June 18, 2004

Navy golf sensation Billy Hurley (Leesburg, Va.) has been named to the PING Honorable Mention All-America team announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America. Hurley is one of 39 players to earn honorable mention recognition, while 69 players make up the four tiers (first team, second team, third team and honorable mention) of All-America honors.

A four-time All-Patriot League selection, Hurley is the first golfer to earn All-America recognition in the League's 14-year history. He is just the fourth golfer (Eric Uteggard '69 and Dave Ziemba '77) in Navy history to garner All-America recognition and the first since 1998 when Aaron Wright claimed the highest of honors.

Earlier in the week, Hurley was named a Second-Team Academic All-American, graduating from the Academy with a degree in quantitative economics in May with a 3.71 cumulative grade-point average.

Of the 51 collegiate meets in which he participated during his four-year career, he produced seven wins, finished in the top five 25 times and the top 10 31 times. Awarded the Academy's Thompson Trophy Cup, presented to that midshipman, male or female, who has done the most during the year to promote athletics at the Naval Academy, he added to his lengthy list of accomplishments when he learned he was the recipient of the 2004 Byron Nelson Award.

Additionally, he was one of the first-two players to be named to the 2004 Palmer Cup presented by Monster Team and is the first player to represent a service academy in the annual Ryder Cup-style competition. He was also on the watch list for the 2004 The Ben Hogan Award and was named the 2004 Patriot League Player of the Year after capturing the Patriot League Tournament title.

Hurley, who garnered PING Mid-Atlantic Region recognition for the second-consecutive season, completed his collegiate career in mid-May when he placed 14th at the 2004 NCAA East Region Championship in New Haven, Conn.

Commissioned an Ensign in the United States Navy, Hurley received special permission from the Navy to compete in various tournaments over the summer. In his first amateur of the summer, he finished in a three-way tie for 11th at the 51st Annual Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament for Champions.

He is currently leading the Monroe Invitational Championship in Pittsford, N.Y. after two rounds with two to go.