Armstrong named to Ben Hogan Award watch list
Lipscomb Athletics |
— Photo by Jeffrey Camarti
Adding to the accolades of his young career, Lipscomb men’s golfer Dawson Armstrong has been named to the 2016 Ben Hogan Award watch list joining 24 other top collegiate golfers around the country.
Presented to the top collegiate golfer for their play over the past year, the Ben Hogan Award is the most prestigious award in men’s college golf. The Ben Hogan Award selection committee is comprised of leaders in professional, amateur and collegiate golf.
“This honor is definitely merited for what he has done and accomplished over the last year,” said Lipscomb director of golf Will Brewer. “When he plays well he’s contending to win and when he plays poorly he’s still finishing in the top-10. This is a great accomplishment for Dawson and for Lipscomb University.”
Ranked No. 14 in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking, Armstrong joins 24 other golfers around the nation on the initial list of 25 on the watch list. A list of 10 semifinalists will be announced on April 13 before the group is pared down to three finalists. The finalist trio will be invited to a black-tie banquet at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas on May 23 where the winner will be announced ahead of the PGA Tour’s Colonial National Invitational Tournament.
“If you follow men’s college golf and go down the list, pretty much every name is recognizable,” said Brewer. “All of these guys are competing in the top-level events like the U.S. Amateur or the Western Amateur and you see these names at the top all of the time.”
The Brentwood, Tennessee native joins UMKC’s Antoine Rozner as the only two members of the select list from a non-BCS school. Armstrong is also the first Lipscomb golfer, and only the fourth in the Atlantic Sun Conference, to make the list.
“Golf is a cyclical game, like life it’s up and down,” said Brewer. “Our key for Dawson is for his down to not to be too far down and his up to be as high as he can be. That’s kind of our approach with him. He’s doing everything we’re asking for him to do and doing it well. It would not surprise me at all if he wins this award this year or before his collegiate career concludes.”
Armstrong joins Derek Bard (Virginia), Sean Crocker (Southern California), Charlie Danielson (Illinois), Thomas Detry (Illinois), Jonathan Garrick (UCLA), Nick Hardy (Illinois), Rico Hoey (Southern California), Sam Horsfield (Florida), Beau Hossler (Texas), Michael Johnson (Auburn), Hank Lebioda (Florida State), Lee McCoy (Georgia), Maverick McNealy (Stanford), Matthew NeSmith (South Carolina), Jordan Niebrugge (Oklahoma State), Corey Pereira (Washington), Jon Rahm (Arizona State), Antoine Rozner (UMKC), Matthias Schwab (Vanderbilt), Robby Shelton (Alabama), Aaron Wise (Oregon), Adam Wood (Duke), Cameron Young (Wake Forest) and Will Zalatoris (Wake Forest) on the list.
For more information about the Ben Hogan Award visit http://wwwTheBenHoganAward.com.