SAU’s Timmerman, Little tabbed PING D-II All-Central Region
SAU Athletics
Jacob Pumphrey, Director of Athletic Communications
MAGNOLIA – Southern Arkansas Golfers Roman Timmerman and Brendan Little have been named Division II PING All-Central Region performers as announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) via social media in late April. Despite a spring championship season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both players were in the midst of impressive campaigns.
The all-region nod is the second-straight for Timmerman after the junior was tabbed to the team following the Muleriders’ record-breaking 2018-19 season. For Little, he becomes the first freshman in the SAU’s Division II Era (1995-96) to be named an all-region performer and the second to earn the honor under current head coach Ben Sanders.
Timmerman, a native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, earned a pair of Great American Conference Golfer of the Week honors (9/11, 3/11) this past season and both came as a result of him claiming a pair of individual titles in 2019-20. Timmerman won a scorecard playoff in the team’s first tournament of the season at the GAC Preview to lead SAU to the team title and in what became the team’s final action of the spring, he notched a two-stroke win at SAU’s Arkansas Collegiate.
In 16 rounds over six tournaments, the Canadian posted the best single season average score of his career at 71.94 with 0.31 vs. par. His average score is currently a single-season best in the program’s Division II Era. In his first two seasons as a Mulerider, Timmerman scored in the 60s five times over 48 total rounds. However, in just the aforementioned 16 rounds this past season, he logged six scores in the 60s in addition to being on pace to top his 11 par or better rounds in 2018-19 as he had already managed nine such rounds in 2019-20.
He topped 85.7% of the competition he faced as a junior and finished as Golfstat’s No. 96 rated golfer overall in Division II and No. 14 in the Central Region. He recorded a team-leading 54 birdies and led the group in par-4 scoring at 4.0325.
For Little, his collegiate rookie campaign will go down as one of the best in the 25-year Division II history. A native of Benton, Arkansas, Little claimed the GAC’s Golfer of the Week award (2/12) following a second-place finish, the best of his young career, in his first action of the spring at the ten-team, 58-golfer Houston Classic.
In 13 rounds over five tournaments played in 2019-20, Little recorded an average score of 72.62 with a 0.85 vs. par. He posted a career-best round of 70 at the Holiday Inn Express Classic in October and finished with six rounds at par or better, while posting a team-leading finish percentage of 90.2% which is currently a single season program-best result in SAU’s DII Era.
Little notched 46 birdies as a freshman and led the team in par-3 scoring (3.1552) and par-5 scoring (4.7637). His 213 (-3) at the GAC Preview is the 14th-best Low 54 hole total in SAU’s DII Era. Little finished the season ranked No. 86 overall in the DII Golfstat rankings and No. 10 among Central Region golfers.
Central Region
Blake Allen, Washburn
Andrew Beckler, Washburn
Tyler Beeck, Winona State
Edwin Blomander, Rogers State
Kason Cook, Southwestern Oklahoma State
Carlos Gomes, Northeastern State
Matt Hoemann, Central Missouri
Francois Jacobs, Arkansas Tech
Andre Jacobs, Arkansas Tech
Brendan Little, Southern Arkansas
Brady Madsen, Winona State
Blake Murray, Central Oklahoma
Luke Palmowski, Rogers State
Roman Timmerman, Southern Arkansas