Haas Senior Brandon Hagy Picks Up Three Honors in One Day

Haas Senior and Cal golfer Brandon Hagy, BS 14, added three new honors to his already impressive collection of accolades on Monday: the Byron Nelson Award, the Tom Hansen Pac-12 Conference Medal as Cal’s outstanding senior male student-athlete, and a Golden Bear Achievement Award.

And those awards came just two days after Hagy picked up both a co-team MVP award and the squad’s Ben Furth Award for academic and athletic excellence at the Cal men’s golf annual banquet Saturday night.

Hagy is the first Cal player to win the national Byron Nelson Award, which he received during a live television appearance Monday morning on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive.

Candidates for the Nelson Award must be graduating seniors. The selection committee considers equally a nominee’s entire collegiate academic and golf career and his character and integrity while in college. Particular consideration is given to a nominee’s good citizenship, as portrayed by Byron Nelson, who was known for giving back to the community over the course of his life and golf career.

“It is an incredible honor to receive the Byron Nelson Award,” Hagy said. “It is humbling to be associated with Mr. Nelson’s name and this is a memory I will keep for the rest of my life. …  I have tried to have balance throughout my golfing career and I feel it is our obligation to give back.”

 “This award is a very special when you include the student, the athlete, the integrity and the community service,” said Cal head coach Steve Desimone. “No one has done it better than Brandon … I’d be hard pressed to believe that there was anybody more deserving of this award.”

Hagy is involved with a number of community service and volunteer activities. Off campus, he works with The First Tee, Special Olympics, and the Northern California Golf Association’s Youth on Course for underprivileged children. Hagy is also an officer and the golf team’s representative on the Golden Bear Advisory Committee, a group that organizes student-athletes in community service, including feeding the homeless, visiting local hospitals, and Jog for Jill (a cancer awareness and fundraising project).

The Tom Hansen Pac-12 Conference Medal also received by Hagy Monday is awarded by each university in the Pac-12 to an outstanding male or female student-athlete with the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics, and leadership. Cal's Golden Bear Achievement Award recognizes the individual with the highest GPA from every sport.

In addition to having the highest GPA on the golf team, Hagy is the No. 7 collegiate player nationally in the latest Golfweek rankings and No. 8 according to Golfstat. He has been an individual medalist three times this season and has finished in the top 10 in nine of 12 events with eight of those in the top five. He has also been Cal’s top finisher in four events and leads the Golden Bears with a 70.83 stroke average.

Hagy redshirted during the 2010-11 season to gain entry into the Haas School. "I have always had an interest in business, and the Undergraduate Program at Haas is one of the main factors that led me to Berkeley," Hagy says. "Haas has an incredible reputation of graduating students that think differently and 'challenge the status quo' and that connects with me very well."

After graduating this month, Hagy will represent the U.S. for the Palmer Cup in England at the end of June – his last amateur event – and then turn pro. 

A longer version of this article appeared on the Cal Athletics website.

Courtesy: Todd Drexler/SE Sports Media
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