Troy Taylor II Tops Final APGA Collegiate Tour Rankings

East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State men’s golfer Troy Taylor II finished the 2022-23 season ranked No. 1 among all players in the Advocate Professional Golf Association (APGA) Collegiate Rankings.

The APGA Collegiate Ranking was announced in October 2020 through a partnership between the PGA TOUR and the APGA Tour. Eligible players are Black golfers from NCAA Division I or II programs – including HBCUs – who exhaust a minimum of four years of college eligibility. The APGA Collegiate Ranking is based on players’ Golfstat adjusted scoring average, designed to evaluate the top players positioned to qualify for APGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament access.  

By finishing as the No. 1 player in the standings, Taylor ears a sponsor’s exemption into the 2023 UNC Health Championship and automatically qualifies for the 2024 season-opening APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational at Torrey Pines.

In addition, the top-five players in the rankings will earn a number of benefits and opportunities through this program now in its third year.

Those include scholarship access to APGA Tour events through the remainder of the 2023 APGA Tour season, scholarship access into the Korn Ferry Qualifying School for the 2024 season and membership to the APGA Tour through May 2024.

Taylor wrapped up his career at Michigan State last week at the NCAA Bath Regional, hosted by the Spartans and Eagle Eye Golf Club, just down the road from campus. The fifth-year golfer fired a career-best 6-under par 66 in the opening round and tied for 25th place overall at 2-under par 214 (66-71-77).

He finished up the 2022-23 season with a 72.83 scoring average, which ranked fourth on the team, while tying for the team lead in events (12) and rounds (35) played this season. He posted three top-20 finishes during the year.

For his career, Taylor carried a career scoring average of 73.27, which ranks third all-time in program history at Michigan State. He will leave MSU with two single-season scoring averages standing among the top-10 all-time in program history, with a 72.59 mark as a junior in 2021-22 in 10th place and his 72.83 average this year 14th all-time.

Off the course, Taylor was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar twice, was selected to the Academic All-Big Ten team three times and was a Golf Coaches Association of America All-America…