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McCarthy Named to Ben Hogan Award Watch List
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Feb. 5, 2014
Forth Worth, Texas – Virginia junior men’s golfer Denny McCarthy (Rockville, Md.) has been named to the initial watch list for the Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the nation’s top collegiate golfer.
Colonial Country Club, The Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America compiled the list of 30 collegiate golfers to watch. The list is the largest since 33 players were named in 2004.
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, which votes during each stage of the process, is comprised of leaders in professional, amateur and collegiate golf.
An honorable mention All-American in 2013, McCarthy ended the fall ranked No. 10 in the Golfweek standings and No. 12 in the Golfstat rankings. He was UVa’s top finisher in its first three fall tournaments with top-five performances in each event.
McCarthy was an All-East Region selection last season when he advanced to the NCAA Championships as an individual competitor after tying for second at the NCAA Columbus Regional. He tied for 22nd at the NCAA Championships. He led UVa in scoring last season with a 72.59 stroke average and earned All-ACC honors for the second consecutive season.
The 2014 The Ben Hogan Award Watch List, as determined by the award’s subcommittee, also includes: Anders Albertson (Georgia Tech), Julien Brun (TCU), Sebastian Cappelen (Arkansas), Corey Conners (Kent State), Ian Davis (Oklahoma State), Bryson Dechambeau (SMU), Thomas Detry (Illinois), Greg Eason (UCF), Joey Garber (Georgia), Oliver Goss (Tennessee), Gavin Green (New Mexico), Brandon Hagy (California), Toni Hakula (Texas), Chase Koepka (USF), , Trey Mullinax (Alabama), Jordan Niebrugge (Oklahoma State), Cheng-Tsung Pan (Washington), Taylor Pendrith (Kent State), J.T. Poston (Western Carolina), Patrick Rodgers (Stanford), Ollie Schniederjans (Georgia Tech), Robby Shelton (Alabama), Bradley Shigezawa (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), Joel Stalter (California), Scott Vincent (Virginia Tech), Michael Weaver (California), Cory Whitsett (Alabama), Cameron Wilson (Stanford) and Bobby Wyatt (Alabama).
Eight of the golfers have previously been named to the Watch List: Brun, Conners, Hagy, Pan, Rodgers, Weaver, Whitsett and Wyatt. Brun (2013) and Rodgers (2012) have been finalists for the award.
A list of 10 semifinalists, which could include individuals not on the current list, will be unveiled on Wednesday, April 16. On Wednesday, May 7, that group will be pared down to three finalists. The winner will be crowned at a black-tie banquet at Colonial Country Club on Sunday, May 18, prior to the start of the PGA TOUR’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
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), Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State, 2011), Patrick Cantlay (UCLA, 2012) and Chris Williams (Washington, 2013).
To find the latest information on The Ben Hogan Award, its candidates and its previous winners, visit TheBenHoganAward.org and follow @BenHoganAward on Twitter.