April 12, 2017
Vanderbilt senior Matthias Schwab was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award on Tuesday, an honor bestowed on the top men’s college golfer, regardless of level.
Colonial Country Club, Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced the award, which is presented by Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. (Konica Minolta).
Schwab, a two-time All-American with the Commodores, is Vanderbilt’s leading golfer this year, averaging 69.89 strokes per round. He has three top five finishes and five top 10’s, and has not finished lower than 12th all season.
The senior from Rohrmoos, Austria, is joined by Sam Burns (LSU, So.), Wyndham Clark (Oregon, Sr.), Sean Crocker (Southern California, Jr.), Jared du Toit (Arizona State, Sr.), Nick Hardy (Illinois, Jr.), Maverick McNealy (Stanford, Sr.), Dylan Meyer (Illinois, Jr.), Collin Morikawa (California, So.), Matthias Schwab (Vanderbilt, Sr.) and Will Zalatoris (Wake Forest, Jr.). McNealy, a two-time award finalist (2015, 2016), is the lone player ever to previously appear as a semifinalist.
Each semifinalist’s school will once again receive a scholarship grant for its men’s golf program. Since 2002, more than $500,000 in scholarships has been awarded to more than two dozen schools.
The Ben Hogan Trophy was first issued in 1990 at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles and included academic achievement in its original list of standards. In 2002, the Ben Hogan Award began honoring the outstanding amateur collegiate golfer at Colonial Country Club.
Winners of the Ben Hogan Award 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), Chris Williams (Washington, 2013), Patrick Rodgers (Stanford, 2014) and Jon Rahm (Arizona State, 2015 and 2016).
Schwab is the Commodores’ second Hogan Award Semifinalist. Hunter Stewart was named a semifinalist in 2015.