Clockwise from top left: Daniel Berger,
Steven Fox, Brandon Hagy and Justin Thomas
are all players to watch from this elite list
The watch list for the 2013 Ben Hogan Award
was announced Wednesday and includes 27 of
the top collegiate golfers around the nation.
The award annually is presented to the top
NCAA men’s golfer at the Division I, II or III
level. The Hogan Award honors college and
amateur
success during a 12-month period.
This year's watch list consists of 10 seniors,
nine juniors, seven sophomores and one
freshman. Twenty universities are represented
on the
list. Four Cal players appear on the list, tying
the record for most nominees from one school.
Oklahoma State also had four players in 2010.
Washington, Alabama and Florida have multiple
nominees this year.
Ten players on this year's list attended the
Walker Cup practice session held in December.
Only one Division II player, Nova
Southeastern's
Ben Taylor, was nominated.
Take a closer look at the 27 golfers on the list:
Daniel Berger,
sophomore, Florida State
Berger won the 2012 Dixie Amateur by 13
shots. He was runner-up at the Olympia
Fields/Fighting Illini and added another top 20
this fall for
the Seminoles.
Julien Brun, sophomore,
TCU
Brun won the European Challenge Tour’s Allianz
Open, then followed with a win at the Carmel
Cup at Pebble Beach. The Frenchman
represented France at the World Amateur
Team Championship and was a 2012 Hogan
Award semifinalist.
Albin Choi, junior, N.C.
State
Choi, who represented Canada in the World
Amateur Team Championship and Copa de las
Americas, won two tournaments in the fall: the
Tar Heel Intercollegiate and the Warrior Wave
Princeville. He went on to add two more top
10s to his resume.
Corey Conners, junior,
Kent State
Racked up a second collegiate victory at the
Gopher Invitational in the fall after overcoming
an eight-shot deficit entering the final round.
Connors didn’t finish worse than T-15 in any
tournament for the Golden Flashes this fall. He
also represented Canada at the World Amateur
Team Championship and the Copa de las
Americas.
Scott Fernandez,
sophomore, Iowa State
Fernandez placed in the top 3 in all three
tournaments in which he competed. That
includes a pair of runner-up finishes, at the
Northern
Intercollegiate and VCU Shootout. His 71.67
scoring average is on pace to rank as one of
the best in school history.
Steven Fox, senior,
Chattanooga
The U.S. Amateur champion defeated Michael
Weaver in 37 holes at Cherry Hills Country
Club. Fox was the runner-up at the
AutoTrader.com Collegiate Classic and added
another top 10 at the Bridgestone Golf
Collegiate. H represented the U.S. at the World
Amateur Team Championship and the Copa de
las Americas.
Ben Geyer, senior, St.
Mary’s (Calif.)
Geyer won the St. Mary’s Invitational, and
didn’t finish outside the top 15 in four fall
starts. He made it to the championship match
at the
California Amateur.
Talor Gooch, junior,
Oklahoma State
Gooch posted top 10s in each of his two starts
in the fall, including a runner-up finish at the
U.S. Collegiate Championship. He won the
Oklahoma Stroke Play Championship and made
it to the Round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur.
Brandon Hagy, junior,
California
Hagy was a semifinalist at the U.S. Amateur
championship. He won the Alister MacKenzie
Invitational, Cal’s home tournament, after
shooting
a second-round 62. It was his first collegiate
title, and he added two more top 10s to his
resume in the fall.
Max Homa, senior,
California
Homa collected three top-10 finishes in the
spring, including a runner-up finish at the
Gopher Invitational. He was Cal’s top finisher
at the
2012 NCAA Championship and earned All-
American accolades for his junior season.
Michael Kim, sophomore,
California
Kim has finished in the top 10 in all six
tournaments this season. He has two victories,
at the Isleworth Invitational and at the Arizona
Intercollegiate. Kim was No. 2 in the
Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings at the end
of the fall season.
Jace Long, senior, Missouri
Long won three consecutive tournaments in
the fall: the Turning Stone Tiger
Intercollegiate, the Golfweek Conference
Challenge and the
Patriot Intercollegiate. Missouri also won the
team title at each of those events. Long then
proceeded to place in the top 10 in his next
three starts.
Tyler McCumber, senior,
Florida
McCumber finished in a tie for second
individually at last year’s NCAA Championship
and recorded three top-10 finishes this fall. He
tied for
second at The Invitational at the Ocean
Course.
Cheng-Tsung Pan,
sophomore, Washington
Golfweek's No. 1 player at the end of the fall
season. Pan finished in the top 3 in all four of
his fall tournaments, including a victory in the
Kikkor Golf Husky Invitational. He was a Ben
Hogan semifinalist in 2012.
Kevin Penner, senior,
UNLV
Penner won the 2012 Western Refining Classic.
He placed in the top 10 in all four events this
fall for the Rebels, including a runner-up finish
at the Ping/Golfweek Preview.
Thomas Pieters,
sophomore, Illinois
Pieters won the 2012 NCAA individual
championship and the Monroe Invitational. He
represented Belgium in the World Amateur
Team
Championship in Turkey. Pieters finished in the
top 10 in both of his fall starts with Illinois.
Patrick Rodgers,
sophomore, Stanford
A finalist for the 2012 Ben Hogan Award,
Rodgers won the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini
and the U.S. Collegiate Championship this
spring. He
represented the U.S. at the 2012 Palmer Cup.
Trevor Simsby, junior,
Washington
Simsby won the Pac-12 Preview with an 11-
under 205 total. He also was runner-up at the
Kikkor Golf Husky Invitational and placed fifth
at
the U.S. Collegiate Championship.
Brandon Stone,
freshman, Texas
Stone won the Carpet Capital Collegiate in his
first college start. His 70.89 scoring average
for the fall was tops for the Longhorns. Stone
was ranked No. 3 in the Golfweek/Sagarin
College Rankings at the end of the fall season.
Julian Suri, senior, Duke
Suri had three top-10 finishes for Duke in the
fall, and that included a victory at the Rod
Myers Invitational. The 2012 third team All-
American shot even par or better in seven of
his 12 rounds this fall.
Ben Taylor, junior, Nova Southeastern
Taylor won the Otter Invitational and the
McDonough Cup, and was runner-up at the
Brickyard Crossing Intercollegiate and the Guy
Harvey
Invitational. The Englishman was the 2012
Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year.
Justin Thomas,
sophomore, Alabama
The U.S. Amateur semifinalist was also a 2012
Ben Hogan Award semifinalist. Thomas
represented the U.S. at the World Amateur
Team
Championship. He won the Jerry Pate National
Intercollegiate and was runner-up at the
Isleworth Collegiate Invitational. He won the
2012
Haskins Award.
T.J. Vogel, senior,
Florida
Vogel won the 2012 U.S. Amateur Public Links
Championship, thus earning an invitation to the
2013 Masters. He finished in the top 10 in
every fall start for the Gators.
Michael Weaver, junior,
California
The 2012 U.S. Amateur runner-up finished in
the top 10 three times in five fall tournaments,
including a runner-up finish at the
Ping/Golfweek Preview. He redshirted last
season to get into Cal’s Haas School of
Business.
Pontus Widegren, senior,
UCLA
The Swedish native won the CSU San Marcos
Fall Classic as an individual. He represented
Sweden at the World Amateur Team
Championship in Turkey and is the No. 1-
ranked player for Team Europe in the Palmer
Cup Rankings, which were released in
December.
Chris Williams, senior,
Washington
The top-ranked amateur in the world won the
Western Amateur and was a quarterfinalist at
the U.S. Amateur last summer. He represented
the U.S. at the World Amateur Team
Championships and the Copa de las Americas.
He finished as the runner-up at the Kikkor Golf
Husky
Invitational and the Ping/Golfweek Preview this
fall for the Huskies. He was a 2012 Ben Hogan
Award semifinalist.
Bobby Wyatt, junior,
Alabama
Wyatt was the stroke-play medalist at the
2012 U.S. Amateur and made it to the Round
of 16 before losing to teammate Thomas.
Wyatt
won the 2012 Sunnehanna Amateur and
finished in the top 5 in two of four fall starts
for the Crimson Tide.