| Arizona Wildcats women's golf | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1979 |
| University | University of Arizona |
| Conference | Big 12 |
| Athletic director | Dave Heeke |
| Head coach | Giovana Maymon (1st season) |
| Location | Tucson, Arizona |
| Course | Tucson Country Club Par: 72 Yards: 7,022 |
| Nickname | Arizona |
| Colors | Cardinal and Navy |
| NCAA champions | |
| 1996, 2000, 2018 | |
| NCAA individual champions | |
| Susan Slaughter (1990) Annika Sörenstam (1991) Marisa Baena (1996) Jenna Daniels (2000) | |
| NCAA runner-up | |
| 2002 | |
| NCAA match play | |
| 2018 | |
| NCAA Championship appearances | |
| 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023 | |
| Conference champions | |
| Pac-10/12 1992, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2015 | |
| Individual conference champions | |
| Pac-10/12 Annika Sorenstam (1992) Leta Lindley (1994) Marisa Baena (1996) Jenna Daniels (1998) Lorena Ochoa (2001) | |
The Arizona Wildcats women's golf is considered one of the best in all of women's collegiate golf, dating back to their first season in 1979. Since they have won three national championships in 1996, 2000, and 2018. The Wildcat Women have also had four individual national champions with Susan Slaughter in (1990), Annika Sörenstam in (1991), Marisa Baena in (1996) and Jenna Daniels in (2000).
On August 4, 2023, Arizona announced it would join the Big 12 Conference along with Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah beginning in the 2024-25 academic year.[1]
Members of the Wildcat women's program have gone on to success on the LPGA Tour, led by 8-time LPGA Player of the Year Annika Sörenstam and 4-time LPGA Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa. Sörenstam is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history.[2] Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 international tournaments as a professional, making her the female golfer with the most wins to her name. She has won 72 official LPGA Tour tournaments including ten majors and 18 other tournaments internationally, and she tops the LPGA's career money list with earnings of over $22 million—over $2 million ahead of her nearest rival while playing 187 fewer events.[3] The winner of a record eight Player of the Year awards, and six Vare Trophies given to the LPGA player with the lowest seasonal scoring average, she is the only female golfer to shoot a 59 in competition. She holds various all-time scoring records including the lowest season scoring average: 68.6969 in 2004. Representing Europe in the Solheim Cup on eight occasions between 1994 and 2007, Sörenstam was the event's all-time leading points earner until her record was surpassed by England's Laura Davies during the 2011 Solheim Cup. Sörenstam also was captain of the 2017 European Solheim Cup team. In 2003, Sörenstam played in the Bank of America Colonial tournament to become the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event since 1945.
Lorena Ochoa was the top-ranked female golfer in the world for 158 consecutive and total weeks (both are LPGA Tour records), from April 23, 2007, to her retirement on May 2, 2010, at the age of 28 years old. As the first Mexican golfer of either gender to be ranked number one in the world,[4] she is considered the best Mexican golfer and the best Latin American female golfer of all time.[5][6] Ochoa was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.[7]
- ^ Robbins, Robert C. (August 4, 2023). "University of Arizona Will Join the Big 12 Conference in 2024–25". University of Arizona Athletics.
- ^ "Official Career Wins" (PDF). LPGA. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 25, 2007. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
- ^ "LPGA Tour Career Money List". LPGA Tour. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
- ^ Shapiro, Leonard (April 27, 2007). "Say Hello to the Ochoa Era". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2007.
- ^ Lane, Harper (September 15, 2010). "5 Great Hispanic Golfers". Man Made. Archived from the original on February 24, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ Ceballos, Juan Ignacio (June 16, 2011). "La familia Ochoa, del golf al tenis". ESPN Deportes (in Spanish). Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ "Love III gets Hall of Fame call: Woosnam, Mallon, Ochoa, Longhurst also included in Class of 2017". PGA Tour. October 18, 2016.