Sophomore Patrick Cantlay became the first UCLA golfer to win the Ben Hogan Award at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, TX. Cantlay and two other finalists were honored Monday night in a black tie reception by Baird Private Wealth Management, in association with Colonial Country Club, The Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).
“I’m just very honored to accept this award and really even just to be around and associated with the presence of Ben Hogan,” Cantlay said. “It’s cool to see the great names on the list of previous winners and hopefully I can do what they are doing.”
The most prestigious award in men’s college golf, The Ben Hogan Award is voted upon by an esteemed selection committee and 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.
Cantlay becomes the first sophomore ever crowned. At 20 years old, he is the second youngest winner in the award’s history, behind only Oklahoma State freshman Rickie Fowler who was 19 when he won in 2008.
Cantlay, the world’s number one ranked amateur according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings and the Scratch Players World Amateur Rankings, was a finalist for the award for the second straight season. Last month, the native of Los Alamitos, was the low amateur (T-47) at the Masters and won the Silver Cup. He also was the low amateur at the 2011 U.S. Open, tying for 21st place.
The runner up at the 2011 U.S. Amateur Championship at Erin Hills, Cantlay played on the U.S. Walker Cup team last summer and was awarded the McCormack Medal honoring the world’s top amateur. This summer, he has exemptions to play in the U.S. Open and the Open Championship. He competed in the PGA TOUR’s Northern Trust Open on a sponsor’s exemption in February.
In the previous 12 months, Cantlay finished second at the NCAA Championship in 2011, made the cut in five professional events and finished his freshman collegiate season 30-under par in 34 rounds. He fired a 60 (-10) at the Traveler’s Championship last June, which was the lowest round ever by an amateur in a professional tournament.
During the 2012 collegiate season, the first-team All-Pac-12 selection has secured four Top-10 individual finishes for the Bruins, including a pair of runner-up results. He tied for 20th place at the NCAA Bowling Green Regional over the weekend and carries a season stroke average of 71.28.
Cantlay also carries a 3.30 cumulative grade point average in History and has been named to the UCLA Director’s Honor Roll five consecutive quarters. He earned a spot on the CoSIDA Academic All-America All-District VIII Team and will be eligible for voting on the national ballot next week.
At the ceremony, Cantlay received an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s 2013 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. In addition, UCLA was presented with a $20,000 grant to its men’s golf scholarship program.
The other finalists were Stanford freshman Patrick Rodgers and Texas freshman Jordan Spieth. Their respective schools each received $10,000 grants.
Some previous Hogan Award 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) and Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State, 2011).
