Jensen Castle, a women’s golfer from the University of Kentucky, has been named one of the 15 athletes on the first spring ANNIKA Award Watch List. Castle has participated in six tournaments this season, with five top 15 finishes and four straight top 10 finishes in some of the most competitive fields in the country. She has a 70.6 scoring average through 18 rounds and 1,271 strokes, and is on track to break her own single-season scoring-average school record of 71.88. She also holds the second-best scoring-average record at her university with 72.72 in 2021-22.
Castle has had 11 par-or-better rounds and six rounds in the 60s this season. Her scoring average is currently fourth in the Southeastern Conference among her competitors. Castle’s performance at the Illini Women’s Invitational, where she tied for fourth place with an 11-under-par 205 tournament total, and the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational, where she earned her first-ever medalist honors in her collegiate career, were standout performances.
Castle is ranked as the 21st-best amateur golfer in the world by the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and has been invited to compete in the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
The ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel is an award created in 2014 to honor the top female Division 1 collegiate golfer, named after Annika Sorenstam. Castle is one of 15 athletes on the first spring ANNIKA Award Watch List, which is determined by a vote from players, coaches, and members of the college golf media. The award is presented by Stifel, a leading wealth management and investment banking firm, which also serves as a presenting sponsor for the NCAA Division I Women’s and Men’s Golf Championships on GOLF Channel.
The first spring ANNIKA Award Watch List is as follows:
Jenny Bae, Georgia
Zoe Campos, UCLA
Jensen Castle, Kentucky
Hannah Darling, South Carolina
Megha Ganne, Stanford
Charlotte Heath, Florida State
Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest
Andrea Lignell, Ole Miss
Ingrid Lindblad, LSU
Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, Wake Forest
Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mississippi State
Silje Ohma, Baylor
Lauren Walsh, Wake Forest
Lottie Woad, Florida State
Rose Zhang, Stanford
Read: Locker Room Lance Leading Cats
Read: 6 Things Slowly Killing College Basketball
Read: Tyler Ulis Making An Impression At Kentucky
Read: Player Spotlight – Cason Wallace
