FORT WORTH, Texas (April 17, 2019) – The Hogan Trophy Award Foundation, Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) have announced the 10 semifinalists for the 2019 Ben Hogan Award presented by Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta). The semifinalist group is comprised of six seniors, two juniors, one sophomore and one freshman.
The 10 contenders, in alphabetical order, are: senior Will Gordon of Vanderbilt, Texas freshman Cole Hammer, junior Viktor Hovland of Oklahoma State, California senior Collin Morikawa, senior Bryson Nimmer of Clemson, Duke senior Alex Smalley, senior Justin Suh of Southern California, Oklahoma State sophomore Matthew Wolff, senior Brandon Wu of Stanford and Arizona State junior Chun An Yu.
Morikawa was a finalist in 2018 and a semifinalist in 2017, while Hovland and Suh were semifinalists a year ago. Four leagues are represented on this year’s list, led by the Pac-12 Conference with four semifinalists.
All 10 players are currently ranked among the top 25 in each of the four major ranking systems—Golfstat NCAA Player Ranking, Golfweek/Sagarin Collegiate Individual Ranking, Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking and World Amateur Golf Ranking.
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. Since 2002, the Hogan Trophy Award Foundation has awarded over $700,000 in scholarships to more than 30 universities.
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.
The Ben Hogan Trophy was first issued in 1990 at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles and also included academic achievement in its original list of standards. In 2002, the Ben Hogan Award moved to Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Hogan’s hometown and the site of five of his PGA TOUR victories. At that time, it revised its criteria to its current standard of honoring the outstanding amateur collegiate golfer. In 2005, the tradition of inviting the three finalists began.
Winners of the Ben Hogan Award include three golfers currently ranked in the top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings — No. 10 Rickie Fowler (2008), No. 11 Jon Rahm (2015, 2016) and No. 18 Patrick Cantlay (2012). Other recipients include: Ricky Barnes (2003), Matt Every (2006), Doug Ghim (2018), Bill Haas (2004), Chris Kirk (2007), Hunter Mahan (2003), Maverick McNealy (2017), Ryan Moore (2005), Patrick Rodgers (2014), Kyle Stanley (2009), Nick Taylor (2010), D.J. Trahan (2002), Peter Uihlein (2011) and Chris Williams (2013).
Some notable semifinalists over the years include: Jonas Blixt (Florida State), Bud Cauley (Alabama), Kevin Chappell (UCLA), Bryson DeChambeau (SMU), Harris English (Georgia), Brian Harman (Georgia), Russell Henley (Georgia), Beau Hossler (Texas), Dustin Johnson (Coastal Carolina), Michael Kim (California), Cheng-Tsung Pan (Washington), Patrick Reed (Augusta State), Ollie Schneiderjans (Georgia Tech), Webb Simpson (Wake Forest), Jordan Spieth (Texas), Justin Thomas (Alabama), Michael Thompson (Alabama), Camilo Villegas (Florida), Nick Watney (Fresno State) and Aaron Wise (Oregon).
For more information on the Ben Hogan Award, visit TheBenHoganAward.org and follow @BenHoganAward on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
2019 Ben Hogan Award Semifinalists
Will Gordon, Vanderbilt, Sr., Davidson, N.C.
Cole Hammer, Texas, Fr., Houston, Texas
Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State, Jr., Oslo, Norway
Collin Morikawa, California, Sr., La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.
Bryson Nimmer, Clemson, Sr., Bluffton, S.C.
Alex Smalley, Duke, Sr., Wake Forest, N.C.
Justin Suh, Southern California, Sr., San Jose, Calif.
Matthew Wolff, Oklahoma State, So., Agoura Hills, Calif.
Brandon Wu, Stanford, Sr., Scarsdale, N.Y.
Chun An Yu, Arizona State, Jr., Taoyuan, Taiwan
Semifinalist Notes
• The Ben Hogan Award semifinalist list is comprised of six seniors, two juniors, one sophomore and one freshman.
• All 10 semifinalists are inside the top 25 in all four major ranking systems (Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking, World Amateur Golf Ranking, Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings and Golfstat Head-to-Head Rankings).
• Collin Morikawa was a finalist in 2018 and a semifinalist in 2017.
• Viktor Hovland and Justin Suh are on the semifinalist list for the second straight year.
• Cole Hammer is the first freshman semifinalist since Florida’s Sam Horsfield in 2016. Other freshmen semifinalists since 2012 include: Julien Brun (2012), Cheng-Tsung Pan (2012), Patrick Rodgers (2012), Jordan Spieth (2012), Brandon Stone (2013) and Justin Thomas (2012).
• Four leagues are represented on the list, led by the Pac-12 Conference with four. The Big 12 Conference (3), Atlantic Coast Conference (2) and Southeastern Conference (1) are the other leagues.
• 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.
• The longest active semifinalist streak is a three-way tie between California (3), Southern California (3) and Vanderbilt (3). Stanford boasts a semifinalist for the ninth time in the past 10 years.
• 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.
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is reshaping and revolutionizing the Workplace of the Future™ with its expansive smart office product portfolio from IT Services (All Covered), ECM, Managed Print Services and industrial and commercial print solutions. Konica Minolta has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for 12 consecutive years, and is proud to be ranked on the Forbes 2017 America’s Best Employers list. The World Technology Awards recently named the company a finalist in the IT Software category. Konica Minolta, Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for six consecutive years. It partners with its clients to give shape to ideas and work to bring value to our society. For more information, please visit: www.CountOnKonicaMinolta.com and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter.