CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia sophomore men’s golfer Ben James (Milford, Conn.) is one of 24 players named to the Haskins Award Preseason Watch List the Haskins Foundation announced today (Sept. 5).
The Fred Haskins Award presented by Stifel is considered the most prestigious award in collegiate golf and is presented annually to the most outstanding male golfer. This is the 54th year of the award. The winner of the oldest individual college golf award is voted on by players, coaches, golf SIDS, and select golf media members and will be announced in early June.
James was a finalist for the award in 2023.
Last weekend James helped the USGA’s 10-man team win the Walker Cup at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. Earlier in the summer he advanced to the quarterfinals of this year’s U.S. Amateur and helped Team USA to victory at the Palmer Cup.
James is coming off an accolade-filled freshman year at Virginia, where he was named winner of the 2023 Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award, a First-Team Ping All-American, ACC Freshman of the Year and a finalist for both the Haskins and Jack Nicklaus Awards.
He finished sixth at the NCAA Championships, set the UVA record with five first-place finishes and finished in the top six in 11 of 13 tournaments.
2023-2024 Preseason Haskins Award Watch List
(Listed alphabetically):
Cole Anderson, Florida State
Josele Ballester, Arizona State
Michael Brennan, Wake Forest
Luke Clanton, Florida State
Nick Dunlap, Alabama
Mats Ege, East Tennessee State
Caden Fioroni, UNLV
David Ford, North Carolina
Nick Gabrelcik, North Florida
Ian Gilligan, Florida
Andrew Goodman, Oklahoma
Austin Greaser, North Carolina
Ben James, Virginia
Tobias Jonsson, Mercer
Christo Lamprecht, Georgia Tech
Christiaan Maas, Texas
Dylan Menante, North Carolina
Maxwell Moldovan, Ohio State
William Moll, Vanderbilt
Gordon Sargent, Vanderbilt
Cole Sherwood, Vanderbilt
Preston Summerhays, Arizona State
Caleb Surratt, Tennessee
Michael Thorbjornsen, Stanford
..