Six of our favorites to become semi-finalists on April 13
FORT WORTH, Texas (Feb. 10, 2016)– Twenty-five
collegiate golfers have been named to the 2016 Ben
Hogan Award watch list, according to a joint
announcement made by Colonial Country Club, the
Friends of Golf (FOG) and the
Golf Coaches Association of
America (GCAA).
The most prestigious award in men’s
college golf, The Ben Hogan Award presented by
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc.
(Konica Minolta) is issued annually to the top
men’s NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or
NJCAA college golfer taking into account all
collegiate and amateur competitions during the past
12-month period. The Ben Hogan Award selection
committee, which votes during each stage of the
process, is comprised of leaders in professional,
amateur and collegiate golf.
Watch List Candidates
Name – School, Year,
Hometown (click on the player's name for
full profile with accomplishments)
Dawson
Armstrong – Lipscomb, So., Brentwood, Tenn.
Derek Bard –
Virginia, Jr., New Hartford, N.Y.
Sean Crocker –
Southern California, So., Westlake Village, Calif.
Charlie
Danielson – Illinois, Sr., Osceola, Wis.
Thomas Detry
– Illinois, Sr., Brussels, Belgium
Jonathan
Garrick – UCLA, Sr., Atherton, Calif.
Nick Hardy –
Illinois, So., Northbrook, Ill.
Rico Hoey –
Southern California, Jr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Sam Horsfield
– Florida, Fr., Davenport, Fla.
Beau
Hossler – Texas, Jr., Mission Viejo, Calif.
Michael
Johnson – Auburn, Sr., Birmingham, Ala.
Hank Lebioda
– Florida State, Sr., Winter Springs, Fla.
Lee McCoy –
Georgia, Sr., Clarkesville, Ga.
Maverick
McNealy – Stanford, Jr., Portola Valley, Calif.
Matthew
NeSmith – South Carolina, Sr., North Augusta,
S.C.
Jordan
Niebrugge – Oklahoma State, Sr., Mequon, Wis.
Corey Pereira
– Washington, Jr., Cameron Park, Calif.
Jon Rahm –
Arizona State, Sr., Barrika, Spain
Antoine
Rozner – UMKC, Sr., Paris, France
Matthias
Schwab – Vanderbilt, Jr., Rohrmoos, Austria
Robby
Shelton – Alabama, Jr., Wilmer, Ala.
Aaron Wise –
Oregon, So., Lake Elsinore, Calif.
Adam Wood –
Duke, So., Zionsville, Ind.
Cameron
Young – Wake Forest, Fr., Scarborough, N.Y.
Will Zalatoris
– Wake Forest, So., Plano, Texas
The list of 10 semifinalists, which could include
individuals not on the watch list, will be unveiled on
Wednesday, April 13. On Tuesday, May 3, that group
will be pared down to three finalists. The finalists
will attend a black-tie banquet at Colonial Country
Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday, May 23, prior
to the start of the PGA TOUR’s Colonial
National Invitation Tournament, where the winner
will be crowned.
Rahm, the 2015 Ben Hogan Award winner, is
trying to become the first player ever to win the
award twice. Other top returnees to the list include
McNealy, who was a finalist for the award last year,
and a trio of semifinalists in Hossler, McCoy and
Shelton. Nine of the golfers–Danielson, Detry, Hoey,
Hossler, McCoy, McNealy, Rahm, Shelton and
Zalatoris–appear on the watch list for the second
straight season.
The award, which was first issued in 1990 and
also included academic achievement in its original
list of standards, revised its criteria for the 2001-02
collegiate season to its current standard of honoring
the outstanding amateur collegiate golfer at
Colonial Country Club.
Since that time, the winners have been: D.J.
Trahan (Clemson, 2002), Ricky Barnes (Arizona,
2003), Hunter Mahan (Oklahoma State, 2003), Bill
Haas (Wake Forest, 2004), Ryan Moore (UNLV,
2005), Matt Every (Florida, 2006), Chris Kirk
(Georgia, 2007), Rickie Fowler (Oklahoma State,
2008), Kyle Stanley (Clemson, 2009), Nick Taylor
(Washington, 2010), Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State,
2011), Patrick Cantlay (UCLA, 2012), Chris Williams
(Washington, 2013), Patrick Rodgers (Stanford,
2014) and Rahm (Arizona State, 2015).
To find the latest information on The Ben Hogan
Award, its candidates and its previous winners,
visit TheBenHoganAward.org and
follow @BenHoganAward on Twitter.
WATCH LIST FACTS
• The Ben Hogan Award watch list includes 10
seniors, seven juniors, six sophomores and two
freshmen.
• The list includes each of the top five players in
the latest Golfweek/Sagarin individual [collegiate]
rankings and 16 are currently ranked among the
top 20. It also contains each of the top four players
and 15 of the top 20 golfers in the Golfstat
[collegiate] rankings.
• The list contains eight of the top 10 golfers and
in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World
Rankings and the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
It also boasts seven of the top 10 golfers and in the
Scratch Players World
Amateur Ranking.
• A total of 21 universities are represented on
the watch list. Three schools — Illinois (3),
Southern California (2) and Wake Forest (2)—have
multiple honorees. It is the second straight year that
Illinois has led the nation with three members.
• This is the 11th consecutive year that Stanford
has had a player named to the watch list, the
longest active streak by any school. The next
longest active streaks are owned by Alabama (9) and
Illinois (7).
• The Pac-12, which has produced each of the
past four The Ben Hogan Award winners, leads the
way among conferences with seven watch list
members. Other leagues with multiple honorees
include: SEC (6), ACC (5) Big Ten (3) and Big 12
(2).
• Three schools have a member on the watch
list for the first time ever (Lipscomb, South Carolina
and UMKC).
• Fifteen of the 25 golfers are appearing on the
watch list for the first time. Those previously
named are: Charlie Danielson (2015), Thomas
Detry (2014, 2015), Rico Hoey (2015), Beau Hossler
(2015), Lee McCoy (2015), Maverick McNealy
(2015), Jordan Niebrugge (2014), Jon Rahm (2015),
Robby Shelton (2014, 2015) and Will Zalatoris
(2015).
• Jon Rahm won the 2015 Ben Hogan Award. The
last player to reach the finalist round after
previously winning the award was Oklahoma
State’s Rickie Fowler (2008 winner, 2009
finalist).
• Wake Forest has a freshman on the watch list
for the second straight year (Will Zalatoris, 2015).
Only three freshmen have been named over the
past two years–Zalatoris last year and Wake
Forest’s Cameron Young and
Florida’s Sam Horsfield in 2016.
- courtesy Golf Coaches Association of America