SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (May 11, 2026) – Western New England men's golf sophomore Derek Johnson has received honors from the Golf Coaches Association of America, being named to the 2026 NCAA Division III PING All-Region Team, the first Golden Bear since 2019 to be named to an all-region team. 

A dominant presence on the course, Johnson won seven tournaments during the 2025-26 academic year, including the Conference of New England Championships, collecting individual medalist honors in October 2025. Johnson shot a 68 on both days of the tournament (-4) to run away with the victory. The total score of 136 is a Western New England men's golf program record over 36 holes, breaking a seven-year-old record, previously held by John Abbott, also coming at the conference championships. 

Johnson owns the four lowest scores in an 18-hole event for Western New England men's golf, including last year's score of 66 (-4) at the Rich Korzec Memorial Invitational. Johnson shot a 67 this season at the Skidmore Invitational (-5), and shot back-to-back 68's at the aforementioned Conference of New England Championships this past season. 

Johnson has been ranked as high as No. 1 regionally and 20^th nationally this season. The Mountain Top, Pennsylvania, native averaged 72.1 strokes in 2025-26, down 2.3 strokes from his 74.4 mark last season. Johnson averaged 74.0 strokes for the five combined events this spring, while averaging 71.1 strokes over 11 rounds played this past fall. 

Johnson becomes just the third member of the Western New England men's golf team to earn PING All-Region honors, joining Ryan Zogby (2019) and John Abbott (2018) to be recognized. As a team, the Golden Bears rank 14^th overall in the region and ranked 160^th nationally, while individually, Johnson ranks second regionally and 84^th nationally. Led by Johnson, the Golden Bears won three events this spring and took third overall at the CNE Championships in the fall, the team's best finish since taking a second-place finish in 2018.