Mike Van Sickle Class: Senior Hometown: Wexford, Pa. High School: Pine-Richland Height: 6-1

OFFICIAL BLOG SITE:
MikeVanSickleGolf.blogspot.com

CAREER CAPSULE:
Academic
• 3.321 cumulative grade point average.
• Graduated May 17, 2009 with a major in broadcast and electronic communications.
• Two-time Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar (2008, 2009).
• CoSIDA Academic All-District V Second Team (2009).
• Three-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star.
• Received Marquette's institutional award for Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, presented by the BIG EAST Conference.

Honors and Awards
• Recipient of Byron Nelson Award presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon (2009).
• One of 10 semifinalists for The Ben Hogan Award (2009).
• 2009 BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year.
• One of eight American players named to the United States Palmer Cup team (2009).
• PING All-America First Team
• Two-time PING All-America Honorable Mention and three-time PING All-Midwest Region team (2007, 2008, 2009).
• Ralph H. Metcalfe Outstanding Senior Student-Athlete Award (2009).
• Golfweek All-America Honorable Mention (2008).
• Pennsylvania Golf Association Player of the Year (2008).

Career Highlights
• All-time leader at Marquette in career victories (11), scoring average (71.69), career rounds of par-or-better (86), tournament finish percentage (85.2) and career rounds played (139).
• Owns 24 top-five finishes in 48 collegiate events.
• Won 2009 Western Refining College All-America Classic.
• Ranked as high as No. 6 in the United States (No. 10 in the world), according to the Golfweek Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking.
• Ranked as high as No. 4 in the world (No. 2 in the United States) by the R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking.
• Shot a school-record 17-under 199 (64-68-67) to win the Xavier Invitational (2008).
• Became the first player since 1955-56, and first-ever amateur player, to win back-to-back Pennsylvania Open Championships (2007, 2008).
• Won the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship (2008).
• Helped Marquette win 2008 BIG EAST Championship, Marquette's first-ever conference title in men's golf, and the first BIG EAST Championship in any sport.
• Three-time participant in NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship (2007, 2008, 2009).

Career Highlights -- All-time leader at Marquette in career victories (11), scoring average (71.69), career rounds of par-or-better (86), tournament finish percentage (85.2) and career rounds played (139) ... Owns 24 top-five finishes in 48 collegiate events.

Summer (2009) -- Played for Team USA at Palmer Cup in Cherry Hills Village, Colo., June 4-5, as Europe defeated the Americans, 13-11 ... Van Sickle set Palmer Cup record for largest margin of victory in a singles match with his win over Leonardo Motta, 8 and 7, on the final day of competition ... Accepted a sponsor exemption to play in the U.S. Bank Championship, which will be his first PGA Tour event, at Brown Deer Park Goilf Course, July 13-19.

Senior (2008-09) -- Recipient of the Byron Nelson Award, presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon, for academic and athletic accomplishment, in addition to character, integrity and citizenship over the course of entire collegiate career ... PING All-America First Team ... One of 10 finalists for The Ben Hogan Award ... BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year ... One of eight American players named to the United States Palmer Cup team ... Finished among national leaders in wins (5) and scoring average (70.00) and led NCAA Division I in birdies (165) ... Became the first-ever MU golfer to lead the Golfstat Cup standings following an impressive fall season in which he won four out of six tournaments -- including three straight -- capped off by a win at the prestigious Western Refining College All-America Classic ... Five victories in a single season set a new school record ... Ranked as high as No. 6 in the United States (No. 10 in the world), according to the Golfweek Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking ... Ranked No. 4 in the world (No. 2 in the United States) by the R&A World Amateur Golf Ranking at the conclusion of the fall season ... Earned CoSIDA Academic All-District V Second Team honors ... One of 10 NCAA Division I players selected to Golfweek's Preseason All-America team ... Named Player of the (Mid)Year Honorable Mention (behind Indiana's Jorge Campillo) by Golf World and tabbed a member of the publication's 12-person Midseason All-America team ... Named men's golf national Player of the Week by Golfweek for the second time in his career on Nov. 10, 2008 after winning the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif. ... Three-time BIG EAST Golfer of the Week ... Has been featured multiple times on Golfweek's "Off Campus Elevator" show with host Lance Ringler ... National golf scribes Ryan Herrington (Golf World), Ron Balicki (Golfweek) and Asher Wildman (Golfweek) have also recognized Van Sickle as one of the most dynamic players in college golf ... Received Marquette's institutional award for Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, presented by the BIG EAST Conference ... Shot a second-round 67 and opened the fall season with a come-from-behind victory at the Gopher Invitational in Wayzata, Minn., with a three-under 213 (74-67-72) ... Placed fourth with a 10-under 206 (68-70-68) at the Cardinal Intercollegiate hosted by Louisville ... Posted the 30th top-10 finish of his career (T-7th) by shooting an even-par 213 at the Windon Memorial Classic in Glenview, Ill. ... Shot a school-record 17-under 199 (64-68-67) to win by eight strokes at the Xavier Invitational in Loveland, Ohio ... Fired a four-under 209 (70-70-69) and birdied his last four holes to come from behind and win the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif. ... Invited to the prestigious Western Refining College All-America Golf Classic for the second straight season, where in 2008 he tied the school record for lowest round with an eight-under 63 in the final round of the event to force a playoff with Oklahoma State's Trent Leon; Van Sickle defeated Leon with a seven-foot birdie putt on the sixth playoff hole to join PGA Tour players Tiger Woods, Notah Begay, David Duval and Ricky Barnes as previous tournament champions ... His victory at the All-America Classic was his third consecutive tournament win, marking the third time in his career that he has won three straight collegiate events ... Finished third at the Ron Smith USF Invitational and Pinehurst Intercollegiate to open the spring season ... Won the Palisades Collegiate Classic for a his 11th collegiate victory, shooting 16-under 200 (69-65-66) ... Placed runner-up at the BIG EAST Championship with a six-under 210 ... Named Southern Golf Association co-National Amateur of the Month for April ... Selected as "Sports Story of the Year" for 2008-09 by the Marquette Tribune.

Summer 2008 -- Became the first player since 1955-56, and first-ever amateur player, to win back-to-back Pennsylvania Open Championships when he won the 2008 title by a single stroke, finishing with a four-under 209 (71-69-69) ... Tied Clemson's Kyle Stanley for first place at the Southern Amateur in Orlando, Fla., but lost the title on the first playoff hole ... Posted a two-under 211, including a low-round of 68, to win the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship in Bethlehem, Pa. ... Placed third at the prestigious 50th Annual Porter Cup held at Niagara Falls Country Club ... Competed in U.S. Open Sectional qualifying at Ohio State's Scarlet Course where he was paired with PGA Tour player Skip Kendall ... Qualified for the 108th U.S. Amateur Championship and competed in the event for the first time at Pinehurst Country Club ... Named recipient of the Frank Fuhrer III Award, selected by the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, for the second consecutive year ... Earned the 2008 William C. Fownes, Jr. Award after finishing atop the Pennsylvania Golf Association Player of the Year Point Standings.

Junior (2007-08) -- Named a Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar by the GCAA, one of the top awards in collegiate golf ... Of the 96 players named All-America Scholars, only 11 including Van Sickle were ranked among the top 50 golfers in NCAA Division I, according to the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings ... For the second straight year, Van Sickle was selected as a PING All-America honorable mention, announced by the GCAA, and was also named to the PING All-Midwest Region team ... Garnered All-America honorable mention from Golfweek ... Tabbed as an All-BIG EAST selection for the second consecutive season after helping the Golden Eagles win their first conference title and the school's first-ever BIG EAST championship in any team sport ... One of two MU players (Chris Streff) named a BIG EAST Academic All-Star ... Earlier in the season, Golfweek's Ryan Herrington labeled Van Sickle "The Best Player You've (Maybe) Never Heard Of," in addition to being named to the publication's Midseason All-America team. ... Became the first MU golfer to be invited to the Western Refining College All-America Classic in El Paso, Texas, where he finished 17th ... Ranked No. 8 in the Golfstat Cup following the fall campaign, his highest national ranking to date with a school record six career victories ... Posted three of those victories in 2007-08, a single-season school record ... Won back-to-back tournaments in the month of October, claiming medalist honors at the Windon Memorial Classic in Glencoe, Ill., before winning the BIG EAST/MAC Challenge in Orlando, Fla., by eight strokes ... Posted another victory at the Ron Smith/USF Invitational at Lake Jovita marking the second straight year Van Sickle won the USF tournament.

Sophomore (2006-07) -- A First Team All-BIG EAST selection and BIG EAST Academic All-Star, Van Sickle also earned PING All-America Honorable Mention and All-Midwest Region accolades, tabbed by the Golf Coaches Association of America ... Became the first-ever Marquette golfer to qualify for the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships ... Posted three top-10 finishes during the fall season before beginning his run into uncharted territory for a Marquette golfer and finishing the season with a school-record 71.91 stroke average ... At final tally, Van Sickle was ranked 39th in the Golfstat Cup and also nationally ranked by Golfweek ... Van Sickle opened the spring campaign with an unprecedented three consecutive victories, winning the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate, the Ron Smith/USF Invitational and the Mission Inn Collegiate Invitational in back-to-back-to-back fashion, an accomplishment that helped him earn Golfweek's national Player of the Week honor ... Prior to the start of his junior season at MU, Van Sickle was busy on the amateur circuits ... In May, he was named co-recipient of the 2006-07 Western Pennsylvania Golf Association's Frank Fuhrer III Award, along with Penn State's Robert Rohanna, presented to the area's outstanding collegiate golfer ... Later he was honored by Chestnut Ridge Golf Resort and Conference Center for breaking the course record at Tom's Run Golf Course, where Van Sickle carded a 12-under par 60 while winning the Dick's Sporting Goods Tri-State Amateur Championship ... Also claimed victory at the 91st Chuck Deardorff Memorial Open Championship, the state open championship of Pennsylvania.

Freshman (2005-06) -- Van Sickle came out of the gate strong, recording Marquette's best finish in the first three events of the season ... Led MU in scoring five times in the year ... Finished the season with a 73.77 scoring average, the second best season scoring average in MU history (would have had a 73.53 scoring average, but a single- round score of 66 at Rollins College was not counted by Golfstat) ... Placed second in his first collegiate tournament, the John Piper Intercollegiate ... Shot a 69 in his first collegiate round and finished the event at eight-under, 208 ... Placed fifth at the Cardinal Intercollegiate with a five-under 211 helping MU win its first tournament of the season ... Shot a five-under 211 at the Xavier Intercollegiate ... Led MU in scoring to conclude the fall, shooting a five-under 211 at the BIG EAST/MAC Challenge; his final-round 68 helped guide MU to the tournament win ... Led MU in one other event, shooting 66 against Rollins College in a dual match prior to the BIG EAST Championship ... At the BIG EAST tournament, he placed 20th, shooting one-over 217. For the year, Van Sickle led MU with 10-under-par rounds and eight rounds below 70.

Prior to Marquette -- Van Sickle was a well-decorated golfer out of high school ... Ranked No. 1 on the Future Collegians World Tour golf ranking in 2004-05 and was the points leader in the 16-18 year old division ... Named Eastern Region Player of the Year by the FCWT and was a first-team All-American by the FCWT in 2004-05 ... Named to the FCWT's All-Academic team and was the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association Junior Player of the Year ... As captain of his Pine-Richland High School team, he led the squad to Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League titles in 2004 and 2005 ... Was a three-year state championship qualifier and a two-time WPIAL champion ... Also played basketball, lettering three times.

Personal -- Van Sickle was born December 17, 1986, in Milwaukee to Gary and Betsy Van Sickle ... His father is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and his mother was formerly the sports information director at Marquette ... Graduated in May, majoring in broadcast communications.

Van Sickle's Career Stats
(* - Marquette record)