Rahm Named Ben Hogan Award Winner


Arizona State's Jon Rahm is the winner of the 2015 Ben Hogan Award. Rahm, a junior from Barrika, Spain, won four collegiate titles this year and finished fifth at the Phoenix Open in February.

Rahm's Phoenix Open finish was the highest by an amateur at a PGA Tour event since 2008. He believed that performance helped him get this year's award, given annually to the top player in college golf.

"Obviously, the Phoenix Open was the turning point," Rahm said. "Playing such great golf made me believe how good of a golfer I was. I didn't realize ... that I could put myself in position to win a PGA Tour event.

"That gave me a lot of confidence and got me really motivated to work even harder. I just kept that going through the entire spring semester."

Two days before being announced as the Ben Hogan Award winner, Rahm won the individual title at the NCAA regional tournament in San Diego.

Rahm edged two other Pac-12 players, University of Washington senior Cheng-Tsung Pan and Stanford sophomore Maverick McNealy for the award. This year was the first time in history that all three finalists came from the same conference.

Rahm received the award May 18 during a banquet at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, site of this week's Crowne Plaza Invitational, a PGA Tour event.

As the Hogan Award recipient, Rahm earned a $25,000 grant for the men's golf program at Arizona State. Pan and McNealy each earned grants of $12,500 for their schools.

"To hear my name was a dream come true," Rahm said about the ceremony. "I've always worked hard to be the best and compete with the best of the best. I'm just proud of myself to see how far I've come from a small town in Spain to do this now."

For more information, visit http://thebenhoganaward.org.