ATHENS — Georgia senior Lee McCoy has been named to the watch list for the Ben Hogan Award, which is presented annually to the top golfer based on all collegiate and amateur competitions during the past 12-month period.
McCoy’s top finish of the fall came in the Nike Golf Collegiate, where he placed third. He has been invited to play in the PGA Tour’s Northern Trust Open Collegiate Showcase on Monday at Riviera Country Club. The Habersham Central graduate finished tied for third at that event last year. McCoy is individually ranked 17th in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings and 23rd in the Golfstat Cup Standings.
Past Hogan Award winners include Georgia’s Chris Kirk in 2007. By winning four times last season, McCoy tied the single-season record for wins held by Kirk in 2006-07 and Russell Henley in 2009-10. McCoy, who was named a First-Team All-American last season by the GCAA and Golfweek, broke the school single-season scoring average at 70.08.
The 25-man watch list for the award includes Dawson Armstrong of Lipscomb, Derek Bard of Virginia, Sean Crocker of Southern California, Charlie Danielson of Illinois, Thomas Detry of Illinois, Jonathan Garrick of UCLA, Nick Hardy of Illinois, Rico Hoey of Southern California, Sam Horsfield of Florida, Beau Hossler of Texas, Michael Johnson of Auburn, Hank Lebioda of Florida State, Maverick McNealy of Stanford, Matthew NeSmith of South Carolina, Jordan Niebrugge of Oklahoma State, Corey Pereira of Washington, Jon Rahm of Arizona State, Antoine Rozner of Missouri-Kansas City, Matthias Schwab of Vanderbilt, Robby Shelton of Alabama, Aaron Wise of Oregon, Adam Wood of Duke, Cameron Young of Wake Forest and Will Zalatoris of Wake Forest.
The list of 10 semifinalists, which could include individuals not on the watch list, will be unveiled on Wednesday, April 13. On Tuesday, May 3, that group will be pared down to three finalists. The finalists will attend a black-tie banquet at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday, May 23, prior to the start of the PGA Tour’s Colonial National Invitation Tournament, where the winner will be crowned.
McCoy and his Georgia teammates will open the spring portion of the schedule Feb. 21-23 at the Puerto Rico Classic. The three-day event in Rio Grande will pit the Bulldogs against Alabama, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Purdue, UNC-Greensboro and Virginia Tech. Georgia finished first at the 2015 edition of the tournament, with McCoy, tied for fourth, being the highest rated Bulldog in the event.
