It’s been that kind of year for Ole Miss men’s golf. Not only are the Rebels playing in the 2026 NCAA Championship in Carlsbad, California as the No. 8 seed, but their coach is now in the running for the sport’s biggest individual coaching honor.
Chris Malloy has been named one of five finalists for the 2026 Dave Williams Award presented by Golf Pride Grips, the Golf Coaches Association of America’s annual recognition of the top NCAA Division I men’s golf coach in the country.
The winner’s name gets announced on Tuesday, June 9.
It’s the kind of national spotlight that reflects just how far Malloy has taken the Ole Miss program in a single season.
A Season Worth Recognizing
This isn’t Malloy’s first piece of hardware this year. He’s already become just the second coach in Ole Miss men’s golf history to earn SEC Coach of the Year honors, a milestone that speaks to what the Rebs have built in Oxford during the 2025-26 campaign.
The team climbed to a No. 9 national ranking and punched their ticket to the NCAA Championship as the No. 8 seed — a strong finish by any measure for a program chasing its first national title.
The Rebels have been consistent all year long. Ole Miss finished inside the top five ten times during the season with three team titles along the way.
The biggest of those came at the SEC Championship, the program’s first conference crown since 1984, second in school history.
Talented Seniors Lead the Charge
Tom Fischer, Cameron Tankersley and Cohen Trolio have all ranked inside the top 55 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings and the top 20 of PGA TOUR U. That’s a senior trio that can compete with anybody in college golf.
Fischer has been the standout of the group. He’s a finalist for the Haskins Award that goes to the nation’s top college golfer and earned first-team All-SEC recognition.
Tankersley joined him on the All-SEC list with a second-team selection.
Across the roster, five players have posted at least one top-10 finish this season. Four have at least one top-five result.
Who Malloy’s Up Against
The other four finalists for the Dave Williams Award are Nick Clinard of Auburn, J.C. Deacon of Florida, Brad McMakin of Arkansas and Bowen Sargent of Virginia.
It’s a competitive group from a strong SEC-heavy field. That makes Malloy’s inclusion proof to what Ole Miss has accomplished on the national stage this spring.
The winner will be announced on June 9, at peak of the NCAA Championship’s postseason drama.
