John Oda

John Oda grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, and just finished his third year with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He was the Hawaii High School Athletic Association individual state champion in 2012 and 2014. He took home the title as Hawaii State Amateur Champion in 2012 and 2013, setting the tournament record in 2013 at 19 under par. Better known by his nickname, Joda, he earned PING First Team All-America in 2017, after being named honorable mention All-America in his freshman and sophomore seasons. He is the first Rebel to earn a first-team honor since 2005. Oda was also this year?s Mountain West Golfer of the Year. He led the No. 15 Rebels to a quarterfinal finish at the NCAA Championship, where he was UNLV?s top individual stroke-play finisher, T-8th, and was one of 16 golfers invited to the USA Walker Cup informal practice session last December at The Los Angeles Country Club. This year has been filled with firsts: He hit his first hole-in-one on Jan. 9 at the Sony Open Monday Qualifier on seventh hole at Hoakalei Country Club and his first Albatross at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas last month. The 21-year-old has been a top-50 player his entire college career, but this year he became the No. 16 college player in the nation thanks to a breakout two-win fall season. He has played in the 2012 U.S. Junior Amateur, 2013 and 2014 U.S. Amateur Public Links, and the 2015 and 2016 U.S. Amateur. He is majoring in economics and works diligently off the golf course, making the dean?s honor list twice. He sticks to the native Hawaiian culture he was raised in and enjoys listening to music in addition to playing the ukulele and video games.