STEPHENVILLE, Texas – For the second time in as many seasons, Tarleton State Men's Golf has had an individual earn a conference postseason honor.
 
The Western Athletic Conference announced Tuesday that Texan sophomore Max Bengtsson has been named to the All-WAC Second Team.
 
Bengtsson led the Texans this season in wins (one), top-10 finishes (tied at three), top-20 finishes (six), and scoring average (72.7). The sophomore earns the postseason honor after Texan senior Jack Anderson was named All-WAC Second Team a year ago.
 
"It's great to have players finish back to back years with All-Conference honors in just our first two years back," head coach Chance Cain said. "Max was a solid player for us all season. You could tell he worked his tail off over the summer to attack his weak area with wedges the year before. I know he'll do the same again over this summer break and I'm excited to watch his growth over his last two years as a Texan."
 
Bengtsson shined throughout the season, including a four-tournament stretch in which he was either the medalist or the runner-up three times. He took medalist honors at the Monterrey International Invitational on Oct. 27-28, shooting -15 overall (70-66-65), going -13 over his final two rounds in Mexico. In his final round between nine holes, Nos. 6-14, he turned in eight birdies to tie the lowest round in Texan Men's Golf history at 65 (-7). He became the second medalist in Tarleton's short revived history.
 
He added runner-up finishes in two of his next three tournaments, shooting -5 (72-67-69) for second at the Bentwater Intercollegiate Feb. 12-13, then turning in at -12 (67-70-67) at the Collin Montgomerie Invitational on March 4-5.
 
Bengtsson earned two in-season WAC awards, named the WAC Men's Golfer of the Month in October and the WAC Men's Golfer of the Week on Feb. 15.
 
Altogether, the Halmstad, Sweden, native, played in 10 of Tarleton's 11 tournaments. He was in the top-20 in six of those events, taking tied-18th at the Ram Masters Invitational Sept. 6-7, tied-18th at the North Texas Intercollegiate April 15-16, and tied-20th at The Big Texan March 25-26.
 
Player awards and the All-WAC teams were tabulated using a formula that included pre-championship Clippd national player rankings as the leading metric, with equal parts adjusted regular season player scoring average and the final individual leaderboard at the 2024 WAC Men's Golf Championship at Chaparral Pines in Payson, Arizona, also being factored in. Five players comprised the All-Conference First Team and five players made up the Second Team.
 
The full list of WAC awards can be found below.
 
2024 WAC Player of the Year
Nicky Kling, Grand Canyon
 
2024 WAC Freshman of the Year
Kevin Li, Seattle U
 
2024 WAC Coach of the Year
Mark Mueller, Grand Canyon
 
All-WAC First Team
Nicky Kling, Grand Canyon
Tommaso Zorzetto, Grand Canyon
Kevin Li, Seattle U
Javier Neira Garcia, UTRGV
Dane Huddleston, Utah Valley
 
All-WAC Second Team
Zane Heusel, Abilene Christian
Fred Tindale, California Baptist
Matthew Pennington, Grand Canyon
Max Bengtsson, Tarleton State
Daniel Cronje, UT Arlington