Aug. 23, 2012
St. Andrews, Scotland -- The Royal and Ancient (R&A) Golf Club of St. Andrews and United States Golf Association (USGA) announced that Washington Husky senior golfer Chris Williams is the sixth recipient of the Mark H. McCormack Medal, the award given to the top-ranked amateur golfer at the conclusion of the amateur season and following the U.S. and European Amateur Championships. Williams, from Moscow, Idaho, has spent several weeks as the World Amateur Golf Ranking's number one player. He ascended to the top spot for the second time this summer before play began last week at the U.S. Amateur Championship and held on to No. 1 after tying for seventh in stroke play and advancing to the quarterfinals of match play. The No. 1 ranking and McCormack Medal means Williams is exempt for both the 2013 U.S. and Open Championships. "I don't think about the rankings or look at them very often," Williams said after learning he was the award recipient. "This was a surprise and a shock to me when I learned that I had won." Williams is the second Husky to win the prestigious McCormack Medal. His former teammate, Nick Taylor, took home the honor in 2009 after spending 13 weeks as the top amateur golfer. This year, Williams has several impressive victories under his belt, including the NCAA Southwest Regional, both the stroke play and match play portions of the Western Amateur Championship and a dominating victory in the Washington Amateur Championship. Williams also sported a 3-1 record in the Palmer Cup, led the Sahalee Players Championship after 71 holes before losing in a three-way playoff and had a top-10 finish in stroke play at the U.S. Public Links Championship before falling in the opening round of match play. Williams is also currently ranked second in the Scratch Players World Amateur Rankings and is third in the Golfweek/Amateurgolf.com rankings. For the Huskies, Williams has carved out an outstanding career in his first three years. He holds the school record for career wins (6), is third in top-10 finishes (20) and his scoring average of 70.61 as a junior is the second-lowest in UW history. His play has earned him first team PING All-America honors three times and as a freshman he took home the Phil Mickelson Award for national freshman of the year and Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Williams was a semifinalist for the Hogan Award in 2012. During his time at UW, Williams has also represented the United States in the 2011 Walker Cup and has twice been on the Palmer Cup squad (2012 and 2011). In 2011 he qualified for the U.S. Open and missed the cut by two strokes. Previous Winners |
