Luke Clanton (Florida State Athletics Photo)

The top three players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking are the finalists for the 2025 Ben Hogan Award presented by Baird. In alphabetical order, Florida State’s Luke Clanton, North Carolina’s David Ford and Auburn’s Jackson Koivun were honored by the Ben Hogan Award Selection Committee and will attend a black-tie dinner Monday, May 19, at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, where the winner will be crowned.

The Ben Hogan Award annually awards the top men’s NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or NJCAA college golfer based on all collegiate, amateur and professional events over the previous 12 months. The joint announcement was made by the Hogan Trophy Award Foundation, the Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).

Clanton, a 2024 and 2025 Ben Hogan Award semifinalist, is a finalist for the first time. He looks to join John Pak (2021) as award winners from Florida State. Clanton is currently first in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), No. 103 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and fifth in the Scoreboard Powered by Clippd College Rankings. Clanton is the second golfer ever to earn his PGA TOUR card through PGA TOUR University’s Accelerated Program.

The junior had two runner-up finishes at PGA TOUR events in 2024, the John Deere Classic and The RSM Classic. In addition, he took fifth at the Wyndham Championship, tied for 10th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and made 10 PGA TOUR cuts in 13 starts in 2024-25. Clanton tied for 41st place at the 2024 U.S. Open and reached the round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur.

The product of Hialeah, Fla., has three college wins to his credit this season, claiming the individual titles at the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial, Seminole Intercollegiate and the Watersound Invitational. He also shared runner-up honors at the 2024 NCAA Championships.

Ford, a three-time semifinalist, is also a first-time finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. Former Tar Heel Mark Wilson won FOG’s Ben Hogan Trophy in 1996, but Ford becomes the first North Carolina player ever honored at Colonial.

He is the nation’s No. 1 player in the Scoreboard Powered by Clippd College Rankings and is third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. In addition, the senior sits atop the PGA TOUR University Ranking, 126 points clear of the No. 2 position.

In 2024-25, the native of Peachtree Corners, Ga., has set a school record with five college victories, including three straight this spring. Ford won the prestigious Ben Hogan Collegiate Invitational at Colonial by three shots in the fall. He also has victories at The Williams Cup, Valspar Intercollegiate Invitational, Augusta Haskins Award Invitational and the Tar Heel Intercollegiate. In all, he owns a 68.70 stroke average with nine top-10 finishes in 11 events.

Highlighting his amateur play, Ford reached the round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur and was a member of the victorious United States team at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup.
Koivun, the 2024 Ben Hogan Award recipient, is looking to become the third player even to win the award twice, joining Jon Rahm (2015-16) and Ludvig Aberg (2022-23).

The sophomore ranks second in both the World Amateur Golf Ranking and the Scoreboard Powered by Clippd College Rankings. He has earned 19 points in PGA TOUR Accelerated and is one point shy of becoming the third golfer ever to earn his tour card through the program.

Koivun repeated as the SEC’s individual champion in April, the first golfer to achieve that feat in 50 years, and shared runner-up honors at the 2024 NCAA Championships. He also claimed first place at the Inverness Intercollegiate in the fall. He carries a 68.90 scoring average with eight top-10 finishes in 11 tournaments.

The native of Chapel Hill, N.C., has made the cut at three of his four PGA TOUR events over the past year. Koivun advanced to the round of 16 at the 2024 Western Amateur, played on the winning 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup squad and has been selected as a team member again in 2025.

The Ben Hogan Award has honored the outstanding amateur collegiate golfer at Colonial Country Club since 2002. Prior to its move to Fort Worth, the original Ben Hogan Trophy was issued at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif., beginning in 1990. An esteemed international selection committee, comprised of 30 leaders in collegiate, amateur and professional golf, votes during each stage of the process.

Over the years, recipients of the Ben Hogan Award have combined to accumulate 70 PGA TOUR wins and amass more than $465 million in prize money on the tour. Since 2002, the Hogan Trophy Award Foundation has donated more than $1.2 million to charitable endeavors, providing scholarship grants to colleges as well as gifts to golf programs and organizations in need.

Past recipients are Ludvig Aberg (‘22, ‘23), Ricky Barnes (‘03), Patrick Cantlay (‘12), Matt Every (‘06), Rickie Fowler (‘08), Doug Ghim (‘18), Bill Haas (‘04), Viktor Hovland (‘19), Chris Kirk (‘07), Jackson Koivun (’24), Hunter Mahan (‘03), Maverick McNealy (‘17), Ryan Moore (‘05), John Pak (‘21), Jon Rahm (‘15, ‘16), Patrick Rodgers (‘14), Kyle Stanley (‘09), Nick Taylor (‘10), Sahith Theegala (‘20), D.J. Trahan (‘02), Peter Uihlein (‘11) and Chris Williams (‘13).