Even with his senior season at Vanderbilt University cut short, John Augenstein has a chance to add to an already impressive resume. The former Owensboro Catholic golf star is a finalist for two of college’s most prestigious awards, and he’s still slated to compete in this year’s Masters and U.S. Open.
Augentstein — an All-American for the Commodores — was named a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award, which goes to “the best college golf player” in the country. In March, he was chosen as a finalist for the Haskins Award, which honors “the most outstanding collegiate golfer” in the country.
“It’s certainly very, very special. Those are two extremely well-thought-of awards,” Augensten said. “Being the first Hogan Award finalist at Vanderbilt is certainly pretty cool. We’ve had a lot of good players here, especially recently.”
Always setting sights high, both awards were goals for Augenstein since the beginning of the year.
However, he is disappointed that he doesn’t have a chance to improve his odds since all spring sports were cancelled by the NCAA due to the coronavirus.
“There is nothing I can do now that would let me have a better chance of winning it,” Augenstein said. “Still, I’m very honored to have this opportunity to be thought of to win this award.”
It’s been a little over a month since the pandemic wreaked havoc on the world of sports, and Augenstein said it’s been tough being unable to compete.
“Right now, I’m not doing a whole lot,” he said. “I haven’t practiced that much, but I’ve played some to stay a little bit sharp. I’m ready for competitive golf to start back up. You can only play for fun for so long.”
It’s always been a goal to get to the PGA Tour as soon as possible, but there’s still at least some chance Augenstein returns to Vanderbilt after the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility for spring sports seniors.
Augenstein is weighing his options carefully, and he hopes to make a decision over the coming month or so.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m kind of looking at all the options,” he said. “You always want to finish what you start. I started my career here four years ago with high expectations and high goals for myself and our program and we achieved a lot of those, but there are still some boxes I left unchecked.”
Regardless of his decision, Augenstein will get to play in two majors later this year. In August 2019, he finished runner-up in the United States Amateur Championship — qualifying him for this year’s U.S. Open and Masters.
“I’ll play those two events and that’s really the only concrete thing that I know that’s happening,” he said. “There is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now.”
The PGA Tour is scheduled to resume on June 11. For now, the U.S. Open will be held Sept. 18-21 and the Masters will be played Nov. 12-15.
Assuming the events do go on, Augenstein said he won’t be happy to simply be there. Instead, he wants to prove he’s one of the best young golfers in the world.
“When I show up, I am going to be ready to play — and play well,” he said. “I’m definitely not showing up just to have fun. I have certain goals to be the low amateur, and if I do that I think I’ll be in a pretty good spot.”
