McCauley on Final Fall Watch List for Annika Award

MINNEAPOLIS -- Bella McCauley of the University of Minnesota was named last week as one of the 25 players on the Final Fall Watch List for the Annika Award. The award is given each year, and the recipient is generally recognized as the NCAA Division I Women's Player of the Year.

McCauley, a junior from Inver Grove Heights (who will graduate in the spring, but probably play a fourth year of college golf as a grad student), is currently No. 30 in the national rankings that are compiled by Clippd Golf. That seems a little low, considering that she played in four tournaments during the fall portion of the 2024-25 college season, and finished in the top seven all four times, in the top four three times and she won once -- the Ron Moore Intercollegiate. In that tournament, she broke the Gophers' all-time 54-hole scoring record with a 202.

The former Minnesota state high school champion -- and State Junior Girls champion and Minnesota PGA Junior Girls champion -- tied for fourth in the Annika Intercollegiate at The Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, with a 54-hole total of 211 (5 under par). There were six other players from the Watch List in the field there. Hannah Darling, a senior from South Carolina (she's coached by former Edina High School star Kalen Anderson), won the tournament; South Carolina senior Louise Rydquist finished second; and Wake Forest junior Carolina Chicarra was third.

But McCauley, the reignning Big Ten individual champion, fiinished ahead of the other three Watch List players in the field at The Royal. Patience Rhodes (ASU sophomore) ended up tied for sixth. Kiara Romero (Oregon sophomore) was 15th, and one of McCauley's Big Ten rivals, Purdue senior Natasha Kiel, tied for 30th, with an aggregate of 221.

Kiel started the fall portion of the schedule by winning the Boilermaker Classic in September on Purdue's home course. McCauley recovered from a 76 in the first round there with a 70 and a 68, and ended up third at 214, three shots behind Kiel. In the other tournament that both McCauley and Kiel played, the Mary Fossum Invitational on Michigan State's home course, McCauley tied for seventh (216), and Kiel tied for 13th (219).

Nevertheless, even though McCauley finished ahead of Kiel in two of the three tournaments they both played -- and had a nine-round/162-hole total 10 better than Kiel, 641 (-7) to 651 (+3) -- Kiel is 11 spots ahead of McCauley in the college rankings, at No. 19.


Final Fall Annika Award Watch List (current national rankings in parentheses)

Bella McCauley, jr. Minnesota (30)

Emma Bunck, jr. New Mexico State (75)

Carolina Chacarra, jr. Wake Forest (3)

Hannah Darling, sr., SouthCarolina (7)

Anna Davis, soph., Auburn (25)

Megha Ganne, jr., Stanford (5)

Natasha Kiel, sr., Purdue (19)

Gace Kilcrease, jr., Oklahoma State (13)

Jasmine Koo, Southern California (1)

Vivian Lu, soph., Washington (20)

Maria Jose Marin, soph. Arkansas (2)

Faah O'Keefe, soph., Texas (15)

Meja Ortengren, fr., Stanford (11)

Catherine Park, jr., Southern California (12)

Julia Lopez Ramirez, sr., Mississippi State (3)

Patience Rhodes, soph., Aizona State (27)

Kiara Romero, soph., Oregon

Louise Rydquist, sr., South Caolina (21)

Megan Streicher, jr., North Carolina (18)

Paula Matin Sampedro, soph., Stanford (22)

Rocio Tejedo, fr., LSU (17)

Mirabel Ting, jr., Florida State (6)

Kendall Todd, sr., Arkansas (8)

Avery Weed,m soph., Mississippi State (16)

Lottie Woad, jr., Florida State (10)