LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. and ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (Aug. 27, 2018) – Braden Thornberry, 21, of Olive Branch, Miss., has won the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading men’s player in the 2018 World Amateur Golf Ranking™ (WAGR). As the McCormack Medal recipient, Thornberry will earn exemptions into the 2019 U.S. Open Championship and 2019 Open Championship, conducted by The R&A, provided he remains an amateur.
Thornberry was chosen second-team All-American as a junior at the University of Mississippi in 2017-18 and became the third player in Ole Miss history to be selected to an All-America team multiple times. He also earned All-Southeast Region and All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) recognition for the second consecutive year. Thornberry, who was the world No. 1 player for 11 weeks, posted nine top-10 finishes, including four wins, and was 15th in the NCAA in stroke average (70.28). He is the program’s career leader with 11 tournament victories.
Thornberry, who recently advanced to match play in the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links, qualified for this year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Thornberry, who became the first Ole Miss player to be named a Ben Hogan Award finalist, made the 36-hole cut in two PGA Tour events – tied for 26th in the FedEx St. Jude Classic and tied for 61st in the RSM Classic – and tied for 22nd in the Web.com Tour’s North Mississippi Classic.
In 2017, Thornberry won the NCAA Division I individual title by four strokes with a 72-hole score of 11-under 277 and received the Fred Haskins Award as the top collegiate golfer. He registered two singles victories in helping the USA win the Walker Cup Match at Los Angeles (Calif.) Country Club last September. Additionally, he was a key figure in Team USA capturing the 2018 Palmer Cup in France.
The USGA and The R&A co-award the McCormack Medal annually. It is named after Mark H. McCormack, who founded sports marketing company IMG and was a great supporter of amateur golf.
The World Amateur Golf Ranking, which is supported by Rolex, was established in 2007 when the men’s ranking was launched. The men’s ranking encompasses more than 2,700 counting events, ranking 6,200 players from 106 countries. The women’s ranking was launched in 2011 and has a calendar of more than 1,850 counting events with more than 2,850 ranked players from 78 countries.
The World Amateur Golf Ranking™, which comprises a women’s ranking and a men’s ranking for elite amateur players, is offered by The R&A and the USGA as a global service to golf. Through incorporation and assessment worldwide of both amateur and professional events, WAGR encourages the international development of the competitive game. The ranking endeavors to be the most comprehensive and accurate ranking in golf by effectively comparing players from around the world who may never directly compete against one another. It is available to national federations and organizers of amateur and professional events and tours as a criterion for tournament field selection and for purposes of exemptions, national team selection, and orders of merit.
The award is named after Mark H. McCormack, the late founder of sports marketing company IMG and an avid supporter of amateur golf. The Mark H. McCormack Medal is awarded to the player ranked No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking™ after the U.S. Amateur Championship or the European Amateur Championship, whichever concludes last. Established in 2007, the same award goes to the player leading the women’s ranking after the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship or U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, whichever concludes last.