CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia junior Amanda Sambach (Pinehurst, N.C.) is one of 25 players named to the 2024 ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel Watch List. The Annika Award is presented annually to the nation’s most outstanding female collegiate golfer.
Last season, Sambach was one of the 10 finalists for the honor as she picked up first-team All-America honors from Golfweek. She won three tournaments including the ANNIKA Intercollegiate to start the 2023 season. Sambach was the ACC individual champion by shooting 14-under 202, which was the best performance in the event’s history and also set the Virginia 54-hole scoring record. At the NCAA Regional, she finished as co-medalist. Over the course of 10 tournaments, she posted five top-10 finishes.
Sambach’s 71.31 stroke average was the best single-season mark in Cavalier history as was her total of 19 rounds of par or better. She also set UVA records for par-3 scoring (3.0081 avg.) and par-5 scoring (4.7156). She matched the Virginia single-season mark with five eagles.
Sambach was also a finalist for the Division I PING Women’s Golf Coaches Association Player of the Year honor.
Last summer she helped Team USA win the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup, a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top men’s and women’s university/college golfers matching the United States against a team of International players.
The ANNIKA Award is named for former LPGA champion Annika Sorenstam, who won 89 professional events and 10 major titles during her 15 years as a professional.
Sorenstam enrolled at the University of Arizona in the fall of 1990 and won seven titles during her collegiate career. She was the first foreign-born player and first freshman to win the individual NCAA Championship. She also won the 1991 National Co-Player of the Year Award, was the 1992 Pac-10 Champion and was named to the 1991-1992 All-American team. In 1992, Annika was a runner-up for the National Player of the Year Award and finished second to Vicki Goetze at the United States Women’s Amateur Golf Championship.
2023-2024 Preseason ANNIKA Award Watch List (listed alphabetically):
Kajsa Arwefjall, San Jose State
Amari Avery, Southern Cal
Zoe Campos, UCLA
Hannah Darling, South Carolina
Megha Ganne, Stanford
Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, Texas A&M
Charlotte Heath, Florida State
Rachel Heck, Stanford
Madison Hinson-Tolchard, Oklahoma State
Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest
Mackenzie Lee, SMU
Andrea Lignell, Ole Miss
Ingrid Lindblad, LSU
Julia…
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