May 14, 2026, 2:45 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
For golf fans with ties to the SEC, one name in this week\u2019s inaugural Colonial Life Charity Classic field should stand out: former Vanderbilt Commodore standout Jackson Van Paris<\/a>. Van Paris arrived on the Korn Ferry Tour boasting one of the most decorated re\u0301sume\u0301s of any recent SEC golfer. He seamlessly combined his standout collegiate achievements at Vanderbilt with his status as one of amateur golf\u2019s most promising young stars, carrying that reputation well into his professional career on the Korn Ferry Tour.<\/p>\n The former Commodore capped off his Vanderbilt career as a two-time Second Team All-SEC selection and a two-time GCAA Division I PING All-Region honoree, as well as earning honorable mention All-American status in 2024. Van Paris also excelled in the classroom at Vanderbilt, earning SEC Academic Honor Roll recognition twice and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District recognition.<\/p>\n By his senior season as a Commodore, Van Paris had established himself as one of the top amateur golfers in the world. He posted a team-best 69.63 scoring average during the 2024-25 season, recorded six top-10 finishes, and climbed as high as No. 4 in the PGA TOUR University rankings while ranking eighth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. His biggest collegiate moment came in 2025 when he captured medalist honors at the NCAA Amherst Regional, firing an 8-under-par 202 to secure one of two individual titles during his Vanderbilt career.<\/p>\n Van Paris also helped Vanderbilt pile up trophies for the golf program, contributing to 11 team championships during his four-year career while posting a 70.53 career scoring average, the second-best mark in school history. But SEC fans may already recognize the name from outside college golf.<\/p>\n Long before Vanderbilt, Van Paris had already started carving out a name for himself. At just 14 years old, he became the youngest player since legendary golfer Bobby Jones in 1916 to win a match at the U.S. Amateur Championship, earning a dramatic 1-up victory at Pebble Beach a week before his 15th birthday. After finishing No. 5 in the 2025 PGA TOUR University rankings, Van Paris secured an exempt Korn Ferry Tour membership. He\u2019s now chasing the next step in his golf journey, giving SEC fans another familiar face to cheer for in Elgin this week.<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n Contact\/Follow@College_Wire<\/a> on X and@College_Wires<\/a> on Threads. Like our page on Facebook<\/a> to follow ongoing coverage of college sports news, notes, and opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"May 14, 2026, 2:45 p.m. ET For golf fans with ties to the SEC, one name in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[395,30,11454,11455,11456,7943,11459,11458,11461,11464,11463,11457,297,11462,10917,299,11460,295],"class_list":{"0":"post-14905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-paris","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-paris","10":"tag-sourcecollege-sports-wire","11":"tag-sstssportscollegesec","12":"tag-sstsnsec","13":"tag-tagcollege-sports","14":"tag-tagcolleges-universities","15":"tag-taggolf","16":"tag-tagkorn-ferry-tour","17":"tag-tagncaa","18":"tag-tagncaa-division-i","19":"tag-tagncaa-southeastern-conference","20":"tag-tagoverall-positive","21":"tag-tagpga-tour","22":"tag-tagsmg-timely","23":"tag-tagsports-news","24":"tag-tagvanderbilt-university","25":"tag-typestory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}