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USA Today
13-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Meet the six players on an undefeated Stanford team headed to Augusta National
Meet the six players on an undefeated Stanford team headed to Augusta National Stanford women's golf has become synonymous with excellence since Anne Walker became head coach in 2012. Three NCAA team titles coupled with a who's who list of starry alums – Rose Zhang, Andrea Lee, Rachel Heck, Maria Stackhouse and Albane Valenzuela – makes Palo Alto, California, the premiere destination in college golf. In fact, the talent pool is so deep in Stanford right now that six of the eight current players on Walker's roster will be in the field at the 2025 Augusta National Women's Amateur. Plus Heck, a former NCAA champion and Stanford grad who last year became a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, will make her fourth appearance. Given all the success Walker has had developing the program at Stanford, and how highly regarded she is in all corners of the game, it's no wonder her name has come up in regard to the LPGA's commissioner search. One would be hard-pressed to find a leader who could better relate to players. "If it was a different time of my life," said Walker of the LPGA job, "I would've loved to have considered it because I believe in the product." Walker, a mother of two young daughters, was a three-time captain at Cal, where she began her coaching career as an assistant for the Golden Bears after earning a geography degree in 2002. As the Cardinal roll on through an undefeated season, Golfweek caught up with Walker to talk about the players on her team who will soon head to Augusta, Georgia. The competition gets underway at Champions Retreat on April 2 and 3 and concludes at Augusta National Golf Club on April 5. *** Megha Ganne The skinny: Making her fifth ANWA start, this junior from Holmdel, New Jersey, won the Nanea Invitational in October. Best finish in Augusta so far was a share of ninth in 2023. WAGR: 12th Coach says: Megha is someone, she's never really going to be very far out of place, she's never going to make a lot of mistakes. It's just her game. She has that kind of game. But where can she just tighten it up a little, maybe gain a shot or two? I think that's been her curiosity in that area of how can I grow, and I understand that I'm not gonna grow a lot, because I'm already really close to the tip of the spear, but how can I grow just a little? So this past year she's put a lot of time in the gym, she's stronger than she's ever been; she's fitter than she's ever been; she's more flexible than she's ever been. It's easy to look from the outside and just say well, I'll putt more; I'll chip more; I'll hit balls more. But when you get so close to that top of the pyramid, sometimes that's not going to be enough. So I think that's where we've seen the growth with Megha, really peeling the layers back on the onion to figure out where she can move the needle. Kelly Xu The skinny: Three fourth-place finishes this season for Xu. The junior from Claremont, California, makes her second ANWA appearance. WAGR: 24th Coach says: Kelly's cruising, I mean she's playing well and her game has come a long way. She's a constant learner. I think she's constantly asking the how, the why, the what can I do better? She's always seeking input, and I think what I'm excited for her this year. She's changing some things up, I don't want to get into what, but she's a little bit of a late bloomer, just because I think 13 years old was her first real tournament in the junior scene. So with everything, Kelly's just been a little bit behind her peers, but I almost consider that sometimes a blessing right, if you want to play 20 years, no one wants to peak at 15. ... Her game is more than ready to win on any stage, I really believe that. Paula Martin Sampedro The skinny: Sophomore from Madrid, Spain, has a pair of individual victories for the Cardinal so far this season and a 69.93 scoring average. Finished T-24 in her ANWA debut last year. WAGR: 10th Coach says: If there was ever an example of 'The Little Engine That Could,' it's Paula. She just never, ever gets off track. She hits shots that, you know, it's a miss, whatever, she will not quit, even if it's a 20-foot putt for par, she's just like mentally so willing it in the hole, that she often makes great putts for par. I think obviously her putting is a strength. She's a beautiful ball-striker, but her putting is a strength mostly because she wills it in the hole. Meja Ortengren The skinny: Freshman's victory at the San Diego State Classic included a second-round 62. Hasn't finished outside the top 10 all season, with a 69.87 scoring average. Making her fourth ANWA start, the Swede's best finish, a T-12, came in 2022. WAGR: 16th Coach says: You know, she lives, eats, sleeps, breathes golf. I think she's been that way since she was 14, 13. She's very driven, very focused, very competitive. She's a responsible kid, but I think just her work ethic is kind of what puts her in a situation to succeed. She's got really great fundamentals, having come through the Swedish Federation from an early age. She's got great technique. You see that a lot with the you know the kids that grow up in those cold weather countries, they usually have quite good technique because there's nothing else you do for five months except for hitting in the dome with the Trackman or the Swing Lab. So she has a pretty complete game. I would say, I think for her, mostly what she's working on is getting away from score being the determining factor of how you're doing with this game, and really trying to immerse more in the process, and again, quite frankly, I just think that's really a result of her upbringing, in the sense that when you're in these cold weather countries, you have a very short playing season, and therefore, you really have to play well. You don't really have any window of like peak here, maintain here. It's kinda like all winter you train, train, train, train, and it's like oh, you better show up and play. So just helping her transition into this new mentality of, hey, you're gonna play 12 months. And because of that, you have to train a little bit different, and you have to almost think of your game a little bit different. It's like a constant process versus a very delineated offseason, on-season. Andrea Revuelta The skinny: 2024 Spanish Amateur champion recorded a pair of top-10s in the fall but hasn't played this spring. Freshman from Madrid took a share of 20th at last year's ANWA. WAGR: 11th Coach says: Andrea is very naturally talented. She's kind of got a beautiful swing, beautiful tempo, beautiful rhythm. She's one of those old-school players that you kinda just love to watch. I think she's pretty balanced in her view of life and where golf fits into that, and that frees her up a little bit to play some great golf because she knows it's not going to change who she is the next day. It's not going to determine whether she's good or bad or up or down. And so I think that it's probably her secret sauce, just the ability to see golf in perspective of the greater picture. Nora Sundberg The skinny: Freshman from Sweden hasn't finished outside the top 20 all season, including a pair of top 10s. Swede finished 28th in her first ANWA appearance last year. WAGR: 48th Coach says: I think she's excited to get back there. I think that she is excited to have a little bit of a different game going into it, both Nora and Meja have talked about how they arrived – because it was winter in Sweden so they'd only been hitting balls off of a mat in a dome and then you know there was no real short game – both of them had arrived in Georgia I think two weeks before. They were also in high school, so they had like this weird stress of OK, I'm gone from high school for three weeks when things are cranking up, I haven't putted or chipped for five months. I've been hitting inside, we have to go train and that's just a long time to be gone from home, anyway. So by the time they were getting to the tournament, they felt like they had crammed short game into two weeks and then you've got to go to Champions Retreat in Augusta and try to transfer ... that's not the place you wanna go with a rusty short game. So they're both excited to be going to Augusta with an entire winter's worth of training here at Siebel, but also they've played some tournaments ahead of Augusta, which is different. So they're kind of just excited to not be going in out of the winter season, but rather going in like feeling like their midseason.
USA Today
03-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Meet the 20 golfers on the Annika Award first spring watch list for 2024-25
Meet the 20 golfers on the Annika Award first spring watch list for 2024-25 The race for the women's college golf player of the year award is heating up. 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. Players on the Annika Award Watch List were selected by a panel of Golfweek and Golf Channel reporters. They are listed alphabetically. Here's a look at the 20 golfers on the first spring watch list for the 2025 Annika Award. Carolina Chacarra, Wake Forest Class: Junior Wins: 1 (Jackson T. Stephens Cup) Top-10 finishes: 4 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 5 Hannah Darling, South Carolina Class: Senior Wins: 1 (Annika Intercollegiate) Top-10 finishes: 3 Stroke play events: 7 Ranking: No. 10 Megha Ganne, Stanford Class: Sophomore Wins: 1 (Nanea Invitational) Top-10 finishes: 3 Stroke play events: 3 Ranking: No. 6 Kary Hollenbaugh, Ohio State Class: Junior Wins: 2 (Therese Hession, Spartan Suncoast) Top-10 finishes: 3 Stroke play events: 5 Ranking: No. 20 Jasmine Koo, USC Class: Freshman Wins: 3 (Windy City, Stanford Intercollegiate, East Lake Cup) Top-10 finishes: 5 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 2 Paula Martin Sampedro, Stanford Class: Sophomore Wins: 1 (The Molly) Top-10 finishes: 2 Stroke play events: 4 Ranking: No. 13 Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas Class: Sophomore Wins: 2 (Blessings, Puerto Rico) Top-10 finishes: 5 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 1 Gabi Nicastro, Samford Class: Sophomore Wins: 3 (Hoover Invite, Terrier Intercollegiate, Mercer Invitational) Top-10 finishes: 5 Stroke play events: 5 Ranking: No. 54 Farah O'Keefe, Texas Class: Sophomore Wins: 0 Top-10 finishes: 5 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 12 Meja Ortengren, Stanford Class: Freshman Wins: 1 (San Diego State Classic) Top-10 finishes: 4 Stroke play events: 4 Ranking: No. 4 Catherine Park, USC Class: Junior Wins: 1 (Leadership and Golf) Top-10 finishes: 5 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 9 Catherine Rao, Princeton Class: Junior Wins: 2 (Columbia Classic, Nittany Lion) Top-10 finishes: 3 Stroke play events: 4 Ranking: No. 49 Patience Rhodes, Arizona State Class: Sophomore Wins: 0 Top-10 finishes: 4 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 22 Kiara Romero, Oregon Class: Sophomore Wins: 0 Top-10 finishes: 4 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 7 Rocio Tejedo, LSU Class: Freshman Wins: 0 Top-10 finishes: 4 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 15 Mirabel Ting, Florida State Class: Junior Wins: 3 (Folds of Honor, Schooner Fall Classic, College Invitational) Top-10 finishes: 4 Stroke play events: 4 Ranking: No. 3 Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, Oregon Class: Freshman Wins: 1 (Alice and John Wallace) Top-10 finishes: 4 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 11 Avery Weed, Mississippi State Class: Sophomore Wins: 2 (Mason Rudolph, The Ally) Top-10 finishes: 3 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 32 Lottie Woad, Florida State Class: Junior Wins: 1 (Landfall Tradition) Top-10 finishes: 6 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 8 Reagan Zibilski, Arkansas Class: Junior Wins: 1 (Dale McNamara) Top-10 finishes: 4 Stroke play events: 6 Ranking: No. 16
