The GCAA, in cooperation with the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, announced that Cameron Adam (Northwestern), Jackson Buchanan (Illinois), Matt Buckley (RPI), Andrew Swanson (Clemson), and Jackson Van Paris (Vanderbilt) are the finalists for the 2025 Byron Nelson Award. The winner will be announced on April 29 at the THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson Dinner at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.
Adam has improved his season scoring average each year in Evanston, starting with a 72.88 as a freshman to his team-leading 70.67 through 21 rounds as a senior. The Edinburgh, Scotland native was on the Big Ten Golfers to Watch List for the third time in as many preseasons and has seven rounds in the 60s this season.
He ended the fall with his first collegiate victory by three strokes at The Clerico (67-70-70, -3), helping the Wildcats win by eight shots on October 29 and earning Big Ten Golfer of the Week honors. Two weeks before that, Adam tied Arizona’s Filip Jakubcik for runner-up in stroke play and defeated Jakubcik in medal match play to help Northwestern win the St Andrews Links Collegiate.
He also finished fifth at the Windon Memorial Classic on September 30. A 2024 Second Team All-Big Ten member as Northwestern won their first Big Ten Championship since 2006, Adam recorded a 71.89 scoring average in 36 rounds last season, compiling three top-10 finishes, seven rounds in the 60s, and the November 1, 2023 Big Ten Golfer of the Week.
A Learning and Organizational Change major graduating with a 3.785 GPA, Adam has been a GCAA All-America Scholar and Academic All-Big Ten honoree each of the last two years.
He has been an active volunteer for the Stephen Gallacher Foundation since April 2018, helping host the foundation’s fundraising dinner with his parents in April 2018 and 2019, running and coaching monthly mentoring sessions with younger players nominated by the foundation during the winters of 2019 and 2020, and having duties at the foundation’s U10 & U12 championships during the last four summers that included first tee starter, scorer, rules official, and prize-giving host.
Adam continued the relationships he built at those championships to be a starter, pace-of-play referee, and prize-giver at their 2024 U15 championship. He also ran a free “crazy golf putting course” with his dad that was in the family entertainment area at the 2022 Scottish Open.
Adam joined Northwestern’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in 2024, being the men’s golf liaison to have his team’s opinions heard within the athletic department and keeping his team involved in campus activities such as the Canned Food Drive and Student Athlete Talent Show. He has helped with the Canned Food Drive every year he’s been in Evanston, getting food supplies and delivering them to the dropoff point and being involved with the other athletic department focal points to make sure that everything ran smoothly.
At the 2024 and 2025 Student Athlete Talent Shows, Adam was heavily involved in the effort to raise funds for the Evanston Community Foundation and Chicago HOPES for kids. All proceeds from the talent show went to the Northwestern Dance Marathon in direct support of those local charities. Adam has been a Team Impact Role Model since he arrived on campus in 2021, building a strong relationship with Luke Rowen and his family.
Rowen, who also built a strong relationship with 2023 Byron Nelson Award recipient and Adam’s former Northwestern teammate David Nyfjäll, was born with cerebral palsy. Rowen was inducted as a lifelong member of the Northwestern Golf program in 2022. In June 2024, Adam went back to his high school, Merchiston Castle School, to talk to and meet with their students about his experiences managing sports and academics.
Currently ranked seventh in the PGA TOUR University Ranking and 16th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR®), Buchanan has improved his season scoring average each year in Champaign. The Dacula, Georgia native began his collegiate career with a 72.84 as a freshman and is currently at a 70.90 through 30 rounds as a senior.
Beginning the season on his second Big Ten Golfers to Watch List in as many preseasons, Buchanan won the Fallen Oak Collegiate on October 21 (75-68-66, -7) for his fourth collegiate victory. The 2024 U.S. Amateur Semifinalist has been Illinois’ top finisher in five of their 10 tournaments this season and is tied for the team lead with 10 rounds in the 60s.
After leading the team with eight top-10 finishes and 12 rounds in the 60s last season, Buchanan was named 2024 Co-Big Ten Golfer of the Year as well as PING All-American (Honorable Mention; Third Team in 2023), PING All-Midwest Region, and First-Team All-Big Ten for the second straight season. He is a five-time Big Ten Golfer of the Week and was runner-up at the 2023 NCAA Championship.
Graduating next month with a 3.63 GPA in Business: Operations Management, Buchanan was a 2023-24 College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. He has been named GCAA All-America Scholar and Spring Academic All-Big Ten team twice.
Buchanan has served at the Eastern Illinois Foodbank all four years he’s been in Champaign, packing freezer items, potatoes, apples, building boxes, working on their assembly lines, and more. Since 2022, he has sorted, packed, and loaded 500 boxes containing non-perishable food items that are delivered to the local Bloomington, Illinois community through the Tinervin Family Foundation. At different North Gwinnett Co-Op store locations in 2021-22, Buchanan sorted, organized, labeled, and replaced food and non-food items within a store location to support families in need.
He also provided under-privileged neighbors with access to meals, hygiene, and household needs through The Block in 2021-22. Buchanan has taken part in Illinois’ Campus Walk for Suicide Awareness, connecting with students during a walk around the University of Illinois campus with signs, food, and spirit in support of suicide awareness. He went station to station during the International Prep Academy’s Field Day in 2022-23, tutoring kids in Spanish and supervising and playing with the kids. When he visits home in Georgia, Buchanan has dedicated time giving back to an organization that gave so much to him as a junior golfer, the North Georgia Golf Academy. He has led in swing and putting lessons, playing with junior golfers and sharing his experiences.
Buckley has five top-20 finishes in seven tournaments so far this season for the Engineers, including runner-ups at The Gauntlet and the Glen Oaks Invitational. The Elmhurst, Illinois native, with a current 73.92 scoring average through 12 rounds as a graduate senior, is team co-captain for the second straight year and finished the fall owning or sharing 24 program scoring or academic records.
Buckley received 2024 PING Honorable Mention All-American honors after carding three top-five and four top-10 finishes. He has been named PING All-Region and All-Liberty League (three times First Team) each of the last four years. Buckley participated in the program’s first two team trips to the NCAA Division III Championship (2021 and 2023) while securing 2021 Liberty League Rookie of the Year and 2021 GCAA All-Freshman Team accolades.
After graduating magna cum laude (3.78 GPA) with a B.S.E. in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering last May, Buckley will graduate next month with a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering (concentration in thermal hydraulics) and a 3.76 GPA. He is a three-time Liberty League All-Academic and GCAA All-America Scholar as well as a two-time CSC All-District member. As a RPI Thermal Hydraulics Laboratory Research Assistant, Buckley presented the Lab’s research, Numerical Analysis of Thermal Shielding for Lunar Habitat Design, at the NASA-sponsored Thermal Fluids & Analysis Workshop in August 2024.
He partnered in the design and mass production (300 pieces) of a model dump truck for the Lab, and for his Capstone Project, he partnered in the design of a model electric drone with 12-hour capability. In his free time, Buckley has been active amongst his peers and in his community. He has served on the Junior Board of the Freedom Golf Association (now U.S. Adaptive Golf Alliance), fundraising through various golf events to support adaptive golf programs and individuals with disabilities.
Taking part in the AJGA’s Birdies for Charity program, Buckley raised over $5,000, with half going to the Freedom Golf Association and half to the AJGA’s scholarship fund. He received a Sportsmanship Award from the Illinois Junior Golf Association (IJGA) for his efforts. Buckley served as Philanthropy Chair for the Pi Chapter of Zeta Psi the last two school years, coordinating schedules for his fraternity brothers to serve meals to the homeless at least twice a week through Joseph’s House of Troy. He also initiated and led a campaign for St. Baldrick’s Foundation, pledging to shave his head for the cause once the fundraising goal was met.
Academically, Buckley has been a dedicated tutor for RPI’s Advising and Learning Assistance Center (ALAC), holding multiple-hour sessions twice a week. He has also tutored his men’s golf teammates and the women’s hockey team with engineering and math. As a team captain, Buckley has organized his team’s volunteering as parking lot attendants for men’s hockey games to raise money for the golf program.
In 23 rounds this season, Swanson leads the team with a 71.52 scoring average and has three top-10 finishes, including runner-up at the Steelwood Collegiate on October 27. Leading Clemson in rounds played each of the last two years, the Bluffton, South Carolina native recorded six top-10 finishes last year and 15 rounds in the 60s.
Swanson’s first collegiate victory came at the Ka’anapali Classic on October 30, 2023 that included his final round and career-best 63 to finish the victory at a career-best 18-under (64-68-63). The 63 is the best round by a sophomore and tied for the best round vs. Par by anyone in program history.
The 195 and 18-under are the lowest 54-hole scores in program history by four strokes. A 2023 PING All-East Region honoree, Swanson converted a hole-in-one on September 27, 2022 at the inaugural Folds of Honor Collegiate (178-yard 7th hole with a 7-iron).
Swanson received the 2024 NCAA Elite 90 Award last May for having the highest career GPA at the NCAA Championship. He will graduate next month with a 4.0 GPA in Mathematical Sciences (minor in Computer Science).
A three-time member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll and a two-time GCAA All-America Scholar, Swanson has been a part of Be a TIGER Field Day, an event with learning stations hosted by the university’s science department for elementary students before the Spring Football Game.
He has mentored a second grader at Ravenel Elementary School during lunch once a week since last year and has participated in various sports activities during Global School Play Day at Central Academy of The Arts, spending lunch and recess with a third grade class. For Habitat for Humanity last school year, Swanson and his teammates put insulation into a home. He took part in the ClemsonLIFE™ Sports Clinic during his first two years on campus and has collected trash from their local highway with his grandfather for Adopt a Highway.
Van Paris is currently ranked sixth in the PGA TOUR University Ranking and ninth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR®). The Pinehurst, North Carolina native leads the Commodores in scoring average (69.96) and top-10 finishes (five) through 27 rounds this season.
Van Paris was a 2024 PING Honorable Mention All-American and member of the winning 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup Team USA after carding four top-five finishes, including his first collegiate victory at the 2023 St Andrews Collegiate. A two-time PING All-Southeast Region honoree, he advanced to match play at the 2024 U.S. Amateur, was runner-up at the 2024 North & South Amateur, won the 2023 Sunnehanna Amateur, and finished T10 in his PGA TOUR debut at the 2024 Puerto Rico Open, carding the tournament’s lowest round score of 8-under 64 in the final round.
At 14 years old in 2018, Van Paris became the youngest player since Bobby Jones in 1916 to win a match at the U.S. Amateur.
Graduating next month with a degree in Human & Organizational Development and a 3.79 GPA, Van Paris has been named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll twice and as a 2023-24 GCAA All-America Scholar.
He served on Vanderbilt’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) last year, buying and wrapping Christmas presents for kids from local elementary schools, serving food at a local homeless shelter, and attending a middle school acting play to support Hank, a friend of the men’s golf team. He volunteered at Jones Paideia Elementary Magnet School in Nashville during his sophomore and junior years.
Van Paris started organizing and hosting the Carolina Cup in 2017, raising more than $275,000 through the AJGA’s Leadership Links program. He was named a 2020 Player Representative on the AJGA Board of Directors.
About the Byron Nelson Award
The purpose of the Byron Nelson Award is to select annually the outstanding Division I, II, III, or NAIA scholar-athlete of the year. The recipient, a graduating senior, is recognized for their achievement in the classroom, on the course, and in their community. Past winners include Christo Lamprecht (Georgia Tech), David Nyfjäll (Northwestern), William Knauth (Carnegie Mellon), McClure Meissner (SMU), John Murphy (Louisville), Ryan Lumsden (Northwestern), Matthew Perrine (Baylor), Maverick McNealy (Stanford), Stephen Behr (Clemson), Anders Albertson (Georgia Tech), Brandon Hagy (Cal), Brinson Paolini (Duke), Dylan Frittelli (Texas), Cyril Bouniol (Abilene Christian), Brendan Gielow (Wake Forest), James White (Georgia Tech), Mike Van Sickle (Marquette), Nathaniel James (Washington & Lee), Sam Korbe (Tulsa), Roberto Castro (Georgia Tech), Zack Robinson (Oklahoma State), Michael Putnam (Pepperdine), Billy Hurley (Navy), Troy Matteson (Georgia Tech), and Jason Allred (Pepperdine).