Will it be Ludvig Aberg, Gordon Sargent or someone else?
While the player-of-the-year race in NCAA Division I women’s golf figures to be a boat race as Stanford’s Rose Zhang seems almost a lock to win the Annika Award presented by Stifel on Monday, the men’s race is very much up for grabs.
Aberg, a senior at Texas Tech, is the slight favorite as he’s won four times, including Big 12 and NCAA regional titles. Sargent, the Vandy sophomore, has three wins, though one of them is an 18-hole sprint at the East Lake Cup. Neither player has finished outside the top 10 this season.
Virginia’s Ben James, with five wins, is also in the conversation, though he’s a longshot considering he’s played a much weaker schedule.
The Haskins Award is awarded annually to the most outstanding men’s college golfer, as voted on by players, coaches and media members. Past winners of the Haskins Award include Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ben Crenshaw and last season’s winner, Chris Gotterup.
Here are the 10 Haskins Award finalists, listed in alphabetical order:
Ludvig Aberg, Sr., Texas Tech
Ranking: Golfstat – 2; Golfweek – 2
Top-10s (wins): 9 (4)
Adjusted scoring average: 68.63
Strength of schedule: 29
Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Sr., Illinois
Ranking: Golfstat – 4; Golfweek – 6
Top-10s (wins): 8 (1)
Adjusted scoring average: 69.39
Strength of schedule: 231
David Ford, Soph., North Carolina
Ranking: Golfstat – 10; Golfweek – 7
Top-10s (wins): 8 (1)
Adjusted scoring average: 69.96
Strength of schedule: 24
Ben James, Fr., Virginia
Ranking: Golfstat – 7; Golfweek – 4
Top-10s (wins): 10 (5)
Adjusted scoring average: 69.15
Strength of schedule: 202
Tommy Kuhl, Sr., Illinois
Ranking: Golfstat – 8; Golfweek – 11
Top-10s (wins): 9 (0)
Adjusted scoring average: 70.02
Strength of schedule: 229
Christo Lamprecht, Jr., Georgia Tech
Ranking: Golfstat – 6; Golfweek – 5
Top-10s (wins): 8 (1)
Adjusted scoring average: 69.49
Strength of schedule: 40
Maxwell Moldovan, Sr., Ohio State
Ranking: Golfstat – 9; Golfweek – 15
Top-10s (wins): 10 (1)
Adjusted scoring average: 70.19
Strength of schedule: 158
Gordon Sargent, Soph., Vanderbilt
Ranking: Golfstat – 1; Golfweek – 1
Top-10s (wins): 11 (3)
Adjusted scoring average: 68.28
Strength of schedule: 22
Preston Summerhays, Soph., Arizona State
Ranking: Golfstat – 5; Golfweek – 9
Top-10s (wins): 7 (1)
Adjusted scoring average: 70.34
Strength of schedule: 6
Michael Thorbjorsen, Jr., Stanford
Ranking: Golfstat – 3; Golfweek – 3
Top-10s (wins): 8 (2)
Adjusted scoring average: 69.4
Strength of schedule: 14