Ben Hogan Award semifinalists

At the risk of stating the obvious, as a member of the committee picking the Ben Hogan Award, the toughest part I found with narrowing the original watch list down to 10 semifinalists was picking the ninth and 10th players. Picking the last of the three finalists I also think is going to be a tough exercise. That trio will be named May 7, and the award winner will be named at a banquet held at Colonial CC in Fort Worth on May 18. (Ken Venturi will be the keynote speaker.)

Below is the official list of the semifinalists that the Golf Coaches Association of America just released. Meanwhile, stay tuned ... the Palmer Cup teams should be named in the next few days. Last Monday, Marten Olander of Sweden was named European coach for the matches, to be played June 26-27 at Scotland's Glascow GC.

Ben Hogan Award presented by Chesapeake Energy

Jonas Blixt, Florida State

Kevin Chappell, UCLA

Jonas Enander Hedin, Charlotte

Rickie Fowler, Oklahoma State

Chesson Hadley, Georgia Tech

Rory Hie, Southern California

Jamie Lovemark, Southern California

Webb Simpson, Wake Forest

Joel Sjoholm, Georgia State

Michael Thompson, Alabama