Oliver Schniederjans
FORT WORTH, Texas (Feb. 5, 2014) – Colonial
Country Club, The Friends of Golf (FOG) and
the Golf
Coaches Association of America are pleased to
announce the list of 30 collegiate golfers
named to
the 2014 The Ben Hogan Award Watch List.
The list is the largest since 33 players were
named in
2004.
The most prestigious award in men’s college
golf, The Ben Hogan Award is presented
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.
The 2014 The Ben Hogan Award Watch List, as
determined by the award’s subcommittee, is
detailed below.
Eight of the golfers have previously been
named to the Watch List: Brun, Conners,
Hagy, Pan,
Rodgers, Weaver, Whitsett and Wyatt. Brun
(2013) and Rodgers (2012) have been finalists
for the
award.
A list of 10 semifinalists, which could include
individuals not on the current list, will be
unveiled on
Wednesday, April 16. On Wednesday, May 7,
that group will be pared down to three
finalists. The
winner will be crowned at a black-tie banquet
at Colonial Country Club on Sunday, May 18,
prior to
the start of the PGA TOUR’s Crowne Plaza
Invitational at Colonial.
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.
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) and Chris
Williams (Washington, 2013).
To find the latest information on The Ben
Hogan Award, its candidates and its previous
winners,
visit TheBenHoganAward.org and follow
@BenHoganAward on Twitter.
About the Candidates
With 30 players included, the Watch List is the
second biggest list since it began in 2002,
behind
only the 33 players named in 2004.
The Ben Hogan Award Watch List includes 15
seniors, nine juniors, five sophomores and one
freshman.
The list features 6 of the top 10 golfers and 17
of the top 25 players in the World Amateur Golf
Ranking. It also boasts 8 of the top 10 golfers
and 17 of the top 25 players in the Scratch
Players
World Amateur Ranking.
On the college side, the list includes 8 of the
top 10 players in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin
individual rankings and 19 of the top 25. It also
contains eight of the top 10 players and 16 of
the
top 25 golfers in the Golfstat rankings.
A total of 21 universities are represented on
the Watch List. Six schools—Alabama (4),
California
(3), Georgia Tech (2), Kent State (2),
Oklahoma State (2) and Stanford (2)—have
multiple
nominees.
The four members of the Alabama Crimson Tide
match the most ever on the Watch List by one
school, tying Oklahoma State (2010) and
California (2013).
This is the ninth 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 Alabama (7) and
Illinois
(5).
Nearly half (13 of the 30) of the Watch List is
comprised of athletes from the Southeastern
Conference (7) and Pac-12 Conference (6).
The other leagues with multiple student-
athletes on
the Watch List include: Big 12 (4), Atlantic
Coast (4), American (3) and Mid-American (2).
Five schools have a member on the Watch List
for the first time ever (Tennessee, UCF, USF,
Virginia and Western Carolina).
Twenty-two of the 30 golfers are appearing on
the Watch List for the first time.
Three golfers (Julien Brun, Cheng-Tsung Pan
and Patrick Rodgers) are on the Watch List for
the
third straight season.
Brun (2013) and Rodgers (2012) have
previously been finalists for the award. In
addition, Brun
(2012, 2013), Pan (2012, 2013), Rodgers
(2012, 2013) and Bobby Wyatt (2013) have
been
semifinalists in the past.
Twelve of the 30 players hail from foreign
countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada,
Denmark, England,
Finland, France, Malaysia, Taiwan and
Zimbabwe).
Bradley Shigezawa of Division III Claremont-
Mudd-Scripps is the lone non-Division I golfer
on the
list.
Watch List Candidates
Name – School, Year, Hometown
Anders Albertson – Georgia Tech, Jr.,
Woodstock, Ga.
Julien Brun – TCU, Jr., Antibes, France
Sebastian Cappelen – Arkansas, Sr., Odense,
Denmark
Corey Conners – Kent State, Sr., Listowel,
Ontario, Canada
Ian Davis – Oklahoma State, Sr., Edmond,
Okla.
Bryson Dechambeau – SMU, So., Clovis, Calif.
Thomas Detry – Illinois, So., Brussels,
Belgium
Greg Eason – UCF, Sr., Leicester City,
England
Joey Garber – Georgia, Sr., Petoskey, Mich.
Oliver Goss – Tennessee, So., Perth,
Australia
Gavin Green – New Mexico, Jr., Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Brandon Hagy – California, Sr., Westlake
Village, Calif.
Toni Hakula – Texas, Sr., Espoo, Finland
Chase Koepka – USF, So., West Palm Beach,
Fla.
Denny McCarthy – Virginia, Jr., Rockville, Md.
Trey Mullinax – Alabama, Sr., Birmingham, Ala.
Jordan Niebrugge – Oklahoma State, So.,
Mequon, Wis.
Cheng-Tsung Pan – Washington, Jr., Miaoli
County, Taiwan
Taylor Pendrith – Kent State, Sr., Richmond
Hill, Ontario, Canada
J.T. Poston – Western Carolina, Jr., Hickory,
N.C.
Patrick Rodgers – Stanford, Jr., Avon, Ind.
Ollie Schniederjans – Georgia Tech, Jr., Powder
Springs, Ga.
Robby Shelton – Alabama, Fr., Wilmer, Ala.
Bradley Shigezawa – Claremont-Mudd-Scripps,
Sr., Honolulu, Hawaii
Joel Stalter – California, Sr., Amneville,
France
Scott Vincent – Virginia Tech, Jr., Harare,
Zimbabwe
Michael Weaver – California, Sr., Fresno, Calif.
Cory Whitsett – Alabama, Sr., Houston,
Texas
Cameron Wilson – Stanford, Sr., Rowayton,
Conn.
Bobby Wyatt – Alabama, Sr., Mobile, Ala.