Patrick Cantlay

UCLA’s Patrick Cantlay on Monday became the first sophomore to win the Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the top men’s player in college and amateur events over a 12-month period. Freshmen Jordan Spieth (Texas) and Patrick Rodgers (Stanford) were the other finalists, part of the youngest class in the award’s 11-year history.

The announcement was made Monday during Golfweek’s live webcast at Colonial Country Club.

Cantlay, of Los Alamitos, Calif., was low amateur at the Masters (T-47) and the 2011 U.S. Open (T-21). Last year, he shot 60 at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship and finished in the top 25 in four Tour events, including a tie for ninth at the RBC Canadian Open.

He was runner-up at the U.S. Amateur, Western Amateur and NCAA Championship.

Cantlay, 20, had two runners-up among four top-5 finishes in eight starts this season for third-ranked UCLA, which is one of the favorites for next week’s NCAA Division I Men’s Championship at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Cantlay became the first player to win the Hogan Award despite not having won a college event that season. He is No. 16 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

Spieth, the top-ranked player in Golfweek’s rankings, has three wins this season and was named the Big 12 Player and Freshman of the Year.

Rodgers, No. 4 in Golfweek’s rankings, won two top college events, the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational and Western Intercollegiate, and last summer’s Porter Cup.

All three finalists played for the U.S. in the Walker Cup.