Pan, Williams Among Semifinalists For Ben Hogan Award
April 11, 2012
FORT WORTH, Texas - Washington junior Chris Williams and freshman Cheng-Tsung Pan were both named semifinalists for the 2012 Ben Hogan Award, Baird Private Wealth Management, in association with Colonial Country Club, The Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America announced on Wednesday.
It is the first time in school history that two Huskies have made the list of the final 10. Texas also has a pair of representatives on the list, making it the ninth and 10th times that a school has had two golfers among the final 10.
Nick Taylor is the only Husky to ever win the award, doing so in 2010.
The Husky duo join a group of 10 that includes Blayne Barber (Auburn, Jr.), Julien Brun (TCU, Fr.), Patrick Cantlay (UCLA, So.), Dylan Frittelli (Texas, Sr.), Corbin Mills (Clemson, Jr.), Patrick Rodgers (Stanford, Fr.), Jordan Spieth (Texas, Fr.), and Justin Thomas (Alabama, Fr.).
In the college rankings, the list includes the top five and seven of the top 10 players in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings as well as the top five and seven of the top nine in the Golfstat rankings. Among the amateur rankings, the semifinalists feature five of the top six and nine of the top 20 players in the R&A World Amateur rankings as well as five of the top six and eight of the top 20 in the Scratch Players World Amateur listing.
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 represents leaders in professional, amateur and collegiate golf.
The list will be pared down to three finalists on Thursday, May 10. The three finalists will then attend a black-tie banquet at Colonial Country Club on Monday, May 21, where the winner will be crowned prior to the start of the PGA TOUR's Crowne Plaza Invitational.
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) and Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State, 2011).
