Pac-12 announces 2022 women's golf postseason awards

SAN FRANCISCO - The Pac-12 announced Tuesday that STANFORD swept the annual women's golf postseason awards as voted on by the league's head coaches. Cardinal freshman Rose Zhang was named both Pac-12 Women’s Golfer and Freshman of the Year, while Anne Walker repeated as Pac-12 Coach of the Year. In addition to these awards, the Pac-12 Women’s Golf All-Conference Team is also listed below as previously announced at the conclusion of the Pac-12 Championships on April 20.

PAC-12 WOMEN'S GOLFER & FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Rose Zhang, Fr., STANFORD (Irvine, Calif.)

For the second consecutive year, the Pac-12's and NCAA's best player is a Stanford freshman.

Following in teammate Rachel Heck's footsteps, Zhang stormed her way through the competition during her debut campaign, capturing the individual national championship while breaking Heck's NCAA single-season scoring record (69.68).

Zhang became the third player, and second straight Cardinal after Heck's sweep in 2021, to win all major women's collegiate golf national accolades since the creation of the ANNIKA Award in 2014. She joins Heck and Duke's Leona Maguire in 2015 as recipients of the ANNIKA Award and both the PING WGCA Player and WGCA Freshman of the Year in the same season.

She is also only the seventh to garner both WGCA awards (Lorena Ochoa ARIZ 2001, Louise Stahl ASU 2005, Amanda Blumenherst DUKE 2006, Annie Park USC 2013, Loena Maguire DUKE 2015, Rachel Heck STAN 2021).

Zhang is the seventh in Conference history to capture both the Pac-12 Golfer and Freshman/Newcomer of the Year awards (Erica Blasberg ARIZ 1993, Louise Stahl ASU 2005, Anna Nordqvist ASU 2007, Annie Park USC 2013, Alison Lee UCLA 2014, Rachel Heck STAN 2021).

In 10 total events this season, Zhang finished with four wins, four runner-ups, a tie for fourth and a tie for 10th. She also delivered the clinching point in Stanford's 3-2 victory over league rival Oregon in the national title match.

PAC-12 WOMEN'S GOLF COACH OF THE YEAR: Anne Walker, STANFORD

Walker repeats as Pac-12 Coach of the Year after guiding Stanford to its second national title in program history in 2021-22.

It is Walker's third Pac-12 honor in total (2015, 2021, 2022), the first of which came during the Cardinal's first NCAA championship season in 2015. The three awards are now tied for the third-most in Conference history (Carrie Forsyth 6, Linda Vollstedt 4) and gives Walker six for her career along with three Big West accolades while at UC Davis.

Ranked No. 1 nationally in the preseason, Stanford carried the mantle from start-to-finish. The Cardinal finished atop the leaderboard in six of its 11 team stroke-play events, concluding with claiming the No. 1 seed for NCAA Championship match play where it defeated Georgia (3-2-0), Auburn (3-2-0) and league rival Oregon (3-2-0) en route to the crown. Walker's squad also recorded four runner-up finishes and never placed lower than third in one of the most dominant seasons in collegiate golf history.

The Pac-12 Postseason Awards and Pac-12 All-Conference Team are voted on by Pac-12 Women's Golf head coaches. Please see below for the complete list of honors (All-Conference Team was announced April 25 following the conclusion of the Pac-12 Championships):

2022 PAC-12 WOMEN'S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

HONORABLE MENTION: Camille Boyd, So., Washington; Briana Chacon, Jr., Oregon; Ching-Tzu Chen, Jr., Oregon; Alessandra Fanali, Sr., Arizona State; Xin (Cindy) Kou, Fr., USC; Ashley Menne, So., Arizona State; Katherine Muzi, Sr., USC; Ellie Slama, Sr., Oregon State.