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Pac-12 announces 2021 women's golf postseason awards

Jun 1, 2021
Darren Reese/TGA

SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12 announced Tuesday that STANFORD swept the annual women's golf postseason awards as voted on by the league's head coaches. Cardinal freshman Rachel Heck was named both Pac-12 Women’s Golfer and Newcomer of the Year, while Anne Walker was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year. In addition to these awards, the Pac-12 Women’s Golf All-Conference Team is also listed below as previously announced at the conclusion of the Pac-12 Championships on April 25.


Pac-12 Women's Golfer & Newcomer of the Year: Rachel Heck, Fr., STANFORD (Memphis, Tenn.)

Despite playing in an abbreviated four-month campaign, Heck enjoyed one of the finest seasons, freshman or otherwise, in women's collegiate golf history in 2021.

As a result, she becomes the first Stanford women's golfer and sixth in Conference history to capture both the Pac-12 Golfer and Freshman/Newcomer of the Year awards (Erica Blasberg ARIZ 1993, Louise Stahl ASU 2005, Anna Nordqvist ASU 2007, Annie Park USC 2013, Alison Lee UCLA 2014). Eligibility for the 2021 Freshman/Newcomer honor was expanded to include sophomores stemming from the canceled 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Along with her Pac-12 awards sweep, Heck is just the second player to win all major women's collegiate golf national accolades since the creation of the ANNIKA Award in 2014. She joins Duke's Leona Maguire in 2015 as recipients of the ANNIKA Award and both the PING WGCA Player and WGCA Freshman of the Year in the same season.

She is also only the sixth to garner both WGCA awards (Lorena Ochoa ARIZ 2001, Louise Stahl ASU 2005, Amanda Blumenherst DUKE 2006, Annie Park USC 2013, Loena Maguire DUKE 2015).

Heck won a Stanford-record six times in nine total events during 2021, recording a new NCAA single-season scoring average record (69.72) and becoming the third woman in NCAA history to record a postseason sweep, winning conference, regionals and nationals in the process.


Pac-12 Women's Golf Coach of the Year: Anne Walker, STANFORD

Walker earns her second Pac-12 Coach of the Year accolade along with recognition in Stanford's national championship 2015 season.

The Cardinal won six of its nine stroke-play events entered in 2021, including a pair of dominating NCAA postseason performances. Stanford rolled to a 30-shot victory in the NCAA regionals on its home course followed by a 13-shot margin after four rounds of stroke play at the NCAA Championship to claim the No. 1 seed for match play.

Walker led the Cardinal to one of its most successful seasons with a largely underclass roster featuring freshmen Rachel Heck and Sadie Englemann and sophomores Brooke Seay and Angelina Ye. Both Heck and Ye earned WGCA First Team All-America honors, making Stanford the only school in the country with two First Team selections.

The Pac-12 Postseason Awards and Pac-12 All-Conference Team are voted on by Pac-12 Women's Golf head coaches. Please see below for the complete list of honors (All-Conference Team was announced April 25 following the conclusion of the Pac-12 Championships):

2021 Pac-12 Women's Golf All-Conference Team
Alyaa Abdulghany, Sr., USC
Briana Chacon, So., Oregon
Allisen Corpuz, Gr., USC
Alessandra Fanali, Jr., Arizona State
Amelia Garvey, Sr., USC
Linn Grant, So., Arizona State
Rachel Heck, Fr., Stanford
Yu-Sang Hou, Sr., Arizona
Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu, Fr., Oregon
Ellie Slama, Jr., Oregon State
Emma Spitz, So., UCLA
Angelina Ye, So., Stanford

2021 Pac-12 Women's Golf Honorable Mention
Malak Bouraeda, Jr., Colorado
Alexandra Forsterling, Jr., Arizona State
Olivia Mehaffey, 5th, Arizona State
Ashley Menne, Fr., Arizona State
Rino Sasaki, Sr., Washington
Therese Warner, So., Arizona
Annabel Wilson, So., UCLA
Yuki Yoshihara, So., UCLA