Two Tide golfers on Hogan Award watch list

TUSCALOOSA | Two University of Alabama golfers have made the watch list for the Ben Hogan Award.

Crimson Tide seniors Mark Harrell of Hazlehurst, Ga., and Michael Thompson of Tucson, Ariz., are among 24 players named Wednesday to the list. The Ben Hogan Award is presented annually to the top men’s NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or junior college golfer.

Alabama golfer Marten Olander won the Hogan Award in 1993, his senior season. He went on to play professionally in the European PGA.

Harrell competed as an amateur in the 2007 U.S. Open and missed the cut in the PGA event by just one stroke, exiting in the same scoring group that sent Phil Mickelson home. Thompson, a 2007 Ping All-American, made it to the finals of the 2007 U.S. Amateur. He is a three-time U.S. Amateur participant. Harrell has competed in the U.S. Amateur the past three years.

The Hogan Award semifinalists will be announced on April 16. Three finalists will be named on May 7, and will gather at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, for the May 18 ceremony announcing the winner.