Robby Shelton

Height:
5-11
Class:
Junior
Hometown:
Wilmer, Ala.
High School:
St. Paul's

OVERVIEW

Arrived at The University of Alabama as the nation’s No. 1-ranked junior golfer and finished his three year career as one of the top players in program history ... boasted three of the four lowest stroke averages in a season in program history (70.14 in 2014, 70.61 in 2015) and 70.53 in 2016), while his career average of 70.42 ranks the lowest in Alabama men's golf history ... ended his career with a -0.72 average vs. par, which also ranks as the best in the Alabama record books ... was named the 2014 National Freshman of the Year (Phil Mickelson Award) ... a first team All-American in 2014, 2015 and 2016, becoming just the second player in program lore to earn that feat (Bud Cauley) ... also named the 2014 SEC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year ... a three-time first team All-SEC performer ... set school record with seven collegiate tournament wins, including three during his junior year ... finished in the top-20 in a tournament in 31 of 36 career events played at Alabama ... finished in the top 10 in 24 of 36 career events ... boasted 17 top-five results and 95 of 102 career rounds count toward the team total (93 percent) ... finished career ranked third in par or lower rounds (77) ... recorded back-to-back-to-back seasons in which he ranked among the nation’s top-10 golfers in the final Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index (ranked No. 2 in 2014, No. 7 in 2015 and No. 9 in 2016) ... selected to participate in the 2014 and 2015 Palmer Cup for the United States ... named among the semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award in each of the last three seasons ... qualified for the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 ... won the 2012 Junior PLAYERS Championship and the Junior PGA.

2015-16 (JUNIOR)

Named PING First Team All-America for a third consecutive year, joining former standout Bud Cauley as the only Alabama men’s golfers to earn the accolade three times in a career … named to 2016 PING Southeastern All-Region team and first team All-SEC – both marking the third straight year he’s earned each honor … was a semifinalist for the Jack Nicklaus Award and Ben Hogan Award, honoring the nation’s top collegiate golfer … was a member of the United States Walker Cup Team in the summer of 2015 … following the NCAA Championships, he announced he would be turning professional … won three medalist honors for the year and finished career with a school record seven individual titles, surpassing Justin Thomas’ six tournaments won from 2011-13 … leaves Alabama as the career leader in stroke average (70.42) and average vs. par (-0.72), while his 67 career rounds of par or better (out of 103 total rounds played) ranks third in program history … in 34 career tournaments, he had 17 top-five finishes and 31 top-20 results … owns three of the four lowest single-season scoring averages in the Alabama record books, including leading the team with a stroke average of 70.53 in 2015-16, which ranks third-lowest in Alabama history … also boasted an average vs. par of -0.53, which is fourth-best in program lore … closed the year with records of 25-24-2 vs. the top-25 individuals, 112-64-7 vs. top 100 and 611-100-14 overall … ended career in great fashion with a sixth-place result at the NCAA Championships with a four-day total of 1-over par 281 … the 281 ranked as the second-best 72-hole total in school history, trailing only former standout Michael Thompson's 5-under 275 at the 2007 NCAA Championships … it marked his second top-10 finish at an NCAA Championship (finished tied for third in 2014) … his 2016 championships included a streak of 33 consecutive holes without a bogey that spanned from his ninth hole in the opening round to the sixth hole of the third round … he was the only player in the field to shoot a bogey-free round (66 in the second round) at the championship … recorded 21 rounds of par or lower and 10 rounds in the 60s, both of which led the team … finished the season with three victories, those coming at the DICK’s Collegiate Challenge Cup, the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate and the Puerto Rico Classic … shot a career-best 54-hole score of 11-under par 199 (66-64-69) at the JPNI, including matching his career-best round with a second round 64 … it marked the third-lowest 54-hole score in program history and the lowest tournament total since Bobby Wyatt’s school record 192 at the 2014 SEC Championships … the scores of his other tournament wins included an 11-under par 205 at the Puerto Rico Classic and an 8-under 205 at the DICK’s Collegiate Challenge Cup … placed sixth at the Linger Longer Invitational with a 5-under par 211 … tied for ninth at the Warrior Makai Princeville Invitational at 7-under par 209 … closed the year with seven top-10 and nine top-20 finishes … played in 11 tournaments (33 rounds) on the year, missing only the first event due to his obligations at the Walker Cup.

2014-15 (SOPHOMORE)

Ranked as the No. 7 golfer in the nation by Golfweek/Sagarin performance Index and No. 23 by Golfstat.com Head-to-Head Player Rankings ... selected to the All-Nicklaus team for a second consecutive season ... tabbed a PING first team All-America for a second consecutive year and Southeastern All-Region performer ... also named a first team All-SEC performer for the second straight season ... named to the United States Palmer Cup team and was a semifinalist for the prestigious Ben Hogan Award honoring the nation’s top amateur golfer ... named to SEC Academic Honor Roll ... became just the third Alabama golfer in program history to have 100 percent of his rounds count toward the team’s tournament total (33-of-33) ... finished the season with a 70.61 per round stroke average and an average vs. par of -0.81, both of which ranks third-lowest in program lore ... captured the medalist honor at the Southern Highland Masters by six strokes with a season-low 54-hole score of 15-under par 201 (67-69-65) in a field that featured 12 of the top 25 golfers in the nation ... the 201 was not just his lowest tournament score of the season, but also marked his second-best tournament tally of his career and was the ninth-lowest tournament total in the Alabama record books ... in addition, the 15-under par tied for the second-best in relation to par by an individual golfer in program history ... finished the season by recording six top-five finishes in the team’s 11 tournaments ... had 10 top-20 results on the year and now has finished among the top 20 in a tournament in 22 of 23 career events played at Alabama ... recorded a second-place finish at the Carpet Capital Collegiate, closing the event with a 10-under par 206 (69-68-69) ... had a pair of third-place results at the SEC Championships, finishing with a 6-under par 204 (65-65-74), and the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate, where he closed with a 3-under par 213 (67-73-73) ... also had two fourth-place results at the Jerry Pate National Intercollegiate (66-70-69) and the Puerto Rico Classic (69-71-71) where he finished each tournament at 5-under par 205.

2013-14 (FRESHMAN)

Finished his true freshman season ranked No. 2 in the final Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and No. 3 the last Golfstat.com Head-to-Head Player Rankings ... selected as the Phil Mickelson Award winner as the National Freshman of the Year, joining Justin Thomas (2012) as the only Alabama players to win the award ... named the 2014 SEC Player of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year ... first team All-American by PING and Golfweek ... named to the 2014 All-Nicklaus team ... first team All-SEC and a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award ... named to SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll ... finished tied for third at the NCAA Championships, which was the best finish for an Alabama player since Jerry Pate posted a runner-up showing in 1975 ... selected to the 2014 United States Palmer Cup team ... recorded eight top-five finishes in 12 events, including co-medalist honors at the Olympia Fields Fighting Illini Invitational and the Puerto Rico Classic ... 25 of his 36 rounds were at par or lower with 16 rounds in the 60s ... finished above par in only two tournaments with seven events under par and three at par ... finished 31 strokes under par for the season (-.86 strokes per round) with a team- and SEC-low 70.14 scoring average ... the 70-14 scoring average is the lowest in school history while the -0.86 average in relation to par is second-best at the Capstone ... finished third at the SEC Championship, posting a 10-under 200 ... became the second Crimson Tide player in school history top open his career with a victory, earning co-medalist honors at the OFCC Fighting Illini Invitational at even-par 210 ... then shared medalist honors once again at the Puerto Rico Classic at 12-under 204 ... tied for first at the Linger Longer Invitational, but fell in a playoff after shooting 9-under 207 ... tied for fourth at the Jerry pate National Intercollegiate carding a 1-under 209 (70-72-67) ... 13th at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational, carding rounds of 71-69-76 for an even-par 216 ... finished 14th at the Gifford Collegiate (73-69-68/210) ... third at the SMU Querencia Cabo Collegiate with a 1-under 212 (73-69-68) ... tied for 17th at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters (72-74-77/223), where his 7-over-par total was the lone over-par finish of his collegiate career ... tied for fifth at the Mason Rudolph Championship, firing rounds of 71-71-67 for a 1-under 212 ... opened 75-73 at the NCAA Auburn Regional but finished with a 3-under 69 to tie for 13th at 1-over 217 ... carded rounds of 72-65-68 en route to a tie for third place at the NCAA Championships, just one stroke out of a playoff for medalist honors ... fell behind in all three match play rounds only to play flawless golf down the stretch each time and go 3-0 helping the Crimson Tide Capture its second straight NCAA Championshipo and advance to the program’s third straight NCAA Finals ... opened match play with a come-from-behind win over SMU’s Andrew Buchanan, 2 up ... rallied in the semifinals to defeat LSU’s Stewart Jolly 2 and 1 ... Shelton was 2 down through 12 holes in his finals match against Oklahoma State’s freshman Zachary Olsen ... he got back to 1 down by winning the 13th with birdie and pulled all square with another birdie on the 14th ... after halving the 15th with birdie, Shelton birdied the 16th to take his first lead of the match ... the par-5 17th was halved with birdie ... with Shelton in the first cut of rough and Olsen laying two seven feet below the hole, Shelton stroked an iron 12 feet past the hole then drained the downhill putt for birdie and the 1-up win ... he birided the final three holes, six of the final seven and nine of the last 13 ... Shelton’s scorecard read 63 while Olsen’s read 64.

PREP HIGHLIGHTS

No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Rankings and first in the Polo Junior Golf Rankings … a Rolex Junior All-American … won the 2012 Junior PGA Championship (70-67-72/209) and Junior Players Championship (69-72-64-70/275)… was a member of the United States Junior Ryder Cup team in 2012 … runner-up at the 2013 Terra Cotta Invitational and the 2012 American Junior Golf Association Polo Junior Golf Classic … three-time Alabama High School Athletic Association 5A state champion (2010, 2012 and 2013) … one of four players ever to be a three-time Alabama state champion, along with current Tide teammates Bobby Wyatt (only four-time winner) and William Sellers, along with former Alabama All-American Hunter Hamrick … won the 2013 state title with the lowest 36-hole score in the tournament’s history (133) … his round of 63 in the 2012 Sub State at Arrowhead Country Club is the second-lowest round in state history during high school sanctioned events … a four-time winner of his age group at the Future Masters … finished 15th in the stroke-play portion of the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills (Englewood, Colo.) and was a round-of-64 winner in match play before bowing out in the round of 32. … also qualified for the 2013 U.S. Amateur, missing the cut by one shot … reached the quarterfinals of the 2013 U.S. Public Links Championship, falling to Michael Kim, 1 up … tied for seventh at the 2013 Western Amateur Championship … finished second at the Alabama State Amateur … tied for second at the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley … finished fourth at the 2011 FootJoy Invitational and second at the 2010 AJGA Junior at Steelwood.