BELLEVILLE, Ill. - For the third consecutive week and fifth time in six weeks this spring season, Webster University senior
Will Hocker (Grapevine, Texas/University of Oklahoma) three-peated as this week's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Golfer of the Week as announced by the league office on Wednesday afternoon.
Hocker earns the SLIAC Men's Golfer of the Week accolade for the fifth time in six weeks this season and 15th time overall in his Webster playing career, including earning the honor for the ninth time since the beginning of the 2019-20 school year. Webster has played in five events this spring and Hocker was named the Golfer of the Week after all five events.
The 2019-20 PING Division III All-American three-peats as this week's SLIAC Men's Golfer of the Week honor after finishing a tie for third place at this past weekend's Take Back the Night Challenge hosted by Millikin University. At the two-day, 36-hole event, Hocker carded a 2-under par score of 141 to finish in a two-way tie for third place out of 69 players. He shot under par scores in both rounds as he fired a 1-under par 71 in the first round, before shooting a 1-under par 70 in the final round.
On the season, Hocker has placed in the Top 10 in four of his five events and has had three Top 5 finishes and won medalist honors at two events. He leads both Webster and SLIAC in scoring average at 71.42 and has had 10 rounds of par or better golf, including a season low round of 68 (4-under par) in the third round of the Rhodes College Spring Classic.
Hocker's play helped the Gorloks finish fourth overall at the event that featured 12 teams. Webster fininshed the tournament with a 36-hole team score of 17-over par 589 as they shot rounds of 297 and 292 respectively. Webster was 26 shots behind the tournament's champion Illinois Wesleyan, who carded a 9-under par 563 as a team and 10 shots behind runner-up Nebraska Wesleyan, who shot a 7-over par 579 as a team.
Hocker and the Gorloks, who earned 19 votes in the most recent Division III Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches Poll, will now turn its attention to the postseason as they look to defend its SLIAC title at the 2021 SLIAC Men's Golf Championships, which are set to be held on April 26-27 at Gateway National Golf Club in Madison, Ill. The Gorloks have won three consecutive league titles in golf and nine titles overall in the program's history.
