All three players among top six in all four major rankings systems
FORT WORTH, Texas (May 3, 2016) – Colonial Country Club, Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) have announced that Texas junior Beau Hossler, Stanford junior Maverick McNealy and Arizona State senior Jon Rahm are the 2016 finalists for The Ben Hogan Award presented by Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta).
All three finalists are currently ranked among the top six in all four major ranking systems–World Amateur Golf Ranking, Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking, Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking and Golfstat Individual Ranking. Rahm, who was the 2015 winner, and McNealy, a 2015 finalist, are being invited to Fort Worth for the second straight year.
The three student-athletes will attend a black-tie banquet at Colonial Country Club on Monday, May 23, prior to the start of the PGA TOUR’s Dean & DeLuca Invitational, where the winner will be crowned.
Hossler is ranked first by both Golfweek/Sagarin and Golfstat, and is third in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking. He leads the nation with five collegiate victories in 2015-16, which includes four spring tournament wins, and owns a 69.73 scoring average. For the year, the junior has top-10 finishes in nine of 10 tournaments for the Longhorns, including a runner-up showing at the Big 12 Championships.
Following a 10th-place finish at the 2015 NCAA Championships, the native of Mission Viejo, Calif., was a member of the United States’ 2015 Walker Cup team and also went 3-0-1 for victorious Team USA in last summer’s Palmer Cup. One of 16 amateurs to qualify for the 115th U.S. Open, Hossler made the cut and placed 58th.
Hossler also reached the match play round of 64 at the 2015 U.S. Amateur, tied for second at the Pacific Coast Amateur and tied for sixth at the Pan Am Games. In January, he won the 2016 Jones Cup Invitational by six shots.
McNealy is listed second in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking and Golfstat Ranking. The junior is second nationally with four tournament titles this season and has placed inside the top 10 in eight of his 10 tournaments for the Cardinal. In addition, McNealy boasts a 69.19 scoring average and broke the school’s 54-hole scoring record at the Western Intercollegiate (194).
The Portola Valley, Calif., product played on the 2015 United States Walker Cup team and the winning Palmer Cup squad. In addition, he advanced to the round of 16 at last summer’s U.S. Amateur. McNealy won the 2015 Northern California Golf Association Match Play Championship after finishing as the event’s stroke play medalist, and also tied for second at the 2015 Pacific Coast Amateur.
McNealy made the cut at two PGA TOUR events in 2015, the Greenbrier Classic and Barbasol Championship. He had his highest finish on the tour this season, when he shared 46th place at the 2016 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Rahm is the world’s top-ranked amateur according to the World Amateur Golf Ranking and is second in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking. He has secured top-10 placements in all 11 collegiate events for the Sun Devils this year, which includes three victories and four additional finishes inside the top five. The senior carries a 69.26 scoring average and won the Pac-12 Championships by four strokes with a 12-under total.
Last summer, Rahm won the Spanish Amateur individual title, advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Championship and tied for eighth at the European Amateur Team Championship. The native of Barrika, Spain, also competed for Team Europe at the 2015 Palmer Cup, and was named the winner of the 2015 Mark H. McCormack Medal.
In November, Rahm notched his second career top-10 PGA TOUR finish by sharing 10th place at the OHL at Mayakoba Classic. He also made the cut in another event on the tour, tying for 64th at the 2015 Travelers Championship.
The 2016 Ben Hogan Award recipient will receive an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s 2017 Dean & DeLuca Invitational, as well as earn a $30,000 grant for its men’s golf scholarship program. The other two finalists’ schools each will receive grants of $15,000.
Additionally, the other seven semifinalists’ schools will receive grants of $3,000 each. Those student-athletes include: Charlie Danielson (Illinois), Sam Horsfield (Florida), Michael Johnson (Auburn), Lee McCoy (Georgia), Matt NeSmith (South Carolina), Robby Shelton (Alabama) and Aaron Wise (Oregon). In addition, one wild-card college drawn from the original watch list will also receive $3,000. In total, a record $84,000 in grants will be distributed.
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 12-month period dating from the previous award’s banquet. The selection committee is made up of two dozen leaders and experts in amateur, college and professional golf. In order to determine the finalists, each committee member cast a ballot that ranked the group of 10 semifinalists from 1-10.
The award was first presented in 1990 through the Friends of Golf and Bel-Air Country Club and included academic achievement in its original list of standards. Its criteria was revised for the 2001-02 collegiate season to its current standard of honoring the outstanding amateur collegiate golfer and the award was moved to Colonial Country Club.
Since that time, the winners include: 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), Chris Williams (Washington, 2013), Patrick Rodgers (Stanford, 2014) and Rahm (Arizona State, 2015).
Since the committee began inviting all three finalists to Colonial Country Club in 2005, notable finalists include PGA TOUR winners Jordan Spieth (2012), Russell Henley (2010) and Michael Thompson (2008).
To be put on a waiting list for tickets to the 2016 banquet, call Jimmie Whitt at (817) 972-4280. The banquet will be streamed live on TheBenHoganAward.org beginning at 8 p.m. (CT).
–TheBenHoganAward.org–
About the Finalists
• All three finalists are ranked among the top six in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking, Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking and Golfstat Individual Ranking.
• The Pac-12 Conference has now had at least one finalist for seven consecutive seasons (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016). The Pac-12 has had at least two nominees five straight years, and has boasted 11 of the past 15 finalists dating back to 2012.
• A player from the Pac-12 Conference has won The Ben Hogan Award four consecutive years–UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay (2012), Washington’s Chris Williams (2013), Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers (2014) and Arizona State’s Jon Rahm (2015).
• Two of the three schools have had previous winners of the award, and both came in the past two years. Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers grabbed the honor in 2014, while Arizona State’s Jon Rahm won last year.
• Jon Rahm is bidding to become the first-ever two-time Hogan Award winner.
• Maverick McNealy and Jon Rahm are multi-time finalists, joining a list that includes just four others–Chris Kirk (2006, 2007), Rickie Fowler (2008, 2009), Patrick Cantlay (2011, 2012) and Patrick Rodgers (2012, 2014)–since the naming of three finalists began in 2005.
• Arizona State or Stanford could join Oklahoma State (3), Washington (2) and Clemson (2) as schools with multiple winners since 2002.
• Since 2012, Stanford has boasted five of the 15 finalists courtesy of Patrick Rodgers (2012, 2014), Cameron Wilson (2014) and Maverick McNealy (2015, 2016).
• Texas will have its second finalist ever at Colonial Country Club, as Beau Hossler joins Jordan Spieth (2012).
• Texas does have a Ben Hogan Award winner under the previous criteria, as Jeff Fahrenbruch won in 1997.
• The last Big 12 Conference winner was Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State in 2011.
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is a leader in information management focused on enterprise content, technology optimization and cloud services. Our portfolio of offerings deliver solutions to improve our customers’ speed to market, manage technology costs, and facilitate the sharing of information to increase productivity. The All Covered IT Services division offers a range of IT strategy, support, project and cloud computing solutions across all verticals. Konica Minolta has won numerous awards and recognition, including placement in the Leaders Quadrant on the Gartner 2014 Magic Quadrant for Managed Print Services (MPS) and Managed Content Services (MCS). Konica Minolta has been recognized as the#1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for nine consecutive years. Konica Minolta, Inc. has also been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for four years in a row. For more information, please visit: www.countonkonicaminolta.com and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter @konicaminoltaus.
