Morikawa, Mehaffey earn April Golfer of the Month honors
SAN FRANCISCO –– The Pac-12 announced today that CALIFORNIA’s Collin Morikawa and ARIZONA STATE’s Olivia Mehaffey have been named Pac-12 Men’s and Women’s Golfers of the Month for April.
Pac-12 Men’s Golfer of the Month: Collin Morikawa, California (Sr., La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.)
• Finished tied for seventh at the Western Intercollegiate with a 3-under 207 (71-70-66).
• Earned his first Pac-12 title with a come-from-behind victory in the final round of the Pac-12 Championships as he established his collegiate career-best 72-hole score of 272 (-12).
• With a 69.39 season stroke average (second in the nation), he’s finished tied for seventh or better in all 10 of his stroke-play events .
• A Business Administration major (3.24 gpa), Morikawa is a National Player of the Year candidate who was one of five finalists for the Byron Nelson Award and one of 10 semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award.
Also nominated: Chun An Yu, Arizona State; Isaiah Salinda, Stanford; Cole Madey, UCLA; Justin Suh, USC; Kyler Dunkle, Utah.
Pac-12 Men’s Golf Notes: Eight Pac-12 teams will participate in NCAA Regional action (May 13-15) – Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Pac-12 champion Stanford, UCLA and USC. Colorado’s Daniel O’Loughlin and Utah’s Kyler Dunkle were at-large selections to participate as individuals … Four teams are currently ranked among the Top 15 in Golfweek – No. 3 Arizona State, No. 8 California, No. 10 USC and No. 14 Stanford … Four are ranked among Golfstat’s top-12 individuals – No. 2 Collin Morikawa, California; No. 4 Justin Suh, USC; No. 5 Chun An Yu, Arizona State; No. 12 Brandon Wu, Stanford.
Pac-12 Women’s Golfer of the Month: Olivia Mehaffey, Arizona State (Jr., Belfast, Ireland)
• Took home medalist honors at the Pac-12 Championship as she was the lone golfer in the field to shoot under par in each of the three rounds as she posted a score of 5-under 209 (69-69-70).
• Trailed by four strokes entering the final round, but kept pace with the leader by collecting a birdie on No. 16 and pared the final two holes to force a playoff. She collected a par on the extra hole to post her second win of the season.
• Mehaffey is currently ranked No. 12 by Golfstat. Six of her last nine rounds have been par or better.
• The Interdisciplinary Studies major now leads the Sun Devils as the No. 4 seed in the Norman NCAA Regional.
Also nominated: Ellie Slama, Oregon State; Mariel Galdiano, UCLA; Gabriela Ruffels, USC
Pac-12 Women’s Golf Notes: GolfWeek’s Top 25 features No. 1 USC, No. 4 STANFORD, No. 8 ARIZONA, No. 12 UCLA, No. 15 ARIZONA STATE, No. 18 Washington and No. 24 OREGON … Stanford’s Andrea Lee is the top-ranked player by Golfstat. Seven others are among Golfstats Top 25 – No. 5 Mariel Galdiano, UCLA; No. 7 Jennifer Chang, USC; No. 8 Albane Valenzuela, Stanford; No. 12 Olivia Mehaffey, Arizona State; No. 16 Patty Tavatanakit, UCLA; No. 20 Malia Nam, USC; No. 24 Amelia Garvey, USC … NCAA Women’s Regional action begins today as nine Pac-12 teams are in action over four NCAA Regional sites – Defending NCAA Champion Arizona (East Lansing), Arizona State (Norman), California (Auburn), Oregon (Cle Elum), Oregon State (Cle Elum), Stanford (East Lansing), UCLA (East Lansing), USC (Cle Elum), Washington (Cle Elum) … Colorado’s Kirsty Hodgkins is an at-large selection to participate as an individual.
2018-19 PAC-12 GOLFERS OF THE MONTH