ALLENDALE, MICH. – The awards just keep on coming for Charles DeLong, as he has been named the 2023 Division II Jack Nicklaus Award winner, as announced earlier today by the GCAA. The Jack Nicklaus Award is presented to the national player of the year in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, as well as NAIA and NJCAA.
 
This season, DeLong earned First-Team All-American and First-Team All-Region honors, as well as he was named the GLIAC Player of the Year. He put together the best season of any individual in GVSU program history, taking home seven individual titles, winning the Doc Spragg Fall Invitational, the Folds of Honor Challenge, and the Motor City Invite this fall. Then in the spring he won the Hargett Memorial Invitational, the Argonaut Invitational, the Ken Partridge Invitational, and the Midwest/Central Regional. Those wins brought his career total up to 13, the most of any golfer in program history.
 
DeLong shot 30 rounds of par or better this season, and 16 rounds below 70, with a low round of 65. DeLong was named GLIAC Golfer of the Week on three separate occasions this season and is currently the number one ranked individual in the latest Golfstat individual rankings, and he helped lead the Lakers to a spot in the NCAA Quarterfinals, making it the highest finish in program history.
 
DeLong is the first player in program history to earn the Jack Nicklaus award and the first player from the GLIAC to earn the honor in the 16-year history of the award.