Courtesy of Howard Athletics
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — APGA Tour officials today announced the latest APGA Collegiate Ranking for the 2022-2023 season with Howard University’s Gregory Odom continuing to hold the top spot.
Since November, Odom has held the top spot, which earned him an exemption to play as an amateur in the 2023 APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational at Torrey Pines in January where he finished third in difficult weather conditions.
Michigan State’s Troy Taylor III maintained the second position in the latest rankings while Joel Basakaine from Livingstone College currently sits in third place.
Odom’s Howard University teammate Everett Whiten Jr., who was in third place in the previous published ranking, has been removed from the list as he plans to return for another year of collegiate golf.
The class of 2023 ranking includes Golfstat-ranked college tournaments played in Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022 and Spring 2023. The APGA Collegiate Ranking will be finalized following the conclusion of the NCAA D1 Regionals (May 15-17, 2023).
The top five players in the final 2022-23 APGA Collegiate Ranking will receive:
- 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
- Membership to the APGA Tour through May of 2024
Additional opportunities for 2022-2023 APGA Collegiate Ranking qualifiers include:
- An exemption into the APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational for the player holding the top spot in the rankings as of November 18 (Odom)
- The top-ranked player in the final, end-of-season rankings will receive a sponsor exemption into the 2023 UNC Health Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour
Rankings as of April 12, 2023:
| Current Player | University | Rounds Adj. | Average (in relation to par) |
| 1. Gregory Odom | Howard | 55 | 0.83 |
| 2. Troy Taylor III | Michigan State | 64 | 1.05 |
| 3. Joel Basakaine | Livingstone | 33 | 3.87 |
| 4. Gary Bullard | Army | 27 | 5.52 |
| 5. Troy Stribling | Florida A&M | 38 | 6.62 |
| 6. Jason Johnson | Alabama A&M | 20 | 6.88 |
| 7. Thabang Moephuli | Maryland Eastern Shore | 44.5 | 7.11 |
| 8. Edrine Okong | Howard | 35 | 7.81 |
| 9. Adric Kimbrough | Alabama A&M | 12 | 14.42 |
| 10. Cameron Speights | Johnson C. Smith | 26 | 16.15 |
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.
Additionally, in March the PGA TOUR formally announced its Pathway to Progression player development program, a comprehensive effort to achieve greater diversity in golf through an increased focus on developing talent from diverse and historically underrepresented groups. Pathway to Progression, in alignment with the APGA Tour partnership and the Collegiate Ranking program, will provide a path for talented junior and collegiate golfers from diverse backgrounds to continue their development in professional golf.