COLUMBUS, Ga. — The final spring watch list for the ANNIKA Award was announced on Wednesday morning, with top-ranked Stanford women’s golf landing three of its best on the list.
Megha Ganne is the first of three Stanford women’s golfers represented on this list. She is in the midst of her best collegiate season to date, with top-11 finishes in all six tournaments she’s played in this year. She won the 2024 Nanea Invitational, her second-career win, and added a top-10 finish at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She has shot in 60s seven times this year, with at least one round in the 60s in every tournament. Her season scoring average of 70.44 is on track to be the best scoring average by a Stanford junior in program history.
Meja Örtengren is turning heads as a freshman and makes the final spring watch list for the ANNIKA Award. Her scoring average of 69.96 is the third-best freshman scoring average in Cardinal history, trailing only freshmen NCAA individual champions Rose Zhang and Rachel Heck. This spring, she won her first tournament, claiming the San Diego State Classic title by eight strokes, the largest win in Stanford history. Örtengren has finished in the top-10 in every tournament to date and tied the Stanford record of 10-under in a round with a 62 in her win in San Diego.
Continuing on as one of the most consistent golfers in the country, Paula Martín Sampedro is the third Cardinal on this list. She’s been in the top-20 in every tournament of her career, but has scored her first two collegiate wins this year. The Spaniard won the first event of the year in The Molly Invitational, and then won a second time at the Juli Inkster Invitational in March. She is the first Cardinal with multiple wins in a season since Zhang during the 2022-23 season. Martín Sampedro has made every ANNIKA Award watch list she has been eligible for in her collegiate career and was a finalist last year.
15 golfers made this year’s Final Spring ANNIKA Award Watch List. Stanford is the only school in the country with three representatives. Florida State, South Carolina, and Texas have two. The ten finalists for the award will be announced on May 9.
Created in 2014, the ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel is annually given to the top female Division 1 collegiate golfer; the winner is voted on by players, coaches, and members of the college golf media. Named for Annika Sorenstam, the award was created in partnership with the Haskins Foundation to acknowledge the top female golfer and to match the Haskins Award presented by Stifel, which acknowledges the top male Division I collegiate golfer.
Stifel, one of the nation’s leading wealth management and investment banking firms, serves as the presenting sponsor of both the ANNIKA and Haskins Awards. Stifel also serves as a presenting sponsor for the NCAA Division I Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships on GOLF Channel.