July 2, 2008

USC All-American Rory Hie has been named as the Southern Golf Association's National Amateur of the Month for June, primarily by beating a strong field in the recent Dogwood Invitational at Druid Hills CC in Atlanta, it was announced Wednesday (July 2).

Hie, a junior who has won three collegiate titles in two seasons at USC, closed the tournament with a stunning 10-under-par 62 to win by three shots with a total of 19-under-par 267. The feat capped off an impressive June for Hie, who started the month fresh from a 13th place finish in the NCAA championship. Two weeks later, he posted a fourth-place tie in the prestigious Northeast Amateur in Rhode Island as his final tune-up before the Dogwood.

The 5-year-old SGA award is determined each month by a blue-ribbon national selection panel of golf officials, coaches and journalists. Previous winners this year have included Oklahoma State'ss Trent Leon, Alabama's Michael Thompson and UCLA's Kevin Chappell. The 106-year-old Southern Golf Association promotes amateur golf in a variety of ways, including the staging of the prestigious Southern Amateur Championship, which will include Hie in the field, July 16-19 at the Lake Nona Club in Orlando, Fla.