Add another honor to the list.

Marquette University senior Mike Van Sickle has been named one of five finalists for the 2009 Byron Nelson Award presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon.

Van Sickle joins Peter Malnati of Missouri, South Dakota State's Trent Peterson, Cameron Tringale of Georgia Tech and Matthew Van Zandt of Texas A&M as finalists for the prestigious honor, announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Candidates for the Nelson Award must be graduating seniors, and the selection committee considers equally a nominee's entire collegiate academic and golf career, in addition to his character and integrity. Consideration also is given to a nominee's good citizenship, as portrayed by legendary golfer Byron Nelson, after whom the award is named.

Van Sickle and Oklahoma State freshman Morgan Hoffman also have been named co-National Amateurs of the Month for April, it was announced Wednesday by the Southern Golf Association.

For only the second time in the six-year history of the award, the voting panel – which consists of golf coaches, officials and journalists – was deadlocked on the two players and thus chose to honor both. The 107-year-old Southern Golf Association promotes amateur golf in a variety of ways, including the staging of the annual Southern Amateur Championship.

Van Sickle is Marquette's all-time leader in career scoring average (71.65), tournament victories (11) and career rounds of par-or-better (85) while posting 24 top-five finishes in his career as a Golden Eagle. This year's Big East Conference Player of the Year, Van Sickle currently leads NCAA Division I in wins (5), scoring average (69.67) and birdies (160), among other statistical categories.

A three-time Big East Academic All-Star, Van Sickle carries a 3.3 grade point average and will graduate later this month with a degree in broadcast communications. Van Sickle was named a Cleveland Golf all-America Scholar by the GCAA in 2008 and was one of only 11 recipients also ranked among the top 50 golfers in the nation, according to the final Golfweek/Sagarin ratings.

Van Sickle also accepted an invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at 7:05 p.m. on Friday at Miller Park, where the Milwaukee Brewers will host the Chicago Cubs.