ORLANDO, Fla. — Stanford women’s golf is set to begin its national title defense later this month, and it will do so with the entire country trying to capture the top spot from the Cardinal. In Golf Channel’s Preseason Rankings, announced on Tuesday morning, Stanford is the top-ranked team in the country. The Cardinal also boast five preseason All-America selections, the most of any team in the country.
It comes as no surprise that Stanford begins the 2024-25 season as the top-ranked team in the nation. Stanford leads a loaded top five that includes Texas, USC, UCLA, and South Carolina. Five other ACC schools are represented in the rankings, including No. 15 Wake Forest, No. 16 Florida State, No. 19 Clemson, No. 20 Virginia, and No. 22 Duke.
Stanford rolled throughout the season but came out of the gates hot, with a season-opening with at the 2023 Carmel Cup. The Cardinal also earned a regular season win at a rain-shortened Juli Inkster Invitational. The magic really started once the postseason came around, as the Cardinal won the Pac-12 Championship, NCAA Regional, and NCAA Championship. 2024 marked the first time that Stanford has won all three postseason tournaments in the same year.
The lone preseason First Team All-America selection for Stanford is Paula Martín Sampedro. She paced Stanford with a 70.50 scoring average in 28 rounds and finished at par or better in 24 of those 28 rounds last year. Nine times she shot in the 60s, including a 5-under 67 in both the Carmel Cup and Juli Inkster Invitational, and had nine top-10 finishes in 10 tournaments.
Martín Sampedro earned a bevy of awards, including Pac-12 Golfer of the Year, Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, WGCA Co-Freshman of the Year, and First Team All-America (Golfweek, WGCA).
A trio of Cardinal are preseason Second Team All-America selections: Kelly Xu, Meja Örtengren, and Andrea Revuelta. Xu was named a Second Team All-America selection last year after a breakout year that she capped off by going 3-0 in match play at the NCAA Championship. She also earned second place finishes at the Pac-12 Championship and NCAA Regional. Örtengren and Revuelta are incoming freshmen but carry a lot of national attention. Revuelta sits ninth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings while Örtengren ranks 22nd. Both are part of Stanford’s top-ranked recruiting class, per Golf Channel.
Megha Ganne earns honorable mention honors heading into the 2024-25 season. The junior won the 2023 Carmel Cup and clinched the second point for Stanford during the NCAA Championship. She finished the stroke play portion in Carlsbad in a tie for tenth overall.