NORMAN -- BYU's Clay Ogden, the 2005 U. S. Public Links champion, has been named to the 27-player watch list for the 2006 Ben Hogan Award, the most prestigious award in men's college golf.
The Hogan is presented annually by the Golf Coaches Association of America to the top men's NCAA Division I, II, or III golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the past 12 months.
"Clay has made great strides in the last year and a half in terms of maturity and his level of play," BYU head coach Bruce Brockbank said. "What a great honor to be named among the top amateur golfers in the nation."
In July 2005 Ogden earned a highly-visible victory over Michelle Wie in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Public Links tournament before claiming the championship in dramatic fashion. Ogden is also enjoying his best season as a Cougar. The junior from West Point, Utah has earned four top-20 finishes in eight events this season, including a fifth-place finish in last week's Ashworth Invitational in Westlake Village, Calif. Ogden has a 71.9 stroke average and has helped lead BYU to a No. 6 national ranking. His top finish on the season came in the Barona Collegiate Cup where his second-place 12-under-par performance vaulted the Cougars to victory in November.
Other players on the watch list include: returning PING First-Team All-America selections Ryan Blaum of Duke, Arizona State's Alejandro Cay´izares, Roberto Castro of Georgia Tech, East Tennessee State's Rhys Davies, Matt Every of Florida, Oklahoma's Anthony Kim, James Lepp of Washington and Oklahoma State's Pablo Martin highlight the list. Others on the 27 player watch list include Scott Brown and Dane Burkhart - defending NCAA Division II national champion - of South Carolina-Aiken, Jay Choi of New Mexico, U.S. Amateur runner-up Dillon Dougherty of Northwestern, Texas Tech's Oscar Floren, Erik Flores of UCLA, UNLV's Andres Gonzales, Jake Grodzinsky of Duke, Stanford's Rob Grube, Brian Harman - the nation's top-ranked amateur - and Chris Kirk of Georgia, Coastal Carolina's Dustin Johnson, Kevin Larsen of Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt's Luke List, Kyle Reifers and Webb Simpson of Wake Forest and North Carolina's Martin Ureta.
The Hogan Award selection committee will announce 10 semi-finalists on March 29 and name three finalists on May 2. The three finalists will attend The Hogan Award banquet on Saturday, May 13 at Colonial Country Club -- the Saturday prior to the Bank of America Colonial - with the recipient announced that evening.
2006 The Ben Hogan Award Watch List
(in alphabetical order)
Ryan Blaum, Duke
Scott Brown, South Carolina-Aiken
Dane Burkhart, South Carolina-Aiken
Alejandro Cay