SAN FRANCISCO – OREGON’s Petra Salko was named the Pac-12 Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the 2018-19 season, the Conference office announced today. The award, which is presented in each of the 24 sports the Pac-12 sponsors, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes that are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.

Salko, who hails from Turku, Finland, becomes the first Duck to be named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s golf. The two-time Pac-12 First Team All-Academic selection carries a 4.05 grade point average as a Business Administration major. Salko twice earned WGCA All-American Scholar honors, first as a freshman in 2015-16, then as a sophomore in 2016-17.  Following her junior year, she picked up a couple of program firsts as she earned CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District 8, and was tabbed Google Cloud Academic All-America third-team.

Salko posts a team-best 73.42 scoring average this season. She’s recorded four top-15 finishes this year, including three such finishes in her last four events, capped by a second-place showing at the Bruin Wave Invitational. During her four years, she’s played 123 career rounds (74.95 stroke average). As an amateur in her home country, she was the runner-up in the women’s U-21 Finnish Championship and completed the 2014 year ranked fifth in the Finnish Amateur Rankings.

A two-time Pac-12 First Team All-Academic selection, Salko will lead her Oregon teammates at the Pac-12 Women’s Golf Championship Monday, April 15 – Wednesday, April 17 at Palos Verdes Golf Club, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. Pac-12 Networks will cover the championship with live coverage of the final round Wednesday, April 17 at 2 p.m. PT.

In order to be eligible for the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, student-athletes must be a senior (in athletics eligibility) on track to receive a degree, have a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, participate in at least 50% of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum of one year in residence at the institution. Each Pac-12 institution may nominate one individual per sport, and the winners are selected by a committee of Pac-12 staff members at the conclusion of each sport’s regular season. The athletic accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in the voting for the award.

A Scholar-Athlete of the Year will be named in each of the Pac-12’s 24 sponsored sports: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, beach volleyball, men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, men’s rowing, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s track & field, women’s track & field, women’s volleyball, and wrestling.

Also Nominated: Haley Moore, Arizona (3.38, Sports and Society); Cindy Oh, California (3.02, Interdisciplinary Studies); Gillian Vance, Colorado (Strategic Communication/Public Relations); Olivia Benzin, Oregon State (3.54, Business); Beth Wu, UCLA (3.20, Asian American Studies); Madison Odiorne, Washington State (3.55, Sport Science)

Pac-12 Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year
2019 – Petra Salko, Oregon
2018 – Roberta Liti, Arizona State
2017 – Wanasa Zhou, Arizona
2016 – Lauren Kim, Stanford
2015 – Noemi Jimenez, Arizona State
2014 – Sophia Popov, USC
2013 – Sally Watson, Stanford
2012 – Giulia Molinaro, Arizona State
2011 – Pia Halbig, California
2010 – Juliana Murcia, Arizona State
2009 – Azahara Munoz, Arizona State
2008 – Allison Walshe, Arizona