Tar Heel men’s golfers David Ford and Austin Greaser are among the 10 semifinalists for the 2023 Ben Hogan Award, the Hogan Award committee, Friends of Golf and Golf Coaches Association of America announced Monday.
The pair of UNC standouts are joined on the list of semifinalists by Texas Tech’s Ludvig Aberg, Texas A&M’s Sam Bennett, Illinois’ Adrien Dumont de Chassart, North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik, Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht, Pepperdine’s William Mouw, Vanderbilt’s Gordon Sargent and Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen.
The Ben Hogan Award presented by PNC Bank annually awards the top men’s golfer based on all collegiate, amateur and professional events over the previous 12 months. Three of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking—Masters champion and No. 1 Jon Rahm (2015, 2016), No. 4 Patrick Cantlay (2012) and No. 9 Viktor Hovland (2019)—are previous recipients of the award.
Ford, ranked No. 3 in the country by Golfstat, is currently on pace to break the single-season UNC scoring record (69.44) and is No. 1 in career scoring by a Tar Heel (70.08). The Peachtree Corners, Ga., native won his first college tournament in the fall at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup at Seminole Golf Club and has finished in the top seven in eight of his nine starts this season. The 2022 ACC Freshman of the Year tied for fifth in the 2022 NCAA Championship and has won two amateur majors in the last year – the 2022 Southern Amateur and the 2023 Jones Cup.
Greaser, a senior from Vandalia, Ohio, is a two-time All-ACC selection and is No. 2 in UNC career stroke average (71.18). The 2021 U.S. Amateur finalist won the prestigious Western Amateur last summer and teamed with Sargent and Thorbjornsen to represent Team USA last fall in the World Amateur Team Championship in Paris. He finished third in the 211-player field and helped the U.S. team to a third-place finish as well. Greaser has been a key contributor in UNC finishing first in stroke play in each of the past two ACC Championships and finish fifth in the 2021 and 2022 NCAA Championships. He is ranked No. 13 in the country by Golfstat.
UNC is the only school with more than one semifinalist.
Ford and Greaser are No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and are among the top six-ranked U.S. players under consideration to compete in the…
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