Emory University men's golf junior Kevin Mu has been announced as one of the five finalists for the 2026 NCAA Division III Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award presented by Workday as announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America Tuesday afternoon.
Mu is joined by Jack Burr of Huntingdon, Jackson Hiller of Oglethorpe, Jonathan McEwen of Washington and Lee and Joshua Wang of Carnegie Mellon as finalists of the award. Mu is looking to become the second Nicklaus Award recipient from Emory, first since Jackson Klutznick (2024).
Ranked second via Scoreboard Powered by Clippd, Mu, a PING First Team All-American in 2025, has been even better this season as he has recorded six top-20 finishes this season with three victories. The junior from Austin, Texas, won the Discover Dekalb Emory Invitational by six strokes on April 19, winning the tournament for the Eagles with his birdie putt on the tournament's final hole. He also won the Tiger Invitational by five strokes on March 10 and the Wabash College Fall Invitational by three strokes on October 7. In early September, Mu was one of three Eagles named to the University Athletic Association All-Tournament as Emory won its third straight conference title and earlier this week, Mu was recognized with PING All-Region honors
All five finalists for this year's award will be competing this week at the 2026 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship at Mission Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, FL.
Nicklaus, a Big Ten and NCAA Champion at Ohio State, helped inspire and create the Jack Nicklaus Award in 1988. The award is now presented to the National Player of the Year in NCAA Divisions I, II, and III, as well as NAIA and NJCAA.
The winner will be announced by Nicklaus on Sunday, June 7 during his annual The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday press conference. The award will be presented to the recipient by Nicklaus and Workday.
About the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday
The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday is held annually at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. The Tournament, founded and hosted by Jack Nicklaus, is conducted each year with three goals in mind: to honor the memory of individuals living and deceased who have distinguished themselves in the game of golf; to showcase the world's best golfers competing on one of the most challenging venues in the world for the enjoyment of spectators; and to benefit many Greater Columbus Charities in alliance with the Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation and numerous other local organizations. For more information, visit www.thememorialtournament.com or call 614-889-6700.
About Workday
Workday is the enterprise AI platform for managing people, money, and agents. Workday unifies HR and Finance on one intelligent platform with AI at the core to empower people at every level with the clarity, confidence, and insights they need to adapt quickly, make better decisions, and deliver outcomes that matter. Workday is used by more than 11,500 organizations around the world and across industries – from medium-sized businesses to more than 65% of the Fortune 500. For more information about Workday, visit workday.com.
