PRESENTING
MEN’S AMATEUR
FIRST TEAM
Ludvig Åberg
Sweden/Texas Tech
Winner: Valspar Collegiate
Winner: NCAA Norman Regional
Winner: The Prestige
Before he won his first DP World Tour event and made the European Ryder Cup team, Åberg had a sensational close to his prolific career at Texas Tech. He won four college tournaments in his final semester, made the cut at two PGA Tour events and finished No. 1 in the PGA Tour University class of 2023 to earn PGA Tour status.
Fred Biondi
Brazil/Florida
Winner: NCAA Championship
Winner: Augusta Haskins Award Invite
Winner: Sea Best Invitational
Biondi earns a considerable amount of points from us based on the rare feat of winning an individual NCAA Championship and then leading his Florida Gators squad to a team title just a few days later. He also won two other college events in the spring and had a strong showing at the Latin America Am.
Nick Dunlap
Huntsville, Alabama/Alabama
Winner: U.S. Amateur
Winner: Northeast Amateur
Winner: North and South Amateur
Our men’s amateur of the year put together an outstanding summer. Still recovering from a wrist injury in 2022, Dunlap had a solid spring semester that included a victory – and then he went off in the summer, winning three of the biggest events on the calendar, reaching the quarterfinals of the Western Am and qualifying for the U.S. Walker Cup team. He then won another college event in the fall and was individual runner-up on the victorious U.S. squad in the World Amateur Team Championship.
David Ford
Peachtree Corners, Georgia/North Carolina
Winner: Jones Cup Invitational
Winner: Williams Cup
Runner-up: Valspar Collegiate
Ford got his year off to an auspicious start in early January when he outdueled Caleb Surratt to win the prestigious Jones Cup Invitational. He was remarkably consistent for the rest of 2023, pushing his way into the top five of the World Amateur Golf Ranking. A round-of-16 appearance in the U.S. Am, a top-five at the World Amateur Team Championship, winning the Williams Cup and making the cut in a PGA Tour event filled out his résumé.
Ben James
Millford, Connecticut/Virginia
Winner: NCAA Las Vegas Regional
Winner: Lewis Chitengwa Invitational
Quarterfinalist: U.S. Amateur
James was a fabulous freshman who won three college events last spring and finished outside of the top six only once in nine starts. He had a tough summer, but his quarterfinals run in the U.S. Am and Walker Cup selection was enough to warrant inclusion on the first team.
Kazuma Kobori
New Zealand
Winner: Western Amateur
Low individual: World Amateur Team Championship
Winner: Australian Amateur
Kobori was sensational in 2023, winning three massive tournaments and taking the Elite Amateur Golf Series crown. His final-round 65 in the World Amateur Team Championship pushed him past Dunlap for medalist and proved once again that this 22-year-old Kiwi is one of the most noticeable rising stars within amateur golf.
Christo Lamprecht
South Africa/Georgia Tech
Winner: Amateur Championship
Made cut: Open Championship (pro)
Winner: OFCC Fighting Illini Invitational
Everyone knows Lamprecht for his height – 6 feet, 8 inches tall – but his golf game deserves even more attention. Lamprecht won the Amateur and made the cut at the Open, a gargantuan feat. He also stood tall with nine other top-10 finishes throughout the year, including a victory against one of the strongest fields of the year at the OFCC Fighting Illini Invitational.
Gordon Sargent
Birmingham, Alabama/Vanderbilt
U.S. Walker Cup team: 4-0 record
Made cut: U.S. Open (pro)
Winner: Mason Rudolph Championship
The McCormack Medal winner and top-ranked amateur in the world was brilliant in 2023. He won two college events in the spring and bounced back from a disappointing Masters showing by making the cut at the U.S. Open. He was the man of the match in the Americans’ dramatic Walker Cup triumph and went 3-0-1 in the Palmer Cup as well. His place on the World Amateur Team Championship earned Sargent PGA Tour U’s accelerated tour status, awaiting him next spring.
Preston Summerhays
Scottsdale, Arizona/Arizona State
Winner: Thunderbird Collegiate
Winner: Sahalee Players Championship
Made cut: Fortinet Championship (pro)
Some will be surprised to see Summerhays on the first team, and it was definitely a close call. However, his body of work was impressive. Summerhays won two college events against great fields, had four other top-five finishes in the spring, made match play at both the Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur, went 2-1-1 in the Walker Cup and made the cut in a PGA Tour event.
Caleb Surratt
Indian Trail, North Carolina/Tennessee
U.S. Walker Cup team: 3-1 record
Winner: SEC Championship
Runner-up: Jones Cup Invitational
Surratt was inconsistent in 2023, but his highs were enough to get him on the first team. He won the SEC Championship as a freshman – the first player to do that since Alabama’s Justin Thomas in 2012 – had runner-up showings at the Jones Cup and Northeast Am, went 3-1 in the Walker Cup and played well in a Korn Ferry Tour event.
Second Team
Jose Ballester
Spain/Arizona State
Winner: European Amateur
Top 5: Calusa Cup
Top 5: NCAA Las Vegas Regional
Sam Bennett
Madisonville, Texas/Texas A&M
Top 20: Masters (pro)
Winner: John Burns Intercollegiate
Top 5: PGA Tour University
Michael Brennan
Leesburg, Virginia/Wake Forest
Winner: ACC Championship
Winner: Southwestern Invitational
Top 5: Jones Cup Invitational
Luke Clanton
Miami Lakes, Florida/Florida State
Winner: NCAA Morgan Hill Regional
Top 5: Northeast Amateur
Top 5: Sunnehanna Amateur
Nick Gabrelcik
Trinity, Florida
Winner: Southern Amateur
Runner-up: Williams Cup
Top 5: Australian Master of the Amateurs
Dylan Menante
Carlsbad, California/North Carolina
Runner-up: Southern Amateur
Top 5: NCAA Championship
Top 5: Williams Cup
Maxwell Moldovan
Uniontown, Ohio/Ohio State
Winner: NCAA Auburn Regional
Top 5: Valspar Collegiate
Neal Shipley
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania/Ohio State
Runner-up: U.S. Amateur
Runner-up: Sunnehanna Amateur
Runner-up: Trans-Miss Amateur
Michael Thorbjornsen
Wellesley, Massachusetts/Stanford
Winner: Pac 12 Championship
Top 20: John Deere Classic (pro)
Top 20: Hero Dubai Desert Classic (pro)
Jackson Van Paris
Pinehurst, North Carolina/Vanderbilt
Winner: Sunnehanna Amateur
Semifinalist: North and South Amateur
Top 10: Northeast Amateur
Photo Credits
JONATHAN BACHMAN, GETTY IMAGES
KATHRYN RILEY, USGA
STEVEN GIBBONS, USGA
Nick Dunlap, David Ford, Ben James, Kazuma Kobori,
Gordon Sargent, Preston Summerhays, Caleb Surratt
CHRIS KEANE, USGA