Sewickley Academy alum Jason Li again named finalist for Jack Nicklaus Award

For the second straight year, former Sewickley Academy golfer Jason Li has been recognized as one of the top golfers in NCAA Division III competition.

At the end of May, the Carnegie Mellon senior was named a finalist for the NCAA Division III Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

The Nicklaus Award, which Li also was nominated for last year, recognizes the top players at the Division I, II, III, NAIA and NJCAA levels.

“It’s pretty cool, but I think it just kind of speaks to how consistently I’ve been able to play the last two years,” Li said. “I’ve just been continuing to work on my game and getting better. It’s pretty cool to repeat as a finalist, but I’ve just been playing good, and it’s kind of nice to just have that validated in a sense with the award.”

Li is named a finalist alongside Methodist’s Andre Chi, Webster’s Will Hocker, Guilford’s James Mishoe and Illinois Wesleyan’s Rob Wuethrich, who won the award in 2020. Although Li would like to win the award, he believes it’s literally a toss-up between himself and the other four finalists.

“Looking at everyone who’s been named a finalist, everyone kind of has their own reason to be given in the award, it could really go to any of the five,” Li said. “It would be nice to win, but I understand there’s a reason they don’t give it to everyone. It just really depends on the committee making the decision and what they value.”

As a junior last year, Li was named the UAA Player of the Year and a Jack Nicklaus Award finalist after averaging a score of 70.9 in 14 rounds of play. He also carded a school-record low round of 66 in the Golfweek Fall Invitational and the Savannah Invitational.

During the Savannah Invitational, he also set a school record for the lowest three-round score of 204. He went on to record three top 10 finishes and one top-three finish.

Li’s senior year as a Tartan was much of the same. The former Panther helped lead CMU to a fourth-place team finish at the 2021 NCAA championships, which is the best finish in program history.

“I think for the program itself and all the competitors, it was, ‘We’re the real deal now,’” Li said. “We proved it this year and the program is, I think, just getting started. I think we’ll see the team at the top of more leaderboards and national championships in the future too. So, I’m super excited for them.”

The four-time University Athletic Association all-conference team member also had a pretty successful individual season.

He finished with a team-best average of 72.1 over 14 rounds and shot even-par or lower in half of those rounds.

Li also claimed three top-three finishes and earned his first collegiate individual honors when he carded a 2-under-par 214 at the 54-hole Golfweek Spring Invitational during the first weekend of April at Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.

During Li’s first 18-hole round of the tournament, he carded a 69, which was tied for the second-best round of the week behind Emory’s Logan Ryan, who shot a 68 in the final round of the tournament.

“It was nice to finally kind of make that happen because throughout my college career I had been pretty good and I had been pretty consistent about finishing around the 10th-place spot and every year, I inched a little bit closer to medaling,” Li said. “So, it was nice to kind of have a week where everything clicked and just have it all come together and play really well.”

Because of coronavirus restrictions, Li also got to play alongside his teammates during the tournament as they played in fivesomes.

The atmosphere and being around his teammates helped Li relax a little more as he knew what to expect heading into the tournament.

“I think it’s really nice to just be familiar with everyone you’re playing with and kind of know what they do and the tempo of how they play,” Li said. “You kind of know what to expect because we all know each other and we all kind of laugh and have fun on the golf course so it kept it light.”

After placing 11th in the NCAA championships as a junior, Li placed eighth this past season after shooting a 291 in the 72-hole event. He carded two 1-over-par 72’s and also shot a 74 during the first 18-hole round and a 73 during the third.

Although he hoped to play better, playing his final tournament as a Tartan at Oglebay Resort and Conference Center in Wheeling, W.Va., was a fun way to end his career.

“Being close to home, about an hour away, I feel like a had a little bit of an advantage,” Li said. “Just being used to the hilly golf courses around the area and having played a golf course similar to that. Whereas the kids down south, they are playing flat, perfect lies, different types of grass, I feel like I had a little bit of an edge. But it was awesome to just play well. I didn’t really think about it as my last collegiate round, but it was just fun to compete with the team one last time.”

During his time at CMU, Li put together a special collegiate career, but he’s not quite done with golf just yet. After graduating with a degree in business administration, Li plans to take a stab at professional golf and will play amateur events throughout the summer to continue working on his game.

“I just want to play in a few tournaments this summer and travel a bunch,” Li said. “I’ll actually be playing in the U.S. Open final qualifying this coming Monday (June 7) in Columbus, Ohio. So that’s kinda the last step, and if I play really good I’ll be going to the U.S. Open later this month.

“I’m just going to try to play a lot of amateur golf, play in bigger tournaments, and kind of down the line, looking forward to giving professional golf a shot and kind of chasing the dream.”

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .