The Stanford women’s golf team, which has won four matches without a defeat, was a near-unanimous selection as the No. 1 team in the Mizuno Women’s Golf Coaches Association at the end of the Fall Season.
The Cardinal, coached by Anne Walker, collected 19 of 21 first-place votes, while second-ranked Oklahoma State had the only other two No. 1 votes.
Stanford captured the Molly Intercollegiate at Bayonet Golf Course in Seaside by 12 strokes, the Windy Collegiate by eight strokes at Westmoreland Country Club in Chicago, the Stanford Intercollegiate by two strokes at Stanford Golf Course, and the Pac-12 Preview without four of its top players by four strokes at Nanea Golf Club in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Rose Zhang, defending NCAA champion Rachel Heck, Caroline Sturdza and Rebecca Becht were representing their countries in the Spirit International that week at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas.
Zhang, a freshman from Irvine who is the top-ranked women’s amateur in the world who won her first three tournaments for Stanford, claimed the individual title in the Spirit International, too, and led the United States to the team championship.
Heck, also playing for the U.S., tied for fifth with Sturdza of Switzerland, while Becht of Belgium tied for 32nd.
Behind Stanford and Oklahoma State in the top-10 of the women’s college rankings are South Carolina, Oregon, Florida, Arkansas, Wake Forest, Virginia, Alabama and Michigan.
San Jose State is ranked 13th, UCLA is 14th and USC is 20th.
Zhang is No. 1 in the women’s college individual rankings, with Cincy Kou of USC at No. 4, Brooke Seay of Stanford at 6 and her Cardinal teammate Aline Krauter at No. 9.
Emma Spitz of UCLA is No. 13, with Sturdza at No. 17, Katherine Muzi of USC at No. 22, Natasha Andrea Oon of San Jose State at No. 24, Alessia Nobilio of UCLA at No. 25, Antonia Malate of UCLA at No. 35 and Hecht at No. 42.
For complete women’s rankings, visit https://rankings.golfweek.com/rankings/default.asp?T=wt
