WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Herman Sekne and Nels Surtani were both honored by the Big Ten on Tuesday after a strong regular season for the Purdue Men's Golf team.
For the first time since 2002, a Boilermaker has been named Big Ten Golfer of the Year, as coaches voted Herman Sekne this year's recipient. He was also honored as a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten honoree.
Sekne joins Lee Williamson (2002) as the only Boilermakers to win Big Ten Golfer of the Year honors.
The Oslo, Norway, native is putting the finishing touches on a remarkable career at Purdue, winning this year's Les Bolstad Award, given by the Big Ten to the golfer with the lowest stroke average. Sekne owns a school-record 70.27 average this season, one year after setting a school record with a 70.41 average during the 2022-23 season.
He placed fifth at last weekend's Big Ten Championship, his fifth top-five finish in just nine events this season. He also placed in the top five at the Marquette Intercollegiate (5th), Purdue Fall Invitational (3rd), Windon Memorial Classic (1st) and the Calusa Cup (5th). He was 12th at the Hootie at Bulls Bay and 13th at the Olympia Fields Invitational.
He owns seven top-20 showings and has placed in the top 10 in half (18) of his 36 career events. Sekne won the Windon Memorial Classic in September with a school-record score of 16-under par 197, claiming medalist honors by four shots. The win in September was his fourth career tournament title, the most in school history.
In Purdue history, there have been seven tournament scores of 202 or better and Sekne has four of them. He has seven career rounds of 65 or lower, including a school-record 62 in the 2023 Big Ten Championships. Three of his seven scores of 65 or better have come this season.
Sekne owns a school record with 36 (of 106) career rounds in the 60s, including 11 (of 26) this season.
The senior will likely become Purdue's first two-time All-American after being a third-team honoree a season ago.
Surtani, a junior from Indianapolis, was named to the All-Big Ten second team after posting a 72.21 stroke average with 13 rounds of par or better.
He has five top-20 finishes in his 10 events and became Purdue's first winner of the Puerto Rico Classic when he shot a 15-under par 201 – good for the third-best, 54-hole score in Purdue history. During the spring season, Surtani has placed in the top-20 in four of the five events, including a seventh-place finish at the Calusa Cup.
Surtani's 72.21 stroke average is the 10th-best average in school history and his career scoring average of 72.72 is second in Purdue history behind Sekne (71.32).
Peyton Snoeberger was the team's Sportsmanship Award honoree.
The No. 30-ranked Boilermaker will host the NCAA Regional Championships at Kampen-Cosler Course in West Lafayette, on May 13 through 15. Admission is free.
The Boilermakers will find out who will be coming to Kampen-Cosler on the NCAA Golf Selection Show at 2 p.m. ET, on Wednesday, May 1, on The Golf Channel.