ORLANDO – UCF men's golf head Bryce Wallor announced on Monday that Garret Ebbert, Marc Keller and Hans Risvaer have each signed a National Letter of Intent (NLI) to compete for the Knights starting with the 2023-24 athletics season.
"The 2023 recruiting class will be an extremely important factor in the future success of our conference shift into the Big 12 and it will set the foundation on which we will continue to build on in future seasons," said Wallor. "We're very excited to announce the signing of Garret, Hans and Marc to the UCF family."
Marc Keller
Hometown: Wollerau, Switzerland
High School: ISBerne
- 2022 World Amateur Golf Ranking: 688
- 2022 European U18 Ranking: 34
- 2022 Won the Swiss International Amateur Championship
- 2022 Won the Swiss Golf Central Championship with scores of 70-72-70
- 2022 Won the Basel Championship with scores of 73-71-68
- 2022 Won the Swiss Golf International Championship with scores of 68-70-68-68
- 2022 2nd Swiss National U18 Golf Championship with scores of 69-70-67-72
- 2022 Earned a place in the DP World Tour (European Tour) Omega European Maters shooting scores of 68-70
- 2022 Earned a place in the European Challenge Tour's Swiss Challenge shooting scores of 75-75
- 2022 Finished 10th in the European Boys Team Championship with scores of 73-66
- 2022 Finished 15th English Boys Amateur (Carris Trophy) shooting scores of 73-67-70-75
"Marc was our first player that we set our sights on in this process dating back to the fall of 2021," said Wallor. "He's an athletically gifted player who possess great physical strength. It takes no more than watching Marc for just a swing or two to see how explosive he is off the tee, but that he also possesses the necessary shot-making capabilities to be successful in college golf. Not only has Marc won at the highest level of amateur golf, by winning the 2022 Swiss International Championship, but he has also earned the right to play on both the European Tour (DP World Tour) and the European Challenge Tour in the 2022 season. We're so excited to have Marc and his family be a part of our program for the next four years."
Hans Risvaer
Hometown: Miami, Florida
High School: Christopher Columbus High School
- 2022 JGSB Class Ranking: 61
- 2022 AJGA Ranking: 48
- 2022 World Amateur Golf Ranking: 1318
- Won the 2022 AJGA Junior Championship at Deerwood with scores of 69-67-70
- Won the 2022 FJT Black Diamond (16-18) *54 Hole Major* with scores of 68-68-73
- Won the 2022 FJT Santa Lucia (13-18) *Exempt Only* with scores of 73-75
- 2nd in the 2022 FJT Eagle Creek Open (16-18) with scores of 69-75
- 2nd in the 2022 FJT Osprey Point Open (16-18) with scores of 72-70
- 4th in the AJGA Sung Hyun Park Junior Championship with scores of 73-71-74
- 12th in the 2022 AJGA Arnold Palmer Invitational Junior with scores of 74-72-77
- 14th in the AJGA Wyndham Invitational presented by Truist, with scores of 70-74-71-70
"Hans is a player that we watched on numerous occasions and the thing that stood out the most about his game was his putting. Week in and week out, Hans has a great touch and speed on the greens, and it translates into consistency in his scoring. I was also very impressed with Hans's ability to score on courses like Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass, these are challenging venues even for the touring professionals. Then when you add that to how often he won in 2022, as well as the number of times he was in contention on the weeks that he did not win, he has a very bright future at UCF. We look forward to a great four years getting to know Hans and his family more."
Garret Ebbert
Hometown: Lake Mary, Florida
High School: Lake Mary High School
- 2022 JGSB Class Ranking: 101
- 2022 AJGA Ranking: 60
- 2022 World Amateur Golf Ranking: 3011
- Won the 2022 AJGA - SPOT X Hotel Junior Championship with scores of 68-73-68
- Won the 2021 HJGT Eagle Creek Holiday Open with scores of 71-67
- 2nd in the 2022 Boys Junior NFPGA Championship with scores of 67-70
- 4th in the 2022 AJGA Sergio and Angela Garcia Foundation Junior Championship with scores of 79-71-71
- 4th in the 2022 FJT LPGA Open (16-18) with scores of 73-73
- 8th in the Orlando International Amateur for Juniors with scores of 74-68-74
- 21st at the AJGA Arnold Palmer Invitational Junior with scores of 77-71-78
- 28th at the AJGA Sam Burns Classic at The Landings Club with scores of 76-81-75
"Garret is a standout local player and he was the first player to commit to UCF for the 2023 recruiting class. We were very excited to get to know the Ebbert family early in the recruiting process. Garret jumped on our radar playing in local junior amateur golf tournaments and had his fist statement win at the 2022 AJGA - SPOT X Hotel Junior Championship soon after verbally committing to UCF. We feel that this AJGA victory is just the beginning of Garret's success on the golf course."
UCF men's golf has turned in a strong fall season, highlighted by winning the Hartford Hawks Invitational and finishing among the top-five at the Carolina Cup. The Knights have concluded their fall slate, but will return to action at the John Hayt Collegiate in February 2023.
"We feel that the addition of these three-standout student-athletes add both local flavor and a national presence to our program. All three young men have won several junior golf tournaments in the 2022 season, they have competed on the national junior level and these experiences will go a long way to help them prepare to compete in college golf."