University of Tennessee Athletics
David Skinns Named Softspikes Freshman of the Year
June 03, 2002 | Men's Golf
June 3, 2002
University of Tennessee golfer David Skinns received the 2002 Softspikes Freshman of the Year award for being the top freshman golfer in the nation. He was also voted to the PING All-America Second Team.
Skinns, a native of Lincoln, England, competed in 10 tournaments for the Vols this past season, finishing in the top 10 in six of them. He also claimed his first collegiate individual championship at the Cleveland Golf/Augusta State Invitational by turning in scores of 66-67-70--203. His score of 203 broke the tournament record for lowest three-round score for an individual. Skinns also finished second at the Rice Intercollegiate and Seminole Intercollegiate. His three other top 10 finishes included fifth at the Carpet Capital Collegiate, 10th at the Coca-Cola Tournament of Champions and seventh at the Country Club of Louisiana Intercollegiate. He led the Vols in stroke average with a 71.83, rounds of par of better (16) and top 10 finishes (6).
Head coach Jim Kelson was very happy to see Skinns rewarded for his efforts during his first year of collegiate competition.
"We are very excited and thrilled for David," Kelson said. "We knew that prior to the start of the year two of his goals were to be an All-America and freshman of the year. It is nice to see that David was able to accomplish two very lofty goals for an incoming freshman."
This marks the first time in UT golf history that a Vol has been named the freshman of the year, and the first time a Vol was chosen to an All America team since Mike Sposa was a third team All America in 1991.
Players Mentioned
