Alexandra Forsterling Wins Most Improved Player Award

TEMPE, Ariz. - Recent Sun Devil Women's Golf graduate and current professional golfer Alexandra Forsterling was named the 2022 Most Improved Player, Golfweek announced this week.

Forsterling is the first ever recipient of the award, which was started by Rapsodo and Golfweek prior to 2022. She earns the honor based on her massive jump in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Forsterling began the year as the No. 103-ranked player in the nation and finished the campaign at No. 5 in the rankings, representing an ascent of 98 spots. This was the larggest climb of any Division I female golfer.

"Lexi is very deserving of this new award in college golf," Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye remarked. "She worked extremely hard over four years here and we are extremely proud of her accomplishments."

When you take a closer look at Forsterling's incredible 2021-22 season, it is easy to see why she is the inaugural winner of this prestigious award.

The Berlin, Germany native was one of ten finalists for the ANNIKA Award, which is given annually to the top player in women's collegiate golf. Forsterling enjoyed one of the most prolific seasons in program history and she continues to add to her growing resume before the season has even come to a close. The unanimous First Team All-American continued the long lineage of great female golfers at Arizona State.

Through her first three years with the Sun Devil Women's Golf program, Alexandra Forsterling was a consistent presence in the lineup, performing admirably for a Top-10 Arizona State team. During a breakout senior campaign, she took her game to another level, becoming one of the best golfers in the nation. She did it while maintaining a 3.95 GPA and graduating with a degree in Film, epitomizing the ideal student-athlete. 

The No. 5-ranked golfer in the nation (top-ranked Senior) was named the 2022 Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year back in April and continues to add to her accolades. She also competed in the most prestigious amateur event in the sport, participating at iconic Augusta National Golf Course as a part of the Augusta National Women's Amateur.

Forsterling recorded seven Top-10 finishes this season, despite the fact that the Sun Devils have faced one of the nation's toughest schedules. The highlight of her season was winning the Individual Title at the PING/ASU Invitational back in March, beating out a field with 25 of the Top-100 ranked golfers, including the nation's No. 1. Forsterling has also recorded Top-10 finishes at the Stanford Intercollegiate, Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, Silverado Showdown, and most recently the Stillwater Regional. She was the senior leader on a team that finished ninth at the NCAA Women's Golf Championship.

Not only has she achieved great things on the course, but she has also led by example with her performance in the classroom. She has made the ASU Dean's List in each of her eight semesters and was a Pac-12 Academic Spring Honor Roll selection all four seasons. 

Rapsodo partnered with Golfweek to create a new award in College Golf, Most Improved Player Award, that is presented to one male and one female golfer at the end of the season. Rapsodo has pledged to donate Mobile Launch Monitors to a local First Tee Program in Forsterling's honor.