July 9, 2010

Two Ivy Golfers Named GCAA All-America Scholars

Courtesy of Columbia Media Relations/Sports Information and Penn Athletic Communications
Photo courtesy of Penn Athletic Communications/Hunter Martin

PHILADELPHIA -- Columbia's Clark Granum and Penn's Chance Pipitone have been recognized as two of 119 NCAA Division I players across the country as Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars for the 2009-10 season by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).

Granum became the first men's golfer in school history to receive this honor. The Torrey Pines, Calif., native earned his third consecutive All-Ivy League first team selection this spring and was named to the PING Division I Men's Golf All-Northeast Region Team in early June.

During the 2009-10 season, Granum garnered a 74.0 stroke average over 24 rounds which ranks as the fourth-best scoring average by any Columbia men's golfer since the 1993-94 campaign. Granum saved his best when his team needed it most, as he fired a final-round 67 at the Ivy League Championship to help Columbia to its third consecutive conference title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Also a standout student, Granum is an electrical engineering major who currently maintains a 3.63 GPA. He was a Spring Academic All-Ivy League selection for the second consecutive year in 2009-10.

Pipitone graduated in May from the Wharton School of Business. He is the seventh Penn player to earn the All-America Scholar award since 2000, but just the first since 2003. To be eligible for Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar status at the Division I level, an individual must be a junior or senior academically, compete in at least two full years at the collegiate level, participate in 70 percent of his team's competitive rounds or compete in the NCAA Championships, have a stroke-average under 76.0, and maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.2.

Pipitone finished the 2009-10 season with a 74.0 stroke average over 22 rounds, which was the team's best. In nine tournaments he was the Quakers' low scorer at four tournaments, second among Penn players three times, and third twice. Pipitone was individual medalist at the Caves Valley Intercollegiate, and earned All-Ivy honors for the second time in his career with a seventh-place finish at the Ivy League Championships. As a freshman in 2006-07, Pipitone was runner-up at the Ivy League Championships, then finished fifth at the NCAA West Regional to earn an individual bid into the NCAA Men's Golf Championships.