five-under-par and finished in ninth place out of 95 players at the Savannah Invitational. In Savannah, Oakes also shot a personal, season-low score of a six-under-par 66 in the second round.
In the seven events the Owls played in after the Savannah Invitational, Oakes never placed lower than the top 20. As the season continued, he earned a second place, third place, and two sixth place finishes in four of Kenyon’s last five tournaments.
In the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championship, Oakes totaled a three-round score of three-over-par, putting him at 13th place out of 40 golfers. He was named an All-NCAC honoree and voted NCAC Newcomer of the Year.
But Oakes wasn’t done yet. He and the Owls won the NCAC Championship and moved on to the NCAC Division III Championship where Oakes secured a total score of 282, six-under-par and a program record for a four-round tournament. His performance placed him in an individual tie for sixth place out of 221 golfers, boosting Kenyon as a team to tie for eighth place, their best NCAA finish in program history.
With Friday’s announcement, Jonathan Oakes became the fourth All-American men’s golf player in Kenyon history, the first since Armand Oullette, who is now a rising senior, was named an honorable mention in the 2021-22 season.