While he’s glad to have earned All-American honors for the third consecutive year, John Augentstein isn’t done yet.
The former Owensboro Catholic High School golf star wrapped up his junior season at Vanderbilt University last month, and last week he was selected to the All-American Third Team by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Augenstein is already setting sights on garnering the award one more time to round out his career as a Commodore.
“It means a lot,” he said. “Being an All-American for three years is quite the honor. There’s not many guys that can say they were a four-year All-American, so hopefully I’ll be able to make that happen.”
Augenstein has now been awarded All-American status in every year of his Commodore career. He made both the Freshman and Honorable Mention teams in 2017 and was again Honorable Mention in 2018.
Augenstein averaged a career low 70.79 strokes per round this season, and he posted two top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes.
While he kept his scores low throughout the year, Augenstein said he never quite put together one tournament that maximized his potential.
“I thought I had a solid year,” he said. “Unfortunately I don’t feel like I played my best in any specific event, but I played really solid in every event.”
Still, Augenstein can keep the bigger picture in mind. He’s No. 23 in the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking, and he said it’s been a result of his steady performances.
“What the rankings value is really consistent play,” he said. “I’d say I played very consistent at each tournament, but I certainly didn’t play as well as I have shown that I am capable of playing.”
Augenstein will now prepare to defend his title as the 2018 Players Amateur champion, a win that earned him an exemption to the RBC Heritage on the PGA Tour earlier this year. He’ll also play in the Western Am and U.S. Am in efforts to earn more exemptions before returning to Vanderbilt for his senior campaign.
Though he’s already looking toward his career beyond college, Augenstein said he knows he needs to focus on the upcoming season.
“I think it will be really important for me to kind of stay where my feet are, and that’s at Vanderbilt,” he said. “That means going through the season the right way and getting the team where it needs to be so we can make a run at the end.”
Augenstein said it’s a weird feeling knowing he’s a senior and will be one of the leaders for a fairly young Commodores squad. He’s hoping to draw on the lessons he learned as an underclassmen.
“I have a big senior year ahead of me,” he said. “We have a young team, but we also have a really good team. I’m hoping to put those guys in a position to be successful while also putting myself into position to be successful. That’s the main thing for next season.”
