In women’s college golf, the mid-season exodus is old news. It happens almost every year after LPGA Q-School. This winter, five top players will leave their teams to turn professional with the start of the 2020 LPGA and Symetra Tour seasons. Those players include Albane Valenzuela and Andrea Lee from Stanford, Sierra Brooks from Florida, Frida Kinhult from Florida State and Jennifer Chang from USC.
Four of those players were tabbed as Golfweek Preseason First-Team All-Americans (Brooks was second-team).
Their departure not only changes the landscape for teams hoping to make a postseason run, but also vacates some headlines for players in the running for individual postseason awards.
The ANNIKA Award Presented by Stifel goes to the top player in college women’s golf, as selected by college golfers, coaches and members of the golf media. This is the first edition of the ANNIKA Award Watch List since those five players have announced plans to turn professional.
Get to know a few of the up-and-comers who will have the opportunity to step up in the spring season. Interestingly, half of the 10 players highlighted below are freshmen. Alison Lee (UCLA) and Leona Maguire (Duke) were the first two recipients of the ANNIKA Award as freshmen in 2014 and 2015, respectively, but a newcomer hasn’t claimed the honor since.
Players are listed alphabetically.
Golfweek Women’s Rankings: Team | Individual
Ana Belac, Duke
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 9
Golfstat Ranking: 36
Scoring Average: 72.14
Par 3 Average: 3.04
Par 4 Average: 4.11
Par 5 Average: 4.71
Belac balanced her own LPGA Q-School run with the fall college season, advancing to second stage but falling short of an LPGA card. The senior from Slovenia had respectable top-25 finishes in two of the fall’s strongest fields, the ANNIKA Intercollegiate and the Windy City. She was medalist at the East Lake Cup on the strength of a 3-under 69 in qualifying and went 1-1 in her head-to-head matches that week.
Allisen Corpuz, USC
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 8
Golfstat Ranking: 9
Scoring Average: 71.08
Par 3 Average: 3.10
Par 4 Average: 3.98
Par 5 Average: 4.71
USC, as usual, played a tough fall schedule and Corpuz never finished outside the top 19 individually. She was outside the top 7 only once. With Jennifer Chang gone, Corpuz is now the leading Trojan scorer, which could create a boost of confidence in itself for the spring season.
Linn Grant, Arizona State
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 7
Golfstat Ranking: 6
Scoring Average: 71.00
Par 3 Average: 3.17
Par 4 Average: 4.00
Par 5 Average: 4.58
The Swede demonstrated remarkable scoring consistency in her debut season with the Sun Devils and claimed the low team scoring average by a full stroke. Maybe most impressive was her third-place finish at the Stanford Intercollegiate. Worldwide experience certainly doesn’t hurt Grant as she navigates freshman year.
Sophie Guo, Texas
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 2
Golfstat Ranking: 5
Scoring Average: 69.42
Par 3 Average: 3.06
Par 4 Average: 3.97
Par 5 Average: 4.47
Guo is another one of this year’s top newcomers. She competed in all four of the Longhorns’ fall starts, breaking 70 in half her rounds. Her season concluded with a top-5 finish at Texas’ own Betsy Rawls Invite followed by her first college victory at the White Sands Invite.
Vivian Hou, Arizona
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 3
Golfstat Ranking: 10
Scoring Average: 70.62
Par 3 Average: 2.92
Par 4 Average: 4.02
Par 5 Average: 4.69
Hou started her freshman season at Arizona after spending the past two years competing largely in professional events at home in Taiwan. She was Arizona’s leading scorer in three of the team’s four stroke-play starts and was runner-up twice. Those aren’t surprising results when you consider that Hou, whose older sister Yu-Sang is also a Wildcat, broke par in 11 of her 13 competitive rounds this fall.
Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 42
Golfstat Ranking: 16
Scoring Average: 71.20
Par 3 Average: 3.00
Par 4 Average: 4.03
Par 5 Average: 4.72
We all realized what Kuehn was capable of as soon as she won the ANNIKA Intercollegiate in her first start with Wake Forest. A T-10 at the Lady Paladin and a T-13 at the Tar Heel Invitational followed.
Emilia Migliaccio, Wake Forest
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 75
Golfstat Ranking: 35
Scoring Average: 72.08
Par 3 Average: 3.12
Par 4 Average: 4.16
Par 5 Average: 4.50
After such a strong sophomore campaign, which ended with Migliaccio leading the Demon Deacon charge through a thrilling NCAA match-play run, the North Carolina native was the heir apparent to replace superstar teammate Jennifer Kupcho. We still haven’t seen Migliaccio play to her full potential this season, despite the fact that she had two top 10s in the fall. For Migliaccio, a sunny outlook and solid fundamentals should put her on the path to another strong spring.
Pimnipa Panthong, Kent State
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 5
Golfstat Ranking: 7
Scoring Average: 69.42
Par 3 Average: 2.91
Par 4 Average: 3.95
Par 5 Average: 4.67
A quiet player, but a rock-solid one. Panthong won the Mercedes Benz Intercollegiate this fall for her seventh career college victory. She also didn’t finish outside the top 6 in four starts. She’s humble and sometimes a goofball in the team huddle, but has been a big contributor to Kent State’s recent success.
Kaitlyn Papp, Texas
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 4
Golfstat Ranking: 3
Scoring Average: 69.62
Par 3 Average: 2.96
Par 4 Average: 3.98
Par 5 Average: 4.67
Played a leading role for the Longhorns in the fall and finished third in her first two outings with the team at the ANNIKA Invitational and Schooner Fall Classic, respectively. Short game is a strength, and often what separates her.
Angelina Ye, Stanford
Golfweek/Sagarin Ranking: 1
Golfstat Ranking: 4
Scoring Average: 70.33
Par 3 Average: 3.00
Par 4 Average: 4.05
Par 5 Average: 4.51
If Stanford has ever needed a freshman to step up, it’s now. With two senior teammates out the door this spring, Ye will have to continue the play that got her to the top of the Sagarins. After finishing runner-up (to teammate Andrea Lee) in her college debut at the Molly Intercollegiate, Ye won in her next start at the Standard Intercollegiate.
Others to watch
Sofia Garcia, Texas Tech
Isabella Fierro, Oklahoma State
Pauline Roussin-Bouchard, South Carolina
Yu-Sang Hou, Arizona
Karoline Stormo, Kent State
