Bailey Bjornson will be playing golf in the warm weather of South Carolina this fall, joining Charleston Southern University for NCAA Division 1 competition.
In North Charleston, after helping SFU to four team tournament wins and six runner-up finishes in recent years, the Surrey resident will be with the Buccaneers as a grad transfer with a year of U-sports eligibility remaining.
A 2021 Pacific Academy grad in Fraser Heights, Bjornson helped lift SFU's golf program to a national level, leading the squad to a place in the NCAA Division II national tournament as 2023 GNAC champs (Great Northwest Athletic Conference).
"He has proven time and time again to be one of the best players in all of Division II golf while he was at Simon Fraser," said Ben Carroll, interim head coach at Charleston Southern. "He is an impressive young man with a fantastic mindset and drive to make Charleston Southern a national contender."
In 2022, Bjornson was recognized for his outstanding debut season of university golf, winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Freshman of the Year award.
At the college level he's s posted a pair of top-three finishes to go with nine top-10 finishes, according to stats posted on csusports.com, where news of Bjornson's move was posted Feb. 13. His career scoring average is ranked as the second lowest in SFU school history, 73.1. National honours have included NCAA Division II Ping All-Region Player.
Bjornson, 21, left SFU's team a year ago and has since entered tournaments solo. Younger brother Justin Bjornson continues to play for the university in Burnaby.
