Darling, Rydqvist Named to ANNIKA Award Postseason Watch List

COLUMBUS, Ga. – Senior All-Americans Hannah Darling and Louise Rydqvist were each named to the ANNIKA Award Postseason Watch List the organization announced via its media partners Golf Channel and Golfweek. The duo is two of 15 players in the nation on the watch list for the annual Player of the Year Award in women’s collegiate golf.

Created in 2014, the ANNIKA Award presented by Stifel is annually given to the top female Division 1 collegiate golfer; the winner voted on by players, coaches and members of the college golf media. Named for Annika Sorenstam, the award was created in partnership with the Haskins Foundation to acknowledge the top female golfer and to match the Haskins Award presented by Stifel, which acknowledges the top male Division I collegiate golfer. Ingrid Lindblad of LSU became the 11th ANNIKA Award winner in 2024.

Darling and Rydqvist, four-year starters and two of the best players in program history, have enjoyed standout senior campaigns. The duo helped the No. 4 Gamecocks win the program’s first SEC Championship since 2002 last Friday at Pelican Golf Club after defeating Florida 3.5-1.5 in a back-and-forth title bout that went down to the wire.

They both finished T-7^th in stroke play at the SEC Championship to help Carolina earn the No. 1 seed for match play last week. The Gamecocks made history as the first top seed to win the SEC Championship since the league switch to the new match play format in 2018. It was both players third top-10 finish in four career SEC Championship starts.

Darling is ranked No. 13 in Clippd (No. 18 in WAGR) and leads the team this season with a 70.92 scoring average. She has finished in the top-15 in all eight stroke play events this season for Carolina with an out-right win at the season-opening ANNIKA Intercollegiate back in September. Darling fired a 54-hole career-best score of 202 (-14) at the event to pickup her second collegiate win. Her five top-five finishes lead the team this season. The Midlothian, Scotland native has the lowest career scoring average in program history at 71.98 as the team readies for NCAA Regional play in two weeks.

Rydqvist is ranked No. 17 in Clippd (No. 7 in WAGR) and ranks third on the team with a 71.19 scoring average. Like Darling, she has also been incredibly consistent in her final season in Garnet and Black with seven top-20 finishes, including four top-10s, seven stroke play starts. Rydqvist was co-champion of the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in March, an event that annually features the best field in college golf. Her and Arkansas’ Kendall Todd were the only players in the field under par on the difficult Pete Dye track. Rydqvist’s career scoring average of 72.70 is currently the third-lowest in program history behind only Darling and former All-American Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.
The Selection Show for the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship airs live today on Golf Channel from 1 to 2 p.m. (ET) as Carolina will make its 26^th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance likely with its fifth-straight No. 1 seed. Head coach Kalen Anderson will join Golf Channel for a live interview at 1:30 p.m. during the show.

2025 ANNIKA Award Postseason Watch List

Carolina Chacarra, Wake Forest

Hannah Darling, South Carolina

Megha Ganne, Stanford

Kary Hollenbaugh, Ohio State

Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas

Lauren Kim, Texas

Jasmine Koo, Southern California

Caitlyn Macnab, Ole Miss

Paula Martin Sampedro, Stanford

Farah O’Keefe, Texas

Meja Ortengren, Stanford

Kiara Romero, Oregon

Louise Rydqvist, South Carolina

Mirabel Ting, Florida State

Lottie Woad, Florida State

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