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Haskins Award Watch List: Sept. 23, 2016

Welcome back, college golf fans.

Another season has begun and that means it’s time to kick off another season of the Haskins Award Watch List.

The Haskins Award presented by Stifel is given annually to the best college player, as voted by players, coaches and media. Haskins Award winners over the years include such notable future professionals as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Hunter Mahan.

Since this is the first edition of this season’s list, there are a few notable names absent, including the world’s top-ranked amateur, Stanford senior Maverick McNealy. McNealy has yet to compete this season as the Cardinal don’t begin play until Oct. 2 at the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational.

However, several players on my preseason watch list have already gotten off to strong starts this season, including Illinois junior Nick Hardy, who has a victory and a T-4 finish in his first two fall tournaments.

Here are my current top candidates for the 2016-17 Haskins Award:

• • •

1. Nick Hardy

  • Year: Junior
  • School: Illinois
  • Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: N/A
  • Results: won, Wolf Run Intercollegiate; T-4, Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational
  • The buzz: After a season-opening victory, Hardy tied for fourth at Olympia Fields in the toughest event of the season so far. Hardy gets a slight edge here because unlike many of college golf’s top players, he has played twice – and played well each time, holding a scoring average of 69.6 in six total rounds.

• • •

2. Cameron Champ

  • Year: Junior
  • School: Texas A&M
  • Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: N/A
  • Results: won, Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational
  • The buzz: When you win the premier event of the fall, you earn a spot on this list. Champ battled a back injury when he first arrived in College Station, but he qualified for last season’s NCAA Championship and is playing more like the player many expected him to be in college after a nice junior career.

• • •

3. Dylan Meyer

  • Year: Junior
  • School: Illinois
  • Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: N/A
  • Results: second, Wolf Run Intercollegiate; T-2, Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational
  • The buzz: No wins, but he has a pair of runner-up finishes, including one at Olympia Fields, where he won in 2014. His 69.6 scoring average is also tied with teammate Nick Hardy.

• • •

4. Braden Thornberry

  • Year: Sophomore
  • School: Ole Miss
  • Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: N/A
  • Results: T-4, The Invitational at The Ocean Course; won, FAMC Intercollegiate at The Grove
  • The buzz: The season’s first Haskins sleeper, Thornberry is an unknown to some who follow college golf – but he won’t be for long. His schedule so far hasn’t been as tough as some other Haskins contenders, but Thornberry does have a 70.16 scoring average in six total rounds and hasn’t finished outside of the top 4. And his remaining schedule, especially in the spring, is strong enough to keep him on this list if he keeps playing well.

• • •

T-5. Fredrik Nilehn

  • Year: Junior
  • School: Texas Tech
  • Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: N/A
  • Results: won, The Carmel Cup
  • The buzz: Like Georgia Tech freshman Luke Schniederjans, Nilehn began his season with a win in a competitive event, which is why I have them tied at the fifth spot. Nilehn is currently competing for Sweden in the World Amateur Team Championship in Mexico, but he’ll return to Lubbock in time for the team’s next event, the Paintbrush Intercollegiate, which begins Oct. 10 in Denver.

• • •

T-5. Luke Schniederjans

  • Year: Freshman
  • School: Georgia Tech
  • Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: N/A
  • Results: won, Carpet Capital Collegiate
  • The buzz: His older brother Ollie never won the Haskins, but thanks to his victory at the Carpet Capital, where he played as an individual, the youngest Schniederjans brother starts the season in the top 5 on this watch list.

Intriguing prospects

In future installments, this section will chronicle potential Haskins Award contenders who have been trending up or down of late. With it being so early in the season, this week I’ll look at players who didn’t do enough to make the top-five cut but who are “intriguing prospects” for the year due to their performances last season, over the summer and/or early this fall.

• • •

Maverick McNealy, Sr., Stanford

McNealy has yet to play an event this fall, but is a past Haskins winner (2015) and current World No. 1 amateur.

Sam Horsfield, Soph., Florida

Opened the Carpet Capital with a 65, but ended up T-6. Still, “Sammy Ho” is one of the nation’s top players.

Will Zalatoris, Jr., Wake Forest

Zalatoris opened his year with a T-2 showing at the Rod Myers Invitational.

Matthias Schwab, Sr., Vanderbilt

Finished T-5 at Pebble Beach in the season opener and ranked No. 4 in the WAGR.

Grant Hirschman, Jr., Oklahoma

“Hirsch” was T-22 at Pebble Beach before winning the Gopher Invitational in his second start.

Nick Carlson, Soph., Michigan

The 2016 U.S. Amateur semifinalist shared medalist honors at the Inverness Intercollegiate.

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