Koivun wins Ben Hogan Award

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Auburns Koivun wins Ben Hogan Award as nations top college golfer

Jason Caldwell

6–7 minutes

Auburn's Koivun wins Ben Hogan Award as nation's top college golfer

Jackson Koivun won the Ben Hogan Award on Monday.

When you're talking about individual awards in college golf, none is more prestigious than the Ben Hogan Award with names like John Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala and Ludvig Aberg on the trophy. Now you can put Auburn freshman Jackson Koivin's name among the elite in the college game after he was announced as the winner on Monday night at a ceremony in Dallas, Texas. Koivun becomes just the second freshman to ever win the award, joining Rickie Fowler who won it in 2008 at Oklahoma State.

Will Blackmon (1994) is Auburn's only previous Hogan Award recipient. Ludvig Aberg of Texas Tech is the reigning winner. He won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. Tigers assistant coach Chris Williams received the Hogan in 2013.

"This is like winning the Heisman," Auburn coach Nick Clinard said. "This is it. It's unreal. I'm just so, so proud of him and what he's accomplished this year for the human being and person he is and the maturity he has. The first thing he said after he won it was the obviously he was very grateful, but we have one more to win as a team. I think that shows you how special he is."

With a resume highlighted by an SEC Individual Championship, top 10 finishes in 11 of 12 starts, and a semifinal appearance at the 2023 U.S. Amateur last July, Koivun had the numbers to win the award despite being a freshman. He 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 regional play a week ago, Koivun smashed the program's single-season record for subpar rounds.

"Statistically I think he earned it and he deserved it, and he won it," Clinard said. "We just can't be more proud of him and the Auburn family can't be more proud of what he's accomplished. He's got a bright future ahead for many years."

Since 2002, the Ben Hogan Award annually honors the top men's NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or NJCAA college golfer based on all collegiate, amateur and professional events over the previous 12 months. An esteemed selection committee votes during each stage of the process. The selection committee is comprised of more than 30 leaders in collegiate, amateur and professional golf.

Fresh off its sixth consecutive tournament win, No. 1 Auburn men's golf team begins its quest for a national title May 24-29 at the 2024 NCAA Championships at the Omni La Costa Champions Course in Carlsbad, California. 

'Commit to the finish' the goal as Auburn women advance to match play

Auburn women's golf earned a spot in match play by finishing in the Top 8.

With a spot in match play on the line, Auburn freshman Anna Davis stepped up with the shot of the day to secure the Tigers in the Top 8 after 72 holes and move coach Melissa Luellen's team on at the NCAA Championships. Shooting a round of 296 (+8) as a team, Auburn grabbed the eighth and final spot in match play, finishing two shots ahead of Wake Forest. The Tigers will take on top-seed Stanford, who finished tied with LSU but moved on through the tiebreaker.

"Just commit to the finish," Luellen said. "Yesterday was such a rough day for us. Looking back at the big numbers, it was really just some scared swings. Just commit to the finish. If it goes long or left or right, it doesn't matter, just commit to the finish. No more scared swings.

"This golf course can really get your mind and your heart thumping. I'm just so proud of them for fighting. We kind of limped on in with a couple of bogeys out there, but the golf course is hard. It can jump up and bite you at any time. I'm just incredibly proud of our young ladies. The birdie on the last hole from Anna Davis was pretty sweet. Nice icing on the top."

Locked in a tight battle with Wake Forest, Davis knocked a shot close on the 9th hole and drained the putt for a birdie to put Auburn inside the cut line and keep them playing.

Auburn needed that birdie from Davis after another rough start to their round starting on the back nine. Making just one birdie as a team on its first nine holes on Monday, the Tigers found themselves at +6 on the day and needing something positive to happen.

While Davis had the biggest swings, the key for Auburn on Monday was the final nine holes from Anna Foster. Shooting a 41 on the front, including a triple bogey on the par 3 16th hole, Foster came back to make birdies on holes two, six and seven to save the day for the Tigers.

With Davis finishing with a 71 on Monday, Foster's round of 74 was the second-best round of the day for Auburn with Katie Cranston's 75 and Casey Weidenfeld's 76 the other two counting scores on the day for the Tigers. Senior leader Megan Schofill had an uncharacteristic day, firing a round of 78 with no birdies and two double bogeys.

Auburn will take on Stanford in the 1-8 matchup on Tuesday with LSU earning the two-seed and facing off against Oregon. Texas A&M finished stroke play in third place and will have UCLA in stroke play while USC and Clemson face off in a matchup of the four and five seeds. The winners from the morning round will advance to the semi-finals, to be played on Tuesday afternoon. The championship match will take place on Wednesday.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Stanford comes out of stroke play as the top seed heading into match play. This season the Cardinal won five titles as a team, including both the Pac-12 Tournament and NCAA Regional.