Finalists Named for 2015 Ben Hogan Award


Colonial Country Club, Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) have announced the three finalists for the 2015 Ben Hogan Award. The group includes University of Washington senior Cheng-Tsung Pan, Stanford sophomore Maverick McNealy and Arizona State junior Jon Rahm.

It is the first time in the award's history that all three finalists are from the same conference.

The three Pac-12 Conference student-athletes will attend a black-tie banquet at Colonial Country Club on Monday, May 18, prior to the start of the PGA Tour's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. The winner will be crowned at the banquet.

All three are first-time finalists. In addition, for the first time, the three finalists were all born on different continents - McNealy (North America), Pan (Asia) and Rahm (Europe).

This year, Pan became the first-ever four-time semifinalist of the Ben Hogan Award. His three college wins in 2014-15 gave him seven career titles, breaking the school's career win record held by 2013 Hogan award recipient Chris Williams. Pan's victories came at the Waikoloa Intercollegiate, Querencia Cabo Collegiate and Lamkin San Diego Classic. In all, he posted seven top-10 finishes and has a 70.06 stroke average in 10 events.

A native of Miaoli County, Taiwan, Pan is one of five players ranked among the top-10 in the Golfstat Rankings (4th), Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings (5th), Scratch Players World Rankings (6th) and World Amateur Golf Rankings (10th). He could become the third Husky to win the award in the past six years, joining Williams and Nick Taylor (2010).

Pan earned two gold medals, one individual and one team, at the Asian Games in Korea last summer. He also tied for fifth at the Asia-Pacific Amateur last October. Additionally, Pan qualified to play in the 2014 British Open, advanced to the round of 32 at last year's U.S. Amateur and reached the round of 16 at the 2014 Western Amateur.

McNealy is the nation's top-ranked college player in both the Golfstat Rankings and the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings. He leads the NCAA Division I with five collegiate victories this year, capped by a dominant 10-stroke win at the Pac-12 Championships last week. His 18-under 262 established a new league tournament scoring record.

The Pac-12 Player of the Year also claimed medalist honors at the Southwestern Intercollegiate, Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, The Prestige at PGA West and The Goodwin. A three-time Pac-12 Golfer of the Month, he will compete this summer on the U.S. Palmer Cup team.

The native of Portola Valley, Calif., is listed third in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and 34th in the Scratch Players World Rankings. Last summer, McNealy qualified to compete at both the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur. He also tied for ninth at the 2014 Players Amateur.

McNealy is the third different Stanford finalist for the award dating to last year, joining reigning winner Patrick Rodgers and Cameron Wilson.

Rahm is a three-time winner this college season. He also captured the World Amateur Team Championship last fall.

Rahm, the first finalist in Arizona State history, is the No. 1 player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings as well as the Scratch Players World Rankings. He's also second in both the Golfstat Rankings and Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings. Rahm is the only player in the world listed among the top-five in each of the four ranking systems.

The native of Barrika, Spain, has earned a second straight spot on the European Palmer Cup squad. He helped lead his side to victory last summer with a team-best 3.5-point performance. In addition, he won the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy given to the medalist of the World Team Amateur and broke Jack Nicklaus' scoring record by six shots. Last summer, Rahm won the Spanish Amateur Championship and reached the U.S. Amateur's round of 16.

In February, Rahm tied for fifth at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, becoming the first amateur to place in the top-five at a PGA Tour event since 2008. His three college wins this year include the Duck Invitational, ASU Thunderbird and Bill Cullum Invite. The junior has nine consecutive top-eight finishes at college events and owns a 68.79 stroke average.

The 2015 Ben Hogan Award recipient will receive an exemption into the 2016 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, as well as earn a $25,000 grant for his school's menıs golf scholarship program. The other two finalists' schools each will receive grants of $12,500.

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 awardıs banquet.

The Ben Hogan Award selection committee is made up of 25 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, which was first issued in 1990 and 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 and moved the award 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) and Patrick Rodgers (Stanford, 2014).

For more information about the award, visit http://thebenhoganaward.org.