ANNIKA Award finalists announced
16 May 2022
by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com
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Ingrid Lindblad of LSU is AmateurGolf.com's top-ranked female player in the world
Today, the ANNIKA Award released the names of the top finalists for the player of the year in women’s college golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches, and members of the college golf media.
The ten finalists have separated themselves over the course of the season and the race for the top individual honor in women's golf might come down to the last putt at next week's NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Voting opens on May 16 and ends on May 23rd one hour after the completion of the stroke-play portion of the NCAA Championships. Current players, coaches, and women's golf SID's are all eligible to vote. Select college golf media are also eligible to vote.
The winner will be announced on Golf Channel on Tuesday, May 24th. The winner will receive an exemption into the 2024 Evian Championships.
The 10 finalists for the prestigious honor are as follows:
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Amari Avery, Southern California
One of four freshmen among the 10 finalists, Avery arrived at USC as a spring enrollee and immediately won her first two stroke-play events. She added a third win last week at the Stanford Regional, where she held off Stanford's Rose Zhang for the individual title.
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Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, Wake Forest
Chacarra won her first two collegiate tournaments in back-to-back fashion this spring, capturing the UCF Challenge in February with the lowest 54-hole score in relation to par in Wake Forest program history. She then followed up with her second win at Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in March. Following both victories, Chacarra was named ACC women's golfer of the month.
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Hannah Darling, South Carolina
The native of Midlothian, Scotland fired a bogey-free 6-under 66 in the opening round of her first collegiate tournament, the ANNIKA Intercollegiate in September, where she finished second in her debut to lead the Gamecocks to team title. After recording five top-five finishes on the year and leading the Gamecocks in stroke average, Darling earned first-team All-SEC honors. She is currently ranked No. 8 in the Golfstat Player Rankings and No. 12 in WAGR.
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Alexandra Forsterling, Arizona State
The senior from Berlin, Germany has not finished lower than 22nd in any of her 10 tournaments. A first-team All-Pac 12 selection, Forsterling took home medalist honors at the PING/ASU Invitational in March, leading the Sun Devils to the team title. She is currently ranked second in GolfStat's individual rankings and is 13th in WAGR.
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Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest
After winning the Tar Heel Invite, Kuehn was named to the final Fall Watch List in October. Since then, she was tabbed ACC Women's Golfer of the month and won the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, breaking the tournament record with her 54-hole score of 10-under 203. The win also earned her an LPGA exemption into the JTBC Championship at Palos Verdes in April.
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Ingrid Lindblad, LSU
The two-time SEC Player of the Year has won five tournaments this year and nine in her three years at LSU, giving her more career total wins at LSU than any golfer at the school, male or female in the last 40 years. She is the top female amateur in the world as listed by Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com.
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Polly Mack, Alabama
The fifth-year senior earned first-team All-SEC honors after leading the Crimson Tide with a 71.1 scoring average through 10 tournaments and 29 rounds. She recorded 20 rounds of par-or-better, including nine rounds in the 60s and recorded a career-best 65 and tied her next-best career low of 66 at the NCAA Franklin Regional. She has seven top-10 finishes in 10 events this season, including three finishes inside the top five and a pair of tournament titles at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic and the NCAA Franklin Regional.
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Natasha Andrea Oon, San Jose State
Currently ranked fourth nationally by Golfstat, Oon has a 70.63 stroke average in 30 rounds played. She was the medalist at the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional with a 6-uner 207 and at the Mountain West Championship with a 10-under 206. The Mountain West Conference Player of the Year has finished in the top-10 in nine of the 10 tournaments played this season and has helped the Spartans to five team titles this season.
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Emma Spitz, UCLA
Spitz, a three-time finalist for the ANNIKA Award, leads the Bruins with a 72.0 scoring average, 13 rounds under par, five top-10 and eight top-20 finishes. She most recently tied for third and was one of just four golfers to finish under par (-2, 214) at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional Championships on May 11. In her second round at that event, Spitz shot a 4-over through the first three holes but then torched the course for six birdies on the remaining 15.
• • • • •
Rose Zhang, Stanford
The freshman from Irvine, Calif. burst onto the collegiate golf scene by winning her first three events as a member of the top-ranked Cardinal. She's posted a 69.56 scoring average 27 rounds, recorded seven top-two finishes and finished inside the top-10 in nine events.