NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt golfer John Augenstein has been named one of three finalists for the Ben Hogan Award, which is given annually to the top men’s college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions over the past 12 months.
This year’s season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that all tournaments played between May 21 and March 12 were considered. Other finalists are Florida freshman Ricky Castillo and Pepperdine senior Sahith Theegala.
The Commodore senior becomes Vanderbilt’s first-ever finalist for the award.
Augenstein, from Owensboro, Kentucky, and the Southeastern Conference’s leader in stroke average in 2019-20, played in seven events and 19 rounds. He averaged 69.95 strokes per round and posted one individual tournament victory at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate in Scottsdale, Arizona.
He also had two other top-five finishes at the Nike Golf Collegiate (2nd) and Crooked Stick Collegiate (3rd).
Augenstein is listed second in the Golfstat individual rankings and fourth in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (SPWAR). Additionally, he ranks seventh in the Golfweek/Sagarin system and 17th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). He helped lead Team USA to victory at the 2019 Walker Cup by posting a 2-1-1 record.
He also is a member of both the 2019 and 2020 United States Palmer Cup teams.
Last summer, Augenstein was the runner up at the U.S. Amateur Championship, earning berths into the 2020 Masters Tournament and 2020 U.S. Open. He tied for 12th during the medal round and was a finalist for Ben Hogan Award August Golfer of the Month accolades.
“This is really a great accomplishment for John and a great day for Vanderbilt golf,” Vanderbilt head coach Scott Limbaugh said. “I am thrilled for John to be our first Hogan Award finalist. It’s outstanding to see young people recognized for having great competitive character and resiliency and John certainly embodies those characteristics.”
The Ben Hogan Trophy was first issued by FOG in 1990 at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles and also included academ- ic achievement in its original list of standards. In 2002, the Ben Hogan Award moved to Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Hogan’s hometown and the site of five of his PGA TOUR victories. At that time, it revised its criteria to its current standard of honoring the outstanding amateur and collegiate golfer.
The selection committee is made up of 30 leaders and experts in amateur, college and professional golf. The recipient will be named next month. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 dinner will not be held. The 2020 recipient will earn an invitation to the 2021 Charles Schwab Challenge.
Winners of the Ben Hogan Award include three golfers currently ranked in the top 30 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR)—No. 2 Jon Rahm (2015, 2016), No. 7 Patrick Cantlay (2012) and No. 27 Rickie Fowler (2008). Other recipients include: Ricky Barnes (2003), Matt Every (2006), Doug Ghim (2018), Bill Haas (2004), Chris Kirk (2007), Hunter Mahan (2003), Maverick McNealy (2017), Ryan Moore (2005), Patrick Rodgers (2014), Kyle Stanley (2009), Nick Taylor (2010), D.J. Trahan (2002), Peter Uihlein (2011), Viktor Hovland (2019) and Chris Williams (2013).
Some of the notable finalists over the past decade include: Bud Cauley (2010), Wyndham Clark (2017), Russell Henley (2010), Beau Hossler (2016), Michael Kim (2013), Collin Morikawa (2018, 2019), C.T. Pan (2015), Ollie Schniederjans (2014), Jordan Spieth (2012) and Matthew Wolff (2019).
