MSU Men's Golf: Johnson and Sharp Earn PING All-Midwest Region Honors

Johnson and Sharp Earn PING All-Midwest Region Honors

EAST LANSING -- Michigan State golfers Michael Sharpand Kaleb Johnson have been named to the PING All-Midwest Region Team. It’s the first such honor for Johnson and Sharp, while it marks the second straight year MSU has had two players named to the all-region team as Charlie Netzel and Sam Weatherhead garnered the accolade in 2017.

Johnson, a second-team All-Big Ten selection, posted the fifth-best single season average in program history at 72.62. The sophomore had three top-three finishes, including his first career tournament win at the Inverness Intercollegiate at 8-under-par 142, thereafter earning Big Ten Golfer of the Week honors.

The native of Naples, Florida, claimed third place at the Quail Valley Intercollegiate with an 8-under-par 204 – the third-lowest 54-hole tournament score in program history, which also tied a career best.

Johnson also recorded some of the lowest rounds by a Spartan as his 65s at both the Inverness and Quail Valley tournaments rank as the second-lowest scores in program history.

Johnson led all Spartans at the Big Ten Championships by taking 15th (5-over-par 215), while he and Sharp led the Green and White at the NCAA Columbus Regional, tying for 24th place (7-over-par 220).

Sharp, who was also a second-team All-Big Ten selection, recorded the sixth-best single-season average in program history as his 72.76 was just .14 behind Johnson in 2017-18. His 73.95 career average is also sixth best in MSU history.

The Kendallville, Indiana, native had four top-10 finishes this past season, which was more than any other Spartan. Sharp had one of his best runs of the season early in the spring as he had three top-10 finishes over a span of four tournaments, including eighth at the Colleton River Collegiate (8-over-par 224); and sixth and both the Seahawk Intercollegiate (1-over-par 217) and Kepler Intercollegiate (1-over-par 214).

Sharp’s sseason-best54-hole mark of 4-under-par 212 at the Bearcat Invitational included his first of two season-best 67s.

Sharp graduated with a 3.97 GPA in actuarial science and was a CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree.

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