Hovland, Wolff in running for 2019 Ben Hogan Award
FORT WORTH, Texas – Oklahoma State’s Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff were named among the 10 semifinalists for the 2019 Ben Hogan Award it was announced today by the Hogan Trophy Award Foundation, Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).
The Ben Hogan Award is issued annually in May 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 award’s selection committee, which votes during each stage of the process, is made up of 30 leaders and experts in professional, amateur and collegiate golf.
In addition to Wolff and Hovland, senior Will Gordon of Vanderbilt, Texas freshman Cole Hammer, California senior Collin Morikawa, senior Bryson Nimmer of Clemson, Duke senior Alex Smalley, senior Justin Suh of Southern California, senior Brandon Wu of Stanford and Arizona State junior Chun An Yu were named semifinalists.
A semifinalist a year ago, Hovland is currently the top-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The 2018 U.S. Amateur champion has three collegiate wins to his credit during his junior campaign, made the cut at the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and most recently earned Low Amateur status at The Masters.
Wolff currently checks in at No. 3 in the WAGR. He has won five times as a sophomore and made the cut earlier this spring at the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open.
On Thursday, May 2, the group of semifinalists will be pared down to three finalists. The three finalists will then travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to attend a black-tie banquet where the winner will be crowned at Colonial Country Club on Monday, May 20, prior to the start of the PGA TOUR’s Charles Schwab Challenge. The winner of the 2019 Ben Hogan Award will receive an exemption into the 2020 Charles Schwab Challenge.
For more information on the Ben Hogan Award, visit TheBenHoganAward.org and follow @BenHoganAward on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Semifinalist Notes
• Oklahoma State teammates Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff are semifinalists, meaning for the third straight year, one school has multiple semifinalists. It is the second straight year that the Cowboys have accomplished the feat. They are the 18th teammates to be semifinalists since 2002.
• Five universities with semifinalists are home to Ben Hogan Award winners since 2002. Those schools are: Arizona State (Jon Rahm), Clemson (D.J. Trahan and Kyle Stanley), Oklahoma State (Hunter Mahan, Rickie Fowler and Peter Uihlein), Stanford (Patrick Rodgers and Maverick McNealy) and Texas (Doug Ghim). The five universities have combined to collect 10 winners over that time.
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