PAC-12 WOMEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS CENTRAL | PAC-12 SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

SAN FRANCISCO - ARIZONA STATE's Olivia Mehaffey was named the 2021 Pac-12 Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year, the Conference office announced ahead of the Pac-12 Championships on Friday. 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.

Hailing from Belfast, Ireland, Mehaffey has been a positive influence both on and off the course in the local and Irish golf communities, bringing attention to female golf in her home country while serving as a role model for aspiring golfers in Arizona.

A three-time First Team All-Pac-12 performer (2017, 2018, 2019) and four-time WGCA All-American (Second Team - 2018, 2019; Honorable Mention - 2017, 2020), Mehaffey has completed her undergraduate degree in sociology with a 3.75 grade-point average and is pursuing a graduate degree in organizational leadership with a current 4.00 GPA.

Electing to return for the 2020-21 season, Mehaffey has recorded three top-10 finishes for the Golfstat No. 7 nationally ranked Sun Devils, highlighted by a second-place showing in ASU's victory at the Clover Cup. That runner-up performance featured a career-best and program-record 10-under-par 62 in the final round.

Additional career accomplishments include four individual event victories, highlighted by the 2019 Pac-12 individual and 2019 NCAA Norman Regional titles, along with a contributor on ASU's 2017 NCAA National Championship team. She has amassed 23 career top-10 performances and 69 rounds under par including 22 rounds in the 60s, all totals that rank among the best in NCAA history.

She is also a four-time WGCA All-American Scholar and is on track to receive the distinction again. She was a contributor to Arizona State boasting the fifth-highest GPA among all Division I Women's Golf teams during the 2017-18 season. She was a Pac-12 Spring Academic Honor Roll member in 2020 and prior to that made the Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team twice. She has made Dean's List five times and has been a Sun Devil Scholar-Athlete nine times, earning the distinction every semester of her collegiate career. Mehaffey is the sixth recipient of the honor from the Sun Devils' women's golf program.

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 percent of the scheduled contests in the sport and have a minimum 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 athletics accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in 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. The award was first established during the 2007-08 academic year.

ALSO NOMINATED: Kirsty Hodgkins, Colorado; Alexis Phadungmartvorakul, Oregon; Ellie Slama, Oregon State; Ziyi Wang, Stanford; Allisen Corpuz, USC; Marie Lund-Hansen, Washington State.