Charleston, Delaware, UNCW Earn Major Award Honors for 2022-23 CAA Men’s Golf Season
Miles McQuiggan
RICHMOND, Va. (May 11, 2023) – Competitors from Charleston and Delaware took home major awards for their performance on the course in 2022-23, while the coach of the CAA Champion was also recognized as part of end-of-year awards in CAA Men’s Golf voted on by the league’s 10 head coaches.
Charleston sophomore
Kieron van Wyk was named the repeat winner of CAA Golfer of the Year honors, while Delaware’s
Casper Nerpin captured Rookie of the Year honors. UNCW’s
Daniel Bowden was selected as the CAA Coach of the Year.
van Wyk is the CAA’s first back-to-back Player of the Year since Charleston’s John Jonas in 2014 and 2015 and had a fantastic sophomore campaign for the Cougars, ranking in the top 100 nationally and finishing in the top 10 in three of his six events played. The sophomore from South Africa won the bank of Tennessee intercollegiate in October at 13-under and placed fifth at the CAA championship. van Wyk compete as an individual in NCAA Regionals next week.
Nerpin recorded four top-10 finishes in his first campaign with Delaware, including a fifth-place finish in his collegiate debut at turning stone in September. The freshman from Sweden carded 12 rounds of par or better with seven of those at least two under. Nerpin is the first Blue Hen to win CAA rookie of the year honors.
Bowden helped steer the Seahawks to their league-record eighth CAA title last month at Dataw with a nine-shot win over Elon. UNCW finished in the top five at six events in 2022-23 and will compete in the NCAA Norman regional next week. Bowden is CAA coach of the year for the third time after previously winning the award in 2018 and 2019.
CAA Champion UNCW collected two of five first-team honors with Championship medalist
Patrick Sparks joined by
Walker Isley. The Seahawk duo and van Wyk were joined by Drexel’s
Drue Nicholas and Elon’s
Matt Doyle, who both posted top-five results at Dataw in April.
Five teams were represented on the All-CAA second team with Charleston, Delaware, Drexel, Elon, and William & Mary earning honors. In total, six of 10 CAA programs earned spots among the 10 All-CAA selections with UNCW, Elon, Drexel, and Charleston earning multiple selections. The 10 honorees hail from four countries with competitors from Peru (Sparks), South Africa (van Wyk), and Thailand (Delaware's
Sparky Ariyachatvakin) joining the seven U.S.-born golfers from five states.
First Team
| Name |
School |
Yr. |
Hometown |
| Matt Doyle |
Elon |
So. |
Summerville, S.C. |
| Walker Isley |
UNCW |
Jr. |
Oak Island, N.C. |
| Drue Nicholas |
Drexel |
Jr. |
Egg Harbor Twp., N.J. |
| Patrick Sparks |
UNCW |
Jr. |
Lima, Peru |
| Kieron van Wyk |
Charleston |
So. |
Rumisig, South Africa |
Second Team
| Name |
School |
Yr. |
Hometown |
| Sparky Ariyachatvakin |
Delaware |
Jr. |
Bangkok, Thailand |
| Matthew Feinstein |
William & Mary |
Gr. |
McLean, Va. |
| Griffin Mitchell |
Drexel |
Jr. |
New Albany, Ohio |
| Zach Reuland |
Charleston |
Jr. |
Rock Hill, S.C. |
| Garrett Risner |
Elon |
Jr. |
Holly Springs, N.C. |
2023 CAA Golfer of the Year: Kieron van Wyk, Charleston
2023 CAA Rookie of the Year: Casper Nerpin, Delaware
2023 CAA Coach of the Year: Daniel Bowden, UNCW
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