MONROE, La. - After playing with a high level of success in his first season as a collegiate golfer, ULM's Gustaf Kocken has decided to make the jump to the professional golf ranks and will not be returning for a second season this fall with the Warhawks.
"Gustaf is an extremely talented golfer with an amazing work ethic," ULM Director of Golf Ashley Tonore said. "We are very proud of Gustaf for his accomplishments here at ULM and wish him the best of luck with his golf career. I am very confident that he will achieve his goals."
"I wish Gustaf the best and know he will be successful as he takes his game to the next level," ULM men's golf head coach Erik Hsu. "Our team will deeply miss him. He was such an important part of our success this year, both in his performance and as a leader."
Kocken arguably had the best freshman year of any player in the program's 58-year history. In just his second collegiate start, Kocken claimed a two-stroke victory at the competitive Kansas Men's Invitational. One week later he earned his second-consecutive medalist honor with a commanding seven-stroke victory at the Bob Hurley ORU Shootout, becoming the first Warhawk in over 20 years to do so.
The Stockholm, Sweden, native forced a tie for first place after a six-stroke comeback at HBU's Intercollegiate Invitational two weeks later, but eventually fell in the third hole of sudden death to Nicholls State's Kristjan Einarsson. In all, Kocken had a string of six-straight top-10 finishes between the fall and spring seasons and finished in the top-three four times.
Following his back-to-back tournament wins, Kocken became the first ULM golfer in program history to be named Golfer of the Month by the Sun Belt Conference. He also became ULM's first Sun Belt Men's Golf Freshman of the Year as well as Louisiana's Freshman Golfer of the Year.
Kocken was also the first Warhawk in 16 years to be selected as an individual qualifier for the NCAA Men's Golf National Championships. He finished with the best showing ever by a ULM golfer at the NCAA Regional after tying for 11th out of 75 competitors at the NCAA Southwest Regional Tournament in Tucson, Ariz.
Kocken is currently back home playing on a Swedish professional tour. He will also compete in a couple of European Challenge Tour and European Tour events which he has earned exemptions for.
