Jackson Koivun continues to make history, as the Auburn freshman has become the second Tiger (Will Blackmon, 1994) — and the second-ever freshman in the award’s history — to win the Ben Hogan Award.
The Hogan Foundation announced Koivun was this year’s winner Monday evening at Colonial Country Club in Forth Worth, Texas, beating out Christo Lamprecht (Georgia Tech) and Gordon Sargent (Vanderbilt).
Koivun’s first season in the college realm has ended in an SEC men’s golf individual championship, and it has correlated with team accolades, including an SEC title, No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Championships, and a ticket punched to Carlsbad, Calif., later this week to compete in the NCAAs.
Eleven of Koivun’s 12 starts have ended in top-10 finishes. He also leads the Auburn lineup in wins (2), scoring average (69.25), birdies made (164) and rounds below par (26). With a 2-under 70 in the Tigers’ opening round of NCAA Regional play a week ago, Koivun set a new single-season program record for subpar rounds.
What is the Ben Hogan Award?
The Ben Hogan Award, which “honors the top men’s college golfer based on collegiate, amateur and professional events over the previous 12 months,” according to a release from Auburn athletics, is selected by a committee comprised of three dozen leaders in the golf world and past Hogan winners. That committee ranks each of the three finalists to determine the latest recipient each year.
It’s not the only national award that honors the best collegiate golfer of the year, as the Haskins Award does the same. Its website lists it as “college golf’s most outstanding award,” and is described by some as the sport’s Heisman Trophy equivalent.
Koivun, as well as Auburn junior Brendan Valdes, are two of 10 finalists for this year’s Haskins Award, which will be announced May 28.
Still, Koivun’s Hogan Award honor is far from middling. There’s been several notable names beyond Fowler to win the award, including
Sahith Theegala (2020), Viktor Hovland (2019) and Jon Rahm (2016) in recent seasons. Auburn assistant coach Chris Williams is also a past winner. He was awarded the honor during his senior season at Washington (2013).…Read more by ADAM COLE acole@oanow.com, adam cole
