April 24, 2013
VALENCIA, Calif. - Sally Watson was named the Pac-12 Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as announced Wednesday afternoon by the Conference office.
Watson, a senior, becomes the first Stanford women's golfer to earn the honor since its inception in the 2007-08 academic year.
The award, which is presented in each of the 22 sports the Conference sponsors, was established to honor collegiate student-athletes who are standouts both academically and in their sports discipline.
"I feel extremely honored to be named Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year," Watson said. "It always feels good to have your hard work on and off the course recognized."
Watson, an International Relations major, holds a 3.75 cumulative GPA. She earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 and first-team Pac-12 All-Academic as a junior in 2012, as well as being selected as a NGCA Academic All-American her sophomore and junior year. As a freshman, Watson received second-team All-Pac-10 honors and was an honorable mention All-America selection by the National Golf Coaches Association.
"I feel extremely privileged to be a student-athlete at Stanford and truly have the best of both worlds of academics and golf," Watson continued. "My experience at Stanford has really helped me grow as a person and I have learned so many valuable lessons which I know will help me succeed throughout the rest of my life."
The Earlsferry, Scotland native, Watson was selected to represent her native country in the 2012 Women's World Amateur Team Championship in Antaya, Turkey. She has accumulated 22 top-20 finishes during her collegiate career, including 12 top-10 finishes.
Watson has won three collegiate events during her time at Stanford. She captured the 2010 Peg Barnard Invitational, the 2011 Cougar Cup and the 2012 Sonoma State Spring Invitational.
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 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 of 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 athletic accomplishments of the nominees are a consideration in the voting for the award.
Other nominees included Jacqueline Williams of California, Rachel Fischer of Oregon State, Tiffany Lua of UCLA, and Emma Betand of Washington State.
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