Gopher senior Donald Constable has been named to the 2011 men’s golf All-Big Ten Second Team, while sophomore Erik Van Rooyen was named to the 2011 Big Ten Championship team after finishing in fourth at the championships.  Van Rooyen is also Minnesota’s honoree for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.

After transferring from Texas, Constable has been one of the best golfers in Gopher history.  The Minnetonka native led the Gophers this past season with a combined stroke average (combining both his fall and spring season averages of 71.33 and 72.77, respectively) of 72.12, the fifth lowest in the history of the program.  On top of that, Constable’s current career stroke average is 73.0, the third lowest in the programs history.

Constable is coming off of a stellar season, where he finished in the top-20 in all but one of the 11 tournaments this season.  Additionally, the senior finished in the top-10 five times, including a runner-up finish at the Rod Myers Invitational.

Constable is the 29th University of Minnesota golfer to be named All-Big Ten. Current Director of Golf John Harris was named to the All-Big Ten First Team twice, in 1973 and ’74.

Van Rooyen finished with a 72.28 stroke average on the season, the second lowest on the team.  In 11 tournaments he finished in the top-20 eight times and finished in the top-five three times. 

For both of these players there is still hope that they will be able to continue the 2010-11 season on an individual basis.  That is, both Constable and Van Rooyen could be chosen to compete in an NCAA Regional as an individual.  They will learn their fate on Monday, May 9.