May 14, 2005

NORMAN, Okla. - UNLV senior golfer Ryan Moore has been chosen as the 2005 Ben Hogan Award winner, which was announced Saturday by Bank of America, in cooperation with Colonial Country Club, The Friends of Golf and the Golf Coaches Association of America.

The most prestigious award in men's college golf, The Hogan is presented annually to the top men's NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or junior college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions during the last 12 months.

With the national player of the year honor, Moore became just the second UNLV student-athlete ever to earn such an award. Larry Johnson, who played basketball at UNLV, is the school's only other national player of the year award winner as he was the 1991 John Wooden Award recipient, which recognizes the top college basketball player in the nation.

The low amateur at the Masters with a tie for 13th-place finish, Moore was also a finalist for last year's Hogan Award. The senior has won three tournaments this season - the William H. Tucker, the John Burns Intercollegiate and the Hall of Fame Invitational - finished no lower than sixth in a collegiate event this season and leads the nation in stroke average at 68.95.

The defending NCAA Champion, Moore won the U.S. Public Links and U.S. Amateur, as well as the Sahalee Players Championship and the Western Amateur. A member of the U.S. World Amateur team, he was low individual at the competition.

The Puyallup, Wash., native was a 2004 first-team PING All-America selection and has competed in the Walker Cup and two Palmer Cups presented by Monster. Moore was recently named Mountain West Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.