June 19, 2006

BEAUMONT - Oliver Bekker, who was a freshman on Lamar University's men's golf team, was named honorable mention All-America by Golfweek.

Bekker, who enrolled at Lamar in January, wasted little time in making an impact for the Cardinals. He tied for third place with a 54-hole score of 6-under par 210 in his first collegiate tournament at Lamar. He went on to win medalist honors at the Bridgestone Intercollegiate hosted by UNC-Greensboro with a 36-hole score of 9-under 135 and tied for medalist honors at the St. Mary's College/Merrill Lynch Invitational.

A native of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Bekker helped Lamar win its all-time best 20th Southland Conference Championship, place fifth at the NCAA Central Regional and tie for ninth place at the NCAA Championships. He was named SLC freshman of the year and first-team All-SLC.

Bekker posted a 72.76 season scoring average over 21 rounds, which ranked third on the team. He finished the season ranked 32nd in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and 36th in the Golfstat rankings.