It’s time for another season of college golf, and per usual, we’re kicking off the start of a new fall with Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine revealing his preseason rankings, for both teams and players, while telling you everything you need to know about the best programs in the country, from projected starting lineups to preseason All-Americans (scroll to the bottom).
But first, take note of these important dates:
• May 5-7, 2024: NCAA regionals
(Host sites: Birdwood GC, Charlottesville, Virginia; OSU GC (Scarlet), Columbus, Ohio; Superstition Mountain G&CC, Golf Canyon, Arizona; UK GC, Lexington, Kentucky; The Rawls Course, Lubbock, Texas; Jimmie Austin OU GC, Norman, Oklahoma)
• May 16-21, 2025: NCAA Championship
Omni La Costa Resort and Spa (Champions), Carlsbad, California
Now, without further ado, let’s get into the big rankings reveal:
1. Stanford
Final 2023-24 rank: 1
2024 NCAA Championship finish: National champion (first in stroke play)
Returning: Paula Martin Sampedro (Soph.), Kelly Xu (Jr.), Megha Ganne (Jr.), Caroline Sturdza (Sr.), Yu Wen Lu (Sr.)
Departed: Rachel Heck, Sadie Englemann, Brooke Seay
Arriving: Andrea Revuelta (Fr.), Meja Ortengren (Fr.), Nora Sundberg (Fr.), Leigh Chien (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Sampedro, Revuelta, Ortengren, Xu, Ganne
Scouting report: Stanford had no problem replacing Rose Zhang a season ago as it won its third NCAA team title in the match-play era. Now, it must replace veterans Rachel Heck and Sadie Englemann, and head coach Anne Walker does so with arguably the greatest recruiting class in college golf history. Revuelta, a recent runner-up at the European Ladies Amateur, is the ninth-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, two spots ahead of where Albane Valenzuela was when she arrived at Stanford nearly a decade ago. Revuelta has some shades of Valenzuela, an old-school talent with an artistic mind and sweet swing that produces a high, right-to-left ball flight. Ortengren has been a top-10 amateur in the past, and she was third at the European Ladies and reached the Round of 16 of the Women’s British Amateur this summer. She and fellow Swede Sundberg, No. 44 in WAGR, have been playing golf together for over a decade. Chien is one of the top American incoming freshmen, though it will be tough for her to break the starting lineup this year. That’s because there are some standout returners as well, led by Sampedro, who racked up eight finishes of T-7 or better as a freshman with her worst finish a T-16 at the Pac-12 Championship. She did all that while only getting up and down about 35% of the time. She makes plenty of birdies, nearly five per round, so if her short game improves, she could challenge the likes of Lottie Woad and Adela Cernousek for the Annika Award. Xu has quietly and steadily climbed the ranks, and she’s now a top-50 amateur, too. Ganne played only the U.S. Women’s Open this summer as food poisoning knocked her out of the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She has some time to shake the rust off, though, since the Cardinal don’t start their fall until last September. That will also give the newcomers, who aren’t on campus yet, some time to settle in. “It’s a long year, and this will be the first year that they don’t really have an offseason,” Walker said. “So, my advice to them was just rest up. One of the things we always stress here is you don’t have to be an All-American on Day 1.” Stanford might have a couple anyway.
2. Texas
Final 2023-24 rank: 8
2024 NCAA Championship finish: T-11
Returning: Farah O’Keefe (Soph.), Lauren Kim (Soph.), Cindy Hsu (Jr.), Selena Liao (Soph.), Bohyun Park (Sr.), Angela Heo (Jr.), Tiffany Cao (Sr.), Emma von Hoffmann (Soph.)
Departing: Bentley Cotton
Arriving: Alisa Inprasit (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: O’Keefe, Kim, Hsu, Liao, Park
Scouting report: Usually when a head coach lands at a new school, there is some rebuilding to do. That isn’t the case for Laura Ianello, who arrived from Arizona this summer to replace former coach Ryan Murphy, who was abruptly removed following a T-11 finish at the NCAA Championship. Murphy had led the Longhorns to three match plays in four years prior to last season, as well as five Big 12 titles. That’s the expectation for Ianello with the talent that welcomes her. “The team that I’ve inherited, I’m very blessed,” Ianello said. “They are insanely talented. Just the youth that we have, I just look forward to having these women continue to develop. … Big expectations.” That talent starts with two sophomores, O’Keefe and Kim, who combined for six top-5s with each posting an individual victory. O’Keefe probably should’ve been on the U.S. Curtis Cup team, especially after winning the Women’s Western Amateur and reaching the Round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Kim also won two matches in Tulsa, and she also won a Canadian pro event shortly after NCAAs. Hsu probably had the best summer volume-wise, winning the Women’s Elite Amateur Series points race with three top-5s in those events while also winning at last a match at both the Women’s British Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur. There are some great options to round out the lineup, whether it’s Liao, who had two top-5s late last spring, or Heo, who reached the Round of 16 in Tulsa, or Park, a former top-20 world amateur who is starting to gain confidence were her re-tooled swing and grip. “She’s on the way back,” Ianello said of Park. And then there’s the freshman, Inprasit, who signed with Arizona but recently decided to join Ianello at Texas. As Ianello said of her decision to leave her alma mater, “It felt like the right move to make from the moment I accepted the job.” Now, it’s time to work toward bringing Texas its first national championship in women’s golf, just like she did as a player for Arizona in 2000.
3. USC
Final 2023-24 rank: 4
2024 NCAA Championship finish: Semifinalist (fourth in stroke play)
Returning: Catherine Park (Jr.), Bailey Shoemaker (Soph.), Cindy Kou (Sr.), Joyce Jin (Jr.)
Departing: Amari Avery, Brianna Navarrosa, Christine Wang, Michaela Morard
Arriving: Jasmine Koo (Fr.), Kylie Chong (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Park, Koo, Shoemaker, Chong, Kou
Scouting report: USC has now made a national final and semifinal in the past two seasons, and even with the early exit of Avery to the pros, expectations haven’t changed for the Trojans. There are only six players on the roster, and Jin hasn’t hit a college golf shot in three seasons because of injuries, so there is no margin for error with USC’s starting five. Park led the team with three wins last season, and she might be the best iron player in the women’s college game. Her wedge play has improved this summer; she just needs to make more putts if she wants to win the Annika Award. Koo could contend for that award, too, as she arrives after a year in which she made runs at the U.S. Women’s Amateur (Round of 16) and U.S. Girls’ Junior (semifinals), joined Park on the U.S. Curtis Cup team and tied for 13th in a major (Chevron). Don’t sleep on the other freshman, though. Chong, a tireless worker, has the ceiling where she could be a first-team All-American in a couple years. Shoemaker flashed her potential with a closing 66 at Augusta National in April, and she’s currently hitting it the best USC head coach Justin Silverstein has seen her hit it after switching full-time to instructor Dana Dahlquist. Kou, who certainly has made some wrong turns with her swing after entering college as the No. 2 freshman in the 2021 class behind Rose Zhang. She is also working with Dahlquist. “If that’s our X-factor, we’re doing OK,” Silverstein said of Kou. “When I fall back on players, I like to fall back on players with a long history of good golf, and that one has a big ol’ CVS receipt of good golf. She does all the little stuff well, so if we can just get her ball-striking to where it needs to be, she’s – I don’t want her to be a 4 or 5 player, I want her to be a first-teamer. … That’s how good I think she is.” USC wouldn’t surprise anybody if it boasted five All-Americans this season, but again, there is little room for error.
4. UCLA
Final 2023-24 rank: 5
2024 NCAA Championship finish: Runner-up (T-6 in stroke play)
Returning: Zoe Campos (Sr.), Caroline Canales (Sr.), Meghan Royal (Jr.), Natalie Vo (Sr.), Tiffany Le (Sr.), Jennifer Seo (Soph.)
Departing: Kate Villegas, Alessia Nobilio
Arriving: Francesca Fiorellini (Fr.), Angela Liu (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Campos, Fiorellini, Canales, Royal, Vo
Scouting report: The Bruins made somewhat of a surprise run to a national runner-up finish in head coach Alicia Um Holmes’ debut season, and though Nobilio played some big rounds in her UCLA career, only Villegas has departed from the starting five. Campos is a potential Annika Award winner after winning four times last spring. Her putting was the big improvement last season, and based on what we saw at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, where she made match play, and the Curtis Cup, her approach proximity is much tighter than it’s been. Fiorellini is top 20 in the world amateur rankings, very straight and lethal with the putter, and will be counted on to be an All-American right away, though she’ll need to adjust to U.S. golf courses having not played over here a ton. Canales, a mainstay in recent years for the Bruins, advanced through pre-qualifying of Q-School after taking the summer off, but indication is that she would defer any status she earned. Royal and Vo each accounted for two top-10s in their first years as Bruins, and they likely will round out the starting lineup this season. Liu is an accomplished player locally, though it could take her some time to find her footing in college. The biggest challenge for this team, even with most everybody back, will be trying to back up what it did last season. “I’ve been thinking about what’s the message this year for the team,” Holmes said. “I mean, last year we came in, a bunch of transfers, a couple returners, we really didn’t have any expectations and didn’t know how things were going to go. And now, after having the season that we had last year, they’re expecting something to happen, like we’re a good team, we should do this, or we could win this. I just want them to focus on the stuff we focused on last year, improving on a daily basis, just focusing on ourselves and the progress over the results. I don’t think we need to change too much.”
5. South Carolina
Final 2023-24 rank: 6
2024 NCAA Championship finish: 23rd
Returning: Louise Rydqvist (Sr.), Hannah Darling (Sr.), Maylis Lamoure (Soph.), Mia Sandtorv Lussand (Jr.), Vairana Heck (Soph.), Sophia Burnett (Sr.), Camila Burnett (Soph.)
Departing: None
Arriving: Tiffany Tsai (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Rydqvist, Darling, Lamoure, Lussand, Heck
Scouting report: After reaching the final eight at the 2023 NCAA Championship, the Gamecocks saw their postseason woes resurface last season. They survived a tough NCAA Auburn Regional by tying for fourth but then were a non-factor at La Costa, beating just seven of the 30 teams. Darling was subbed out after an opening 84 at nationals, and Rydqvist, who had just been runner-up at SECs and regionals, shot 5 over and missed the cut individually as well. “It was just a matter of some ups and downs with the game unfortunately,” South Carolina head coach Kalen Anderson said. “We got a little rattled at regionals. The golf course hit them and got us a little derailed. Those are things we talked about over the summer. It’s all a matter of timing. We need to get better at peaking at the right time. And it’s my job to figure out how to get them playing better at the right time.” Rydqvist won’t be a concern, as she had a scorching summer by winning the European Ladies Amateur, reaching the semifinals of the Women’s British Amateur and making three pro cuts, including at the AIG Women’s Open, where she tied for 60th. But Darling arguably enters her final season with some questions. She had a nice stretch last spring where she rattled off four straight top-10s in amateur and college events, including a co-win at the Darius Rucker. Then the postseason happened, and she’s only played match-play events this summer as she took some time off. She’ll arrive on campus after the Curtis Cup, and it remains to be seen how she handles expectations, both internal and external again this season. “I think she’s going to come back a lot stronger,” Anderson said. The rest of the lineup is familiar, as the Gamecocks didn’t lose anybody and brought in freshman Tiffany Tsai from Taiwan. Lamoure came out strong as a freshman by tying for fifth at the Annika, but then she didn’t crack the top 40 in the spring; her summer has been much better, though, highlighted by a T-20 at the European Ladies. Heck was T-26 at the European Ladies to salvage what had been a disappointing summer. Lussand, like Heck, has the length and birdie-making ability to break out this year after posting five top-20s last season. This team may be streaky this season, but if the back of the lineup plays to their potential, they have the horses to win it all.
6. Auburn
Final 2023-24 rank: 7
2024 NCAA Championship finish: Quarterfinalist (eighth in stroke play)
Returning: Anna Davis (Soph.), Casey Weidenfeld (Jr.), Katie Cranston (Jr.), Carys Worby (Jr.), Rachel Gourley (Jr.)
Departed: Megan Schofill, Anna Foster, Ami Gianchandani, Ashley Sinclair-Curtis, Morgan Jones (transferred to Illinois State)
Arriving: Balma Davalos (Fr.), Anne Fernandez (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Davis, Weidenfeld, Cranston, Davalos, Worby
Scouting report: When Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen looks at her lineup, she’s encouraged, even with the departures of leaders Schofill and Foster. “I see a ton of talent, a youthful team with no seniors, and our freshmen are hungry and confident,” Luellen said. Of course, this team, to a certain extent, will only go as far as Davis can take them. As the clear No. 1 for the Tigers, Davis will look to build off her first semester of college golf. After arriving in January, she progressively got more comfortable at the next level, finishing top 10 at the Darius Rucker, runner-up at Georgia’s event and then bouncing back from a heartbreaking slow-play penalty at ANWA to go on a tear – fourth at SECs, win at the NCAA Auburn Regional and T-19 at the NCAA Championship to help Auburn to match play. Davis has arguably the best short game in the women’s game, so if she continues to drive it like she did at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, where she made the quarters, she’ll win more than once this season. Behind Davis is the Tigers’ emotional leader, Weidenfeld, who made some changes, including switching out her irons, in a quest to improve her ball-striking. That facet isn’t an issue for Cranston, though she’s yet to truly figure it out in college with just one top-10 in three semesters of play. Her ascension will be crucial to Auburn’s success as well. Both freshmen will play a lot. Davalos is already ranked well inside the top 200 of WAGR and has eight top-10s in WAGR events this year. Fernandez was a prolific winner earlier in her junior career, and after six years at an academy at Albany in the Bahamas, she enrolled in summer school and proceeded to win the Alabama Women’s State Match Play at Auburn’s home club before finishing runner-up at the Caribbean Amateur. Worby finally has a path to playing time while Gourley could also break into the starting five as she starts to figure out her driving. Sure, there is some inexperience at the back end, but if Davis locks in and becomes an Annika Award contender, Auburn could make it back to match play for the fourth time in the past five years.
7. Arkansas
Final 2023-24 rank: 10
2024 NCAA Championship finish: 10th
Returning: Maria Jose Marin (soph.), Kendall Todd (Sr.), Reagan Zibilski (Jr.), Giovanna Fernandez (Sr.), Cory Lopez (Sr.), Abbey Schutte (Soph.)
Departing: Kajal Mistry, Miriam Ayora, Ela Anacona, Julia Gregg
Arriving: Clarisa Temelo (Fr.), Anna Kate Nichols (Fr.), Natalie Blonien (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Marin, Todd, Zibilski, Temelo, Nichols
Scouting report: Arkansas earned a slight rankings bump by having its two best players, Marin and Todd, reach the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur after each recorded big wins earlier in the summer, Marin at the Colombian Open and Todd at the Women’s Porter Cup. Of course, Marin’s exit from Southern Hills came via forfeit after she sustained a left knee injury. “What an unfortunate situation to make it that far and have to forfeit your match,” Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor said, “but I think she knew that there was the potential of something really bad wrong, and she didn’t want to jeopardize her future.” Luckily, an MRI showed no structural damage, only swelling, and Marin was practicing just days later while also being good to go for the fall-opening Carmel Cup. Great news for the Razorbacks, who now have a legit one-two punch completed by Todd, whose eight top-20s last season were just one shy of Marin. With some added confidence, Todd could take another step forward this season. With six U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifiers, the depth is there, too. Zibilski had four top-20s while playing mostly out of the five spot as a sophomore while Fernandez was the postseason sub. The latter will have heavy competition for playing time from the three incoming freshmen, mainly Temelo, who continues the tradition of top Mexico players heading to Fayetteville. And then there’s Lopez, who has played just two events in the past two years but appears finally over a shoulder injury; she entered Q-School but missed in pre-qualifier. Schutte took a medical last season because of a foot injury, and she will be eased back into things. The leadership hit from the departures of Mistry and Ayora, who each played nearly every tournament in their careers, will be sizable, but if those roles are assumed, the talent and depth are there to get back into match play for the first time since the 2019 NCAA Championship.
8. Oregon
Final 2023-24 rank: 12
2024 NCAA Championship finish: Semifinalist (T-6 in stroke play)
Returning: Kiara Romero (Soph.), Tiffany Huang (Soph.), Karen Tsuru (Soph.), Anika Varma (Jr.)
Departed: Ching-Tzu Chen, Minori Nagano, Ashleigh Park
Arriving: Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (Fr.), Tong An (Fr.), Darae Chung (Soph., transferred from San Jose State)
Projected starting lineup: Romero, Vinijchaitham, Huang, Tsuru, An
Scouting report: Oregon head coach Derek Radley remembers the turning point. The Ducks had lost Chacon, an All-American, to the pros midseason and Park was struggling mightily with her game, yet the Pac-12 Championship was on tap. So, Radley met with his team in a Pullman, Washington, hotel room on the eve of the tournament and asked his players a simple question, “How many of you have won a golf tournament?” Everyone raised their hands, including Tsuru, a prolific winner in California who arrived at Oregon as basically a walk-on after not getting into Stanford. “I told them, ‘I’m sorry it took me so long to figure this out, but this five is our best five, and I need you guys to believe in each other and buy into each other,’” Radley said. “The coolest thing was how those five, even though it was for only three tournaments, really came together.” The Ducks finished third at conference, second at the NCAA Auburn Regional and then made the semifinals of the NCAA Championship. Romero had top-10s in all three events and won twice as a freshman last season. If she improves her wedges and short game, she could win the Annika Award – and she’ll be extra motivated after not being named to the U.S. Curtis Cup team. Tsuru didn’t make her college debut until her T-23 as an individual at Silverado, but she then posted top-16s at Pac-12s and regionals. “We don’t make another Final Fore without her,” Radley said of Tsuru. Huang was delayed in starting her college career as well, playing just once at the end of the fall, and she underachieved with just one top-10, though that came at regionals. The freshmen are talented – Vinijchaitham is a tall, lanky player who bombs it and has immediate All-American potential – and both could play every event, though An is finally getting over a back injury that plagued her for over a year. Chung was a starter at San Jose State and transfer in hoping to crack the back end of the lineup. For once, Oregon should have some consistency with no expected Q-School entrants or enrollment issues.
9. Arizona State
Final 2023-24 rank: 15
2024 NCAA Championship finish: 16th
Returning: Beth Coulter (Jr.), Patience Rhodes (Soph.), Grace Summerhays (Sr.), Paula Schulz-Hanssen (Jr.)
Departing: Ashley Menne, Calynne Rosholt (transferred to Grand Canyon)
Arriving: Isla McDonald-O’Brien (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Coulter, Rhodes, Summerhays, Schulz-Hanssen, McDonald-O’Brien
Scouting report: There’s plenty of space in the women’s locker room at The Bird in Tempe. That’s because the Sun Devils have just five players on their roster after graduating Menne, seeing Rosholt transfer and signing just one freshman while also striking out in the portal. “We’re lean and mean,” Arizona State head coach Missy Farr-Kaye said. There is certainly a lot of talent throughout the lineup, which features a pair of GB&I Curtis Cuppers in Coulter and Rhodes. Both came on last spring with a combined five top-12s. Rhodes was second on the team behind Menne at the NCAA Championship, where Arizona State placed 16th and fell just a shot shy of advancing to the final round. Coulter had the better summer of the two, finishing third at the Irish Women’s Close Championship and made match play at the British Women’s Amateur, where Schulz-Hanssen got to the quarterfinals. That trio and Summerhays, who has three top-11s this summer (including making the Round of 16 at the Western), were all initially in the same class, so there is a ton of camaraderie greeting the lone arrival, McDonald-O’Brien, a sparkplug from England who was recently top 10 at the British Girls. Keeping the competition at home strong will be a challenge, but Farr-Kaye is excited to finally have some experience down the line. “I feel like we’ve been young forever, and now I feel like we’re coming into our stride with maturity,” Farr-Kaye said. “I’ve been waiting for this group to get to this point because I’d look at these other teams and be like, gosh, they have such a veteran team; I can’t wait for us to get to that space. And you can’t force it, you just have to be patient, and that’s where we’re at now.”
10. Northwestern
Final 2023-24 rank: 11
2024 NCAA Championship finish: T-11
Returning: Lauryn Nguyen (Sr.), Ashley Yun (Soph.), Jiayi Wang (Jr.), Dianna Lee (Jr.), Sarah Thornton (Soph.)
Departing: Jennifer Cai, Jieni Li
Arriving: Elise Lee (Fr.), Megan Meng (Fr.), Hsin Tai Lin (Fr.)
Projected starting lineup: Nguyen, E. Lee, Yun, Wang, Meng
Scouting report: This could be the Wildcats’ best opportunity to return to the final eight at the NCAA Championship since they qualified for back-to-back in 2017 and 2018. Nguyen is coming off a season in which she posted six top-10s, including a win at the Windy City Collegiate, and this summer she won the Washington State Amateur and made match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Yun, Wang and Dianna Lee all logged at least nine events last season, with the former two among Northwestern’s three best performers at La Costa, where the Wildcats tied for 11th, so the experience is there. Now add in a pair of elite freshmen – Elise Lee, who one rival coach tabbed as “a sleeper freshman … going to be a stud” and hasn’t finished worse than sixth this year between junior and amateur tournaments (she was fourth at the Girls Junior PGA and runner-up at the Women’s Western Amateur); and Meng, a two-time AJGA All-American and Junior Solheim Cupper. Stud at the top of the lineup, nice depth, talented newcomers; Northwestern checks all the boxes.
Rest of top 25
11. Texas A&M: After advancing to a third straight NCAA match play last season, the Aggies are once again loaded at the top. Senior Adela Cernousek, the reigning NCAA individual champion, has asserted herself as a force, making the U.S. Women’s Open cut this summer, nearly doing the same at the Evian and advancing to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She and sophomore Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio are as good a one-two punch as any, and incoming freshman Vanessa Borovilos was a top-10 machine this year, from junior to pro events. It all boils down to the final two lineup spots. Can Alabama transfer Kynadie Adams rediscover her pre-college form? Does Mia Nixon finally break into a full-time role? What will former prodigy Sky Sudberry bring as a sophomore? If those questions are answered positively, Texas A&M is back in match play.
12. Mississippi State: The Bulldogs have now advanced to three straight NCAA Championships, yet they still have yet to finish better than 13th. This is the last chance with senior Julia Lopez Ramirez on the roster. The powerful Spaniard had some bumps last season, though she managed to win twice, including the SEC title, and post four other top-10s, two of those in the postseason. She had a nice summer, too, with a Round-of-16 appearance at the Women’s British Amateur and T-29 finish at the AIG Women’s Open. On paper, Ramirez’s supporting cast is solid – senior Chiara Horder, sophomore Avery Weed and junior Surapa Janthamunee all have good experience – but Ramirez’s six top-10s last season also accounted for half of the team’s total. That has to change if the Bulldogs want to get over the hump in May.
13. Michigan State: The pieces are there for the Spartans, ranked 29th in last season’s final national rankings, to build off a T-17 finish at the NCAA Championship and challenge for a spot in the final eight. Senior Katie Lu is the lynchpin after a season in which she compiled seven top-10s. Four other Spartans are ranked in the top 400 of WAGR, including senior Brooke Biermann, Alabama transfer Taylor Kehoe and incoming freshman Catalina Monroy from Colombia. That doesn’t even include junior Paula Balanzategui, who logged 13 events last season. Michigan State certainly has more depth than most.
14. Arizona: New head coach Giovana Maymon inherits a talented roster that lost only Gile Bite Starkute and is led by three top-200 amateurs – senior Carolina Melgrati, junior Nena Wongthanavimok and sophomore Charlotte Back. Senior Lilas Pinthier and junior Julia Misemer are also still around, and they’ve combined for 24 top-20s in their college careers. Sophomore Maria Cabanillas is a wild card, as she’s played just two college events but has been dominant in South America. The Wildcats should have no trouble getting back to the NCAA Championship after missing last spring.
15. Wake Forest: This is foreign territory for the Demon Deacons, who won it all two seasons ago and have consistently been a top-5 team under head coach Kim Lewellen. The problem is Rachel Kuehn is gone, a departure that leaves sizable holes both on and off the course. Sophomore Macy Pate is cut from a similar cloth and is poised to launch after a debut season that featured seven top-15s. Pate is one of just three returners, along with senior Carolina Chacarra, who arguably took a step back last year because of injury, and junior Anne-Sterre den Dunnen, who didn’t make the postseason lineup last season but did top-10 at the European Ladies this summer. Freshman Denisa Vodickova is talented enough to step in right away, which is a good thing; Wake will need it.
16. Florida State: If you didn’t know by now, junior Lottie Woad is really, really good. The world’s top-ranked amateur didn’t finish worse than eighth in college starts last season. Of course, she’s shined brighter outside of college, winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and making cuts at the Chevron (T-23) and AIG Women’s Open (T-10). Add in fellow junior Mirabel Ting, who is recovered after falling over the summer, and the Seminoles have one of the best one-two punches in the nation. The issue comes after that as the departures of Charlotte Heath and Alice Hodge leave some gaps and the next three highest-ranked players on the roster are all freshmen, a first-year group headlined by England’s Sophia Fullbrook.
17. LSU: Speaking of losing talent, no program lost more than the Tigers, which saw the departure of Annika Award winner Ingrid Lindblad, plus graduates Latanna Stone and Carla Tejedo. No one is replacing Lindblad’s 15 career wins and 42 top-10s. But bringing in freshman Rocio Tejedo, Carla’s sister, is big. The younger Tejedo is a top-40 amateur who made the Round of 16 at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Her presence combined with the leadership of Aine Donegan will provide some stability to a roster that is otherwise full of question marks, albeit players with some potential.
18. Florida: The Gators are one of just a handful programs that can boast five top-400 amateurs in the world. One of those is sophomore Ines Archer, who posted six top-25s last season and has first-team All-SEC potential, and three are freshmen – Elaine Widjaja, Siuue Wu and Addison Klonowski, who enrolled last spring and redshirted. Despite the rankings, there is still the big elephant in the room: Florida hasn’t played an NCAA Championship since 2019.
19. Clemson: The Tigers are riding high after advancing to NCAA match play for the first time in program history. However, now they must replace all-everything Annabelle Pancake and her 71.27 scoring average. Junior Chloe Holder had just one fewer top-10 than Pancake last season with three, and she’s primed to take over the No. 1 spot. Also watch out for freshman Aitana Tuesta from Peru. Injuries to junior Isabella Rawl and senior Melena Barrientos knock Clemson’s ranking down a few spots, but once they’re back, which should be soon, the Tigers should climb a bit.
20. Virginia: The Cavaliers got to La Costa, but a solo 28th left much to be desired. This is Amanda Sambach’s final year after posting five top-5s as a junior. She only played the Palmer Cup and U.S. Women’s Amateur (lost in Round of 64) this summer as she spent several weeks studying abroad in Spain. Seniors Rebecca Skoler and Megan Propeck, as well as sophomore Jaclyn Laha, are back after each logged 11 events last season, though they will have to fight for starting spots after the arrival of freshman Kennedy Swedick and Notre Dame transfer Chloe Schiavone.
21. Kansas: The Jayhawks keep improving under head coach Lindsay Kuhle, who is entering her fourth season after leading Kansas to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional. The next step is obvious, and this team is built to get to the NCAA Championship. The senior trio of Jordan Rothman, Lauren Clark and Lily Hirst combined for 11 top-10s last season, and all three return. Freshman Ebba Nordstedt from Sweden should make an immediate impact as well.
22. Duke: After finishing 14th at nationals, the Blue Devils will have to replace three key players in Phoebe Brinker, Anne Chen and Emma McMyler, and much of that will fall on sophomore Katie Li, a highly rated recruit who notched just one top-10 as a freshman, albeit a win at Florida State’s home event. Junior Andie Smith heated up toward the end of last season with four straight top-20s capped by a solo seventh at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional. Freshmen Anna Canado Espinal and Carla de Troia will get chances to start every tournament, as will senior Rylie Heflin, who made the starting five just once last season.
23. Vanderbilt: Gone are impact players Celina Sattelkau and Virginie Ding, but a solid top four – top five if you consider freshman Angelina Tolentino‘s T-4 at the fall-opening Carmel Cup, which Vandy won – remains in juniors Tillie Claggett and Lynn Lim, and sophomores Ava Merrill and Sara Im. Is it enough to break into the fourth day of nationals after three straight finishes in the 20s at the NCAA Championship? It will take some work.
24. Ole Miss: Among the slew of departures were Andrea Lignell, Justin Fournand and Natacha Host Husted, so the Rebels have some voids to fill. Senior Caitlyn Macnab is locked in as the No. 1 after winning twice, including the NCAA Bermuda Run Regional, while adding seven other top-12s. Aside from Macnab, only sophomore Sophie Linder has recorded a top-10 in college, though freshman Kajsalotta Svarvar will be among the best newcomers in the SEC.
25. UCF: It was a tale of two semesters, as the Knights won twice in the fall but then went eighth at Big 12s and ninth at regionals to end their season. Jess Baker was among the notable departures, but UCF’s two best players are back in Sandwich Sisutham and Molly Smith, who combined for six top-5s last season (Smith was second this summer in WEAGS points), and two freshmen, Jamie Camero and Mila Jurine, are already top 500 in WAGR.
The list
TOP 25
1. Stanford
2. Texas
3. USC
4. UCLA
5. South Carolina
6. Auburn
7. Arkansas
8. Oregon
9. Arizona State
10. Northwestern
11. Texas A&M
12. Mississippi State
13. Michigan State
14. Arizona
15. Wake Forest
16. Florida State
17. LSU
18. Florida
19. Clemson
20. Virginia
21. Kansas
22. Duke
23. Vanderbilt
24. Ole Miss
25. UCF
NEXT 10
26. Pepperdine
27. Baylor
28. Oklahoma State
29. Cal
30. Georgia Southern
31. TCU
32. SMU
33. Houston
33. Tennessee
34. North Carolina
35. Ohio State
Preseason All-Americans
FIRST TEAM
1. Lottie Woad, Florida State
2. Adela Cernousek, Texas A&M
3. Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mississippi State
4. Zoe Campos, UCLA
5. Catherine Park, USC
6. Anna Davis, Auburn
7. Kiara Romero, Oregon
8. Paula Martin Sampedro, Stanford
9. Jasmine Koo, USC
10. Louise Rydqvist, South Carolina
SECOND TEAM
11. Andrea Revuelta, Stanford
12. Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas
13. Farah O’Keefe, Texas
14. Lauren Kim, Texas
15. Meja Ortengren, Stanford
16. Amanda Sambach, Virginia
17. Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, Texas A&M
18. Macy Pate, Wake Forest
19. Bailey Shoemaker, USC
20. Kelly Xu, Stanford
THIRD TEAM
21. Rocio Tejedo, LSU
22. Carolina Chacarra, Wake Forest
23. Hannah Darling, South Carolina
24. Francesca Fiorellini, UCLA
25. Mirabel Ting, Florida State
26. Caroline Canales, UCLA
27. Caitlyn Macnab, Ole Miss
28. Lauryn Nguyen, Northwestern
29. Casey Weidenfeld, Auburn
30. Carla Bernat, Kansas State
HONORABLE MENTION
31. Cindy Hsu, Texas
32. Beth Coulter, Arizona State
33. Jeneath Wong, Pepperdine
34. Megha Ganne, Stanford
35. Patience Rhodes, Arizona State
36. Katie Lu, Michigan State
37. Emma Bunch, New Mexico State
38. Vanessa Borovilos, Texas A&M
39. Mackenzie Lee, SMU
40. Sandwich Sisutham, UCF
