The favorite, three who could challenge and dark horses for the 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Starting Friday, the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships gets underway from Grayhawk Golf Club.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Starting Friday, the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship gets underway from Grayhawk Golf Club.

Thirty teams and six individuals will battle it out, beginning with four rounds of stroke play, starting Friday and concluding Monday when an individual champion will be crowned. Then the top eight teams will advance to match play, which begins Tuesday, and the finals will be Wednesday, when the team champion will be crowned.

Ahead of the first round of competition, Golfweek takes a look at some of the players to watch, including the favorite, those who could challenge for the individual crown and some dark horses who could make a run.

Golfweek/Sagarin rankingsWomen’s team | Women’s individual

ANNIKA Award: Final fall watch list for 2022-23 women’s college golf season

Check out who’s in the running for women’s college golfer of the year.

As the fall season winds to a close, 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.

Rose Zhang, who won the award as a freshman at Stanford last season, is off to an excellent start this year, but plenty of others are making their case early, like Andrea Lignell at Ole Miss, among many others.

The ANNIKA Award honors the player of the year in college women’s 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.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual