2021-22 All-PacWest Awards

IRVINE, Calif. – Entering the year as the elder statesman of Academy of Art men's golf, junior Matthew Watkins capped off his season with a Pacific West Conference postseason award as he was selected to the All-PacWest Second Team, as announced by the conference on Tuesday. 

"Matt is an extremely hard worker when it comes to his game," said ART U Head Coach Deven DeLuca. "This is a great honor and it is well deserved." 

Watkins captured one tournament victory this season when he took first place at the Chico State Wildcat Classic out of a field of 61 golfers after turning in a final score of 2-over-par 146, making him just the second men's golfter in ART U history to win multiple tournaments in his career (along with former teammate Julius Kreutzer).

Posting an average round score of 74.45 across a total of 22 rounds prior to the end of the regular season, Watkins took home seventh place while at the PacWest Championship after carding an 8-over-par 224, which was good enough to earn him a spot on the PacWest All-Tournament Team for the third time in his career. His lowest round of the season came during the opening round of the Hanny Stanislaus Invitational when he turned in a 3-under-par 69. Additionally, he added another pair of top-20 finishes. 

A vote by the PacWest head coaches determined the individual honors and the All-PacWest teams were determined by the players' GolfStat ranking, based on stroke average. This is the fourth time that Watkins has earned All-PacWest recognition, earning All-PacWest First Team honors last season in 2020-21, Second Team honors in 2018-19, and was selected to the Third Team in 2017-18.