There might have been a certain sense of deja vu for Westminster resident Jennifer Kupcho after Wednesday evening’s announcement of the Annika Award, presented to the most outstanding player of the season in women’s college golf.
Except for one thing.
After being one of three finalists for the award for the second straight year — but not receiving the prize unveiled on the Golf Channel — Kupcho still owns the NCAA individual title this time around.
That’s the ultimate consolation.
As for the Annika Award presentation, the 21-year-old Wake Forest senior-to-be had to settle for being a finalist again as Arkansas’ Maria Fassi earned the honor this time around.
Fassi, a native of Mexico who has qualified in Colorado for multiple USGA championships, landed the award. She won six individual titles during the season, but finished 66th in the national tournament that Kupcho won.
It’s possible that Kupcho may have paid a price for the voting process for the Annika Award. Voting — by college golfers, coaches and selected members of the golf media — opens after the NCAA Regionals and continues until after the national championships. So it’s very possible that some votes were cast before Kupcho won the national title on May 21. She was eighth on the Annika Award watch list as of May 3.
Kupcho finished the college season with four individual victories, with three of them coming after April 1. In fact, she won an NCAA Regional tournament for the second straight year to go along with her national championship. She’s claimed seven titles in her college career so far and has finished sixth, second and first in the Women’s NCAA Finals. She’s the first Coloradan to win an individual NCAA Division I women’s golf national title.
The Jefferson Academy graduate, who’s spent considerable time developing her game with instructor Ed Oldham at The Ranch Country Club, is a two-time first-team All-American. She broke the Wake Forest women’s record for season stroke average that she set last year as she averaged 70.6 in 2017-18.
Now ranked second among the world’s female amateurs, Kupcho will compete this weekend as part of an eight-player U.S. team against Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup, a biennial match-play competition featuring some of the world’s top women amateurs. The 40th Curtis Cup matches will take place Friday through Sunday at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y.
Earlier this week, Kupcho did win a prestigious honor — the 2018 Honda Award for women’s golf, presented by the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards. The Honda Award is given to the top women’s athlete in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, recognizing athletic achievement, scholastics and community involvement.
