MALIBU, California – Sahith Theegala of the Pepperdine men's golf team is now 2-for-2 earning National Player of the Year honors, as he was named the winner of the prestigious Ben Hogan Award this evening.
Theegala also earned the Fred Haskins Award last month. Since 1990 -- when the Hogan Award was established -- Theegala is now just the fifth player to earn the Haskins and Hogan awards in the same year.
The Ben Hogan Award is given to the top college golfer taking into account all collegiate, amateur and professional competitions over the past 12 months. It is presented by the Ben Hogan Trophy Award Foundation, Friends of Golf and Konica Minolta Business Solutions.
Theegala (Chino Hills, Calif./Diamond Bar HS), a fifth-year senior, was the top-ranked player in the nation by both Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin when the season ended abruptly in mid-March. He was named to All-American first teams by both the GCAA/PING and Golfweek. In eight tournaments this season, he won twice and posted a school-record 69.04 scoring average. He had six top-10s and was in the top-20 at all eight events. Seventeen of his 24 rounds were below-par.
Theegala helped the Waves reach their first-ever #1 regular-season ranking in program history this season. Pepperdine ended the shortened season ranked #1 in the Bushnell/Golfweek coaches poll and by Golfstat.
In tonight's online award show, officials from the Ben Hogan Award went to Theegala's house to present the award.
"It's definitely a big surprise that they came knocking on my door with the award there but it was super cool," Theegala said. "It's so special for me, and my family and my coaches. It meant the world to me. Winning the Ben Hogan Award, that's something that's going to take some getting used to, but I'm super excited.
"If I don't have my teammates there or my coaches there or my Pepperdine family there or my actual family there to push me, I don't think I get this award. We were so competitive as a team this year. Those guys pushed me every step of the way to become better. Obviously being the number one team in the country, that certainly helped. We had a couple of All-Americans and were such a deep team that every time I went to practice or stepped into a tournament those guys were pushing me really hard, so I attribute a lot of this to my Pepperdine team."
Theegala holds Pepperdine career records for scoring average (70.61) and below-par rounds (74) and is tied for the #1 spot in top-20 finishes (36) and wins (four).
He's a three-time All-American (just the third in program history), a three-time All-West Coast Conference honoree and a four-time All-West Region selection.
Theegala turned professional last week. Winning the Ben Hogan Award will give him a spot in the 2021 Charles Schwab Challenge.
Theegala is also a finalist for the Jack Nicklaus Award, another national player of the year honor, which will be presented next month.
The previous four student-athletes to win the Haskins and Hogan awards in the same year were Patrick Rodgers of Stanford (2014), Ryan Moore of UNLV (2005), Bill Haas of Wake Forest (2004) and Hunter Mahan of Oklahoma State (2003).
