Calum Scott in running for Ben Hogan Award, a coveted US college prize

Nairn’s Calum Scott is in the running for the 2023 Ben Hogan Award, which recognises both excellence in academics and golf performance at colleges in the United States.

Calum Scott is a sophomore at Texas Tech, having followed in his bif brother Sandy's footsteps by heading there. Picture: Texas Tech

Jon Rahm picked up the coveted prize in both 2015 and 2016, while other recent winners have included Patrick Cantlay (2012) and Viktor Hovland (2019).

Scott is a sophomore at Texas Tech, having followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Sandy, by heading there and making a similar impact.

He is among 37 players to have made a ‘Watch List’ drawn up by the Hogan Trophy Award Foundation, the Friends of Golf (FOG) and Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).

Scott, who has been named in an initial Great Britain & Ireland squad for the Walker Cup at St Andrews in September is just one of six sophomores on the list.

He had a successful fall campaign with an average score of 68.56 over nine rounds, shooting a college best round of 63 in the opening round of the Frederica Cup.

The list will be cut to ten semi-finalists on 14 April before three finalists are announced on 4 May. The winner will be unveiled at an event at Colonial Country Club on 22 May.

Scott’s Texas Tech team-mate and current world No 1, Ludvig Aberg, has also made the initial list as the Swede bids to emulate Rahm by becoming a back-to-back winner.

The contenders also include American Michael Thorbjornsen, who was in contention at the halfway stage in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic before tying for 20th behind Rory McIlroy.