JUNE 1, 2011 – Marta Silva Zamora, a junior at the University of Georgia, has won the 2011 Honda Sports Award in golf, designating her as the nation’s top collegiate female athlete in that sport. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of The Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 35th year. Silva Zamora is the fourth University of Georgia athlete to receive the Honda Sports Award for golf, following Terri Moody (1981), Cindy Schreyer (1983) and Vicki Goetze (1992).
The Honda Sports Award is given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, along with automatic eligibility to become a “Top Three” finalist for Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year. Silva Zamora was voted over three other nominees for the 2011 award: freshman Austin Ernst of Louisiana State University, senior Lizette Salas of the University of Southern California and senior Kelli Shean of the University of Arkansas. The nominees were selected by finish at the NCAA Championships and rankings.
Noted Zamora, “I'm extremely proud to be named the Honda Sports Award winner for women's golf. I had a very consistent season from start to finish and I believe that was a big factor in winning. This award is an honor not only for me but for many others who helped and supported me...my coaches, my teammates, my family. It's exciting to add my name to the other golfers from Georgia who have won this prestigious award, and it's also neat to be included in the group of great athletes from other sports nominated for the overall Honda-Broderick Cup."
A native of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Silva Zamora was ranked #1 most of the spring and shattered the University of Georgia stroke average, finishing at 71.51 and bettering former Bulldog and current LPGA Tour member Taylor Leon's mark of 72.63 established in 2006-07.
She recorded 22 par-or-better tallies in 33 rounds played this season, finishing a cumulative 15-under par. She collected her third—and Georgia's 44th – All-America certificate from the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA). She was named the PING National Player of the Year this spring by the NGCA, and was selected as first-team All-America by the NGCA. She also received the Golfstat Cup as the nation's leading golfer statistically.
Notably, Silva Zamora now holds first-, third- and 10th-best season averages in Bulldog history. She also led her team this year in virtually every statistical category including stroke average (71.52), counting rounds (100 percent), par-or-better rounds (22), top-10s (9), top-20s (10) and birdies (109). She finished her junior season in fourth-place at the NCAA Championships, her sixth top-five finish in 10 tournaments completed during 2010-11.
A standout student, Silva Zamora is majoring in Speech Communications and compiled a 2.97 GPA in 2010-11. She was the recipient of the Georgia Women's Golf Scholarship for 2009-10 and the Mary B. Dinos Scholarship for 2010-11.
Previously announced Honda Sports Award recipients include Kayla Hoffman from the University of Alabama for gymnastics, Maya Moore from the University of Connecticut for basketball, Katinka Hosszu from the University of Southern California for swimming & diving, Sheila Reid from Villanova University for cross-country, Katie O’Donnell from the University of Maryland for field hockey, Melissa Henderson from Notre Dame for soccer, and Blair Brown of Penn State University for volleyball. Honda Award winners in lacrosse, softball, tennis, and track & field will be announced in the coming weeks. The Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year will be determined by separate balloting involving all NCAA-member institutions. On June 27, 2011, the winner will receive the Honda-Broderick Cup at a ceremony in New York, at which the “Top Three” finalists are scheduled to attend.
