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Men's Golf Inks Pair of Recruits
The Missouri State men's golf team has signed a pair of high school standouts to national letters of intent for the 2011-12 season. Head coach Neal Stafford has announced the addition of Ben Hogan of Ozark, Mo., and Mark Karlsen of Alleroed, Denmark, to the Bears' program. Hogan is ranked fourth in the senior class in Missouri by National Junior Golf Scoreboard, and captured his Class 4 district title last Thursday (Apr. 28) at Hickory Hills Country Club in Springfield. He also has won the Springfield Invitational and MSU Relays this season. Hogan has placed in the top 15 at the Missouri Junior Amateur Championship the past two seasons and made it to the semi-finals of the state junior match play tournament in 2009. His brother, Will, was a junior for the Bears this season and was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year. Karlsen collected five top-10 finishes this past season in the 12 tournaments which count toward the Danish Order of Merit. He also picked up his first victory on the country's amateur tour, posting a three-shot win at the Gilleleje Open, and finished third in the McDonald Open. Karlsen has been a member of the presitigious Danish Junior Golf Academy, which features the country's most talented players, since 2007. "I'm really looking forward to having Ben and Mark join our program next season," Stafford said. "Ben has a tremendous amount of talent and I believe his best golf is ahead of him. He defines what I'm looking for in a recruit and I look forward to working with him to help achieve his goals in collegiate golf." "Mark works very hard on his game and that's evident in the strong fundamentals he shows in his golf swing," he added. "He's a strong student who I think will be able to make the transition to college life and the college game very quickly." The Bears will return Will Hogan, MVC Newcomer of the Year Daily Young and fellow all-conference performer Jordan McLaurin next season along with three other lettermen from this year's squad that finished third at last week's Missouri Valley Conference Championship.
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