Ricky Castillo of the University of Florida, who is from Yorba Linda, Calif., was named winner of the 2020 NCAA Division I Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award, which is presented by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Castillo, who played at Valencia High in Placentia, captured the Sea Best Invitational and the Gators Invitational in his freshman year and might have won more had the season not been cut short by the Coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s an honor to win this incredible award that so many great players have won,” said Castillo, who finished in the top 25 in all seven of the Gators’ tournaments in the 2019-20 season and posted a 70.08 scoring average, the lowest in school history. “I am really excited to represent the Gators.”
Castillo, a first team All-American, became the third Florida player to win the award, joining Camilo Villegas (2001) and Sam Horsfield (2016).
Castillo leads the GCAA Division I All-Freshman Team, which also includes Yuxin Lin of USC, William Mouw of Pepperdine, Johnny Keefer of Baylor and Mark Power of Wake Forest.
Past winners of the Phil Mickelson Award include Justin Thomas of Alabama (2012), Patrick Cantlay of UCLA (2011), Jamie Lovemark of USC (2007), Rickie Fowler of Oklahoma State (2008), Matthew Wolff of Oklahoma State (2018), Norman Xiong of Oregon (2017), Scottie Scheffler of Texas (2015), Robby Shelton of Alabama (2014), Cole Hammer of Texas (2019), Morgan Hoffman of Oklahoma State (2009),
