March 29, 2006
LAS VEGAS - UNLV senior golfer Andres Gonzales is one of 10 semifinalists for the 2006 Ben Hogan Award, Bank of America, in cooperation with Colonial Country Club, the Friends of Golf (FOG) and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced Wednesday.
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.
Gonzales has played in seven tournaments during the 2005-06 season for UNLV, has five top 20 finishes including two top-5s and a top-10 finish. He leads the team in scoring average at 72.14 and has 15 rounds at par or better out of 21 total rounds played. He was the individual champion at the William H. Tucker in Albuquerque, N.M., in September, and is coming off a seventh-place finish in his last outing at the National Invitational Tournament in Tucson, Ariz.
Other semifinalists include returning PING First-Team All-America selections Robert Castro of Georgia Tech, East Tennessee State's Rhys Davies, Matt Every of Florida, Oklahoma's Anthony Kim and Pablo Martin of Oklahoma State. Baylor's Ryan Baca, Brian Harman and Chris Kirk of Georgia and Wake Forest's Kyle Reifers were also named semifinalists.
The Hogan Award selection committee will name the honor's three finalists on May 2. The three finalists will attend the Hogan Award banquet on Saturday, May 13 at Colonial Country Club - the Saturday prior to the Bank of America Colonial - with the recipient announced that evening.
Former UNLV golfer Ryan Moore was last year's Hogan Award winner, which marked the first time a UNLV golfer was named the national player of the year.
2006 Ben Hogan Award Semifinalists (in alphabetical order)
Ryan Baca, BaylorRoberto Castro, Georgia TechRhys Davies, East Tennessee StateMatt Every, FloridaAndres Gonzales, UNLVBrian Harman, GeorgiaAnthony Kim, OklahomaChris Kirk, GeorgiaPablo Martin, Oklahoma StateKyle Reifers, Wake Forest
