The NCAA individual champion ended her decorated season with hardware she’d dreamt of hoisting before its start.
The tight contest came down to three finalists: Heck, Arizona State’s Linn Grant and South Carolina’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.
There isn’t much Heck hasn’t won in her freshman year - a shortened campaign, but one that spoke the loudest in college golf. She turned a late February start to her freshman spring into six wins and an individual postseason sweep, becoming Stanford’s first-ever individual winner at nationals. Closing her final round of the season with her first over-par round in two months, she’d never finish worse than 11th during the collegiate season and even found herself in contention at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur with a T3 finish.
The history didn’t just stop at Stanford. Heck broke the NCAA scoring record - her 69.72 bested the previous record of 69.76, set by Alabama’s Lauren Stephenson in 2018.
A magnificent qualifier performance for medalist honors awarded her a spot in the U.S. Women’s Open; an experience that may provide some deja vu in the best way after winning the Olympic Club Collegiate that included a lightning round of 66.
She joins the likes of past winners Natalie Srinivasan (2020), Maria Fassi (2018, 2019), Leona Maguire (2015, 2017), Bronte Law (2016) and Alison Lee (2014).SHE'S IN!
— Stanford Women's Golf (@StanfordWGolf) May 4, 2021
Congratulations to @rachelheck2020 for qualifying today for the @uswomensopen at @TheOlympicClub!#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/Td0h4QdGoE
Heck’s remarkable season might have been cut short in a team quarterfinals exit at nationals, but she’ll be right back in the spotlight as an amateur contestant in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club from June 3-6.