Check out who’s in the running for women’s college golfer of the year.
With every passing week, the women’s college golf season creeps closer to the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
The Annika Award presented by Stifel announced Monday its first spring watch list, featuring 15 of the best women’s college golfers this season. Maisie Filler, a senior at Florida who has risen to No. 1 in the NCAA college golf rankings, is having a great season, but there are plenty of other big names in contention.
The Annika Award honors the player of the year in men’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media. The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the Annika Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel reporters.
Stanford is the only school with two players on the watch list. Just because a player isn’t on this watch list doesn’t mean she can’t play her way on to it later in the season.
Check out the 15 players on the first spring watch list for the Annika Award:
Here’s a look at the 21 players on the Annika Award final fall watch list.
The fall season in college golf is winding to a close, which means it’s time to recognize players who set themselves apart as frontrunners in women’s college golf over the past two and a half months.
The Annika Award presented by Stifel honors the player of the year in women’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media. The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the Haskins Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel reporters.
Here’s a look at the 21 players on the Annika Award final fall watch list.
The Annika Award is the Player of the Year honor in women’s college golf
College golf is back, which means it’s time to look at Player of the Year candidates.
The Annika Award presented by Stifel honors the player of the year in college men’s golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media.
Last year, Rose Zhang dominated college golf, earning the Annika Award for the second straight year. She went on to win her first start as a professional at the Mizuho Americas Open and is now a part of the United States Solheim Cup team.
On Monday, the Annika Foundation announced its 2023-24 Annika Award preseason watch list. The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the Annika Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel writers.
Here’s a look at the 25 golfers on the preseason watch list.
With the championship field set, the race for the ANNIKA Award is starting to heat up. A handful of players have made their case throughout the season as front-runners for the ANNIKA Award, which honors the player of the year in women’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media.
Zhang is the second Cardinal to win the award, joining teammate and 2021 winner Rachel Heck.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Rose Zhang got two big gifts for her 19th birthday.
The Stanford freshman won the individual title at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship by three shots at Grayhawk Golf Club on Monday and on her birthday on Tuesday was named the winner of the 2022 ANNIKA Award, given annually to the player of the year in women’s college golf.
Last year, Zhang’s teammate Rachel Heck won the first individual national title in program history and also become the ANNIKA Award’s first winner from Stanford in its eighth-year history.
After winning her first three collegiate starts, Zhang ended a phenomenal freshman campaign with her fourth win of the season at the national championship following a final-round 75 – the same as Heck last year, as well. The Irvine, California, native led the championship wire-to-wire and was one of just two players to shoot two rounds in the 60s over the first four days in the desert. Zhang earned four runner-up finishes, a T-4 and a T-10 this season thanks to an impressive 69.56 scoring average.
The winner of the ANNIKA Award is selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media and has been handed out annually since the 2014 season.
With the championship field set, the race for the ANNIKA Award is starting to heat up. A handful of players have made their case throughout the season as front-runners for the ANNIKA Award, which honors the player of the year in women’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media.
The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the ANNIKA Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel writers.
As the spring season progresses, players make their case for the 2022 ANNIKA Award.
Women’s golf is at the forefront this week as the top players in the world meet for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, to be played at Champions Retreat Golf Club and Augusta National Golf Club on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
As an amateur event and not a college event, the ANWA doesn’t figure into the selection of the ANNIKA Award, but the tournament will still showcase many of the college game’s best, like top-ranked Rose Zhang and her Stanford teammate Rachel Heck, who has now won eight titles with the Cardinal.
The ANNIKA Award honors the player of the year in women’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media.
The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the ANNIKA Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel writers.
Rachel Heck won six times, including at the NCAA Championship, in an incredible freshman season.
Rachel Heck arrived on campus at Stanford 101 days ago. For a while there, she wondered if the day would ever come. Like so many, she’d been a remote college freshman since the fall, studying and practicing on her own back home in Memphis.
A happy Heck couldn’t wait to put on a Stanford uniform, live beside her teammates and create hype lists for the van. The Cardinal fell short of the ultimate goal, a team title, when they lost to Arizona in overtime on a heartbreaking putt in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. But Heck put together a season the golf world won’t soon forget.
“I don’t really think that any of us can wrap our arms around it,” said Stanford coach Anne Walker.
On Monday, Heck was crowned NCAA individual champion. Now she’s the 2021 ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel winner, given to the best player in Division I golf based on a vote by her peers, plus coaches, golf media and SIDs. The honor also comes with an exemption into the Amundi Evian Championship, an LPGA major.
Heck remembers being a junior player, excitedly running to her mother to share the news that the ANNIKA Award’s Instagram account had followed her personal account.
“I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” she said. “I thought maybe one day I could crack the list possibly. To actually be on the list and then actually win the award.”
Heck won six times over the course of nine starts, becoming only the third player in history to sweep the postseason by winning conference, regionals and nationals. Annie Park did the same at USC in 2013 as a freshman. Arizona’s Marisa Baena became the first player to do it in 1996, also as a freshman. Both Heck and Park pulled off the trifecta in their first semester in school.
Anne Walker, Rachel Heck
Heck, who next week competes in the U.S. Women’s Open at Olympic, competed in the 2018 Evian Championship, an LPGA major, and finished tied for 44th, calling it one of the best weeks of her life.
“I can’t wait for another family trip to France,” she said.
Heck won her last five consecutive events in college and had 12 consecutive rounds in the 60s, including a 66 at Olympic from tees that are longer than the USWO setup and from Sunday hole locations used at the 2012 U.S. Open. Her closing 74 at the NCAA Championship was her first over-par round since mid-March.
She ended the season ranked No. 1 by Golfweek and boasts the lowest scoring average in NCAA history, putting up a 69.72 average in 25 rounds. Alabama’s Lauren Stephenson set the previous record of 69.76 in 2018.
“I think on the outside I looked OK,” said Robert Heck after watching his daughter battle down the stretch for the NCAA title. “On the inside, I’m amazed I was able to stay on my feet.”
Heck suffered a back injury in the summer between her sophomore and junior year of high school that put her in pain for the better part of 18 months. She went through several rounds of injections and dutifully did 90 minutes of therapy with her mother daily.
She was miserable on the golf course, her father said. Heck said she was drowning in self-afflicted pressure. It was during that time period that she started to explore the idea of the military. When she came back to golf after the injury and the pandemic, Heck reemerged with a new perspective.
“Her day and her mood is not defined by score,” said Robert, “and that has freed her up.”
For Heck, the fact that her peers play a role in the award is especially meaningful.
“They’re the reason I play golf,” she said, “the reason I look forward to these tournaments … of course I love golf, but I was just so excited to hang out with my friends and have ping pong and putting contests.”
STANFORD, CA – MAY 12: Rachel Heck during the final round of the NCAA Stanford Regional at Stanford Golf Course on May 12, 2021 in Stanford, California.
With the NCAA Women’s Championship field set, the race for the ANNIKA Award is starting to heat up.
The postseason is underway in women’s golf, and after this week’s NCAA Regionals, the NCAA Women’s Championship field is set for May 21-26 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
With that championship field set, the race for the ANNIKA Award is starting to heat up. A handful of players have shone throughout the season as front-runners for the ANNIKA Award, which honors the player of the year in women’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the college golf media.
The players are listed alphabetically. Players on the ANNIKA Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel writers.
