The Ben Hogan Award is presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate golfer, taking into account all college and amateur competitions during the last 12 months.

Kirk, a senior from Woodstock, is one of the 10 national semifinalists for the second straight year. In fact, in 2006 he was one of the three national finalists.

The other semifinalists are Rhys Davies of East Tennessee State, Florida’s Billy Horschel, Dustin Johnson of Coastal Carolina, Colt Knost of SMU, Southern California’s Jamie Lovemark, Pablo Martin and Jonathan Moore of Oklahoma State, Wake Forest’s Webb Simpson and Dawie Van Der Walt of Lamar.

The Hogan Award selection committee will announce three finalists on May 2. They will attend the black-tie Hogan Award banquet on May 21 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, with the recipient announced that evening.

Kirk has a scoring average this season of 71.24, which is tops in the SEC. He was named National and SEC Player of the Week after claiming medalist honors at the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational, and he was chosen SEC Player of the Week after finishing fifth at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship. Kirk is the reigning SEC Player of the Year.

Kirk’s win at the Schenkel was his third of the year and the school-record sixth of his career. Kirk and his teammates will play Monday through Wednesday at the United States Collegiate Championship in Alpharetta.