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UVa Women's Golf Program Named to Golf Digest's Top-5 List
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Aug. 2, 2006
Charlottesville, VA — The Virginia women’s golf team, in existence for just three seasons, has been named by Golf Digest as one of the top five programs in the nation for junior golf prospects. The ranking will appear in Golf Digest’s September issue (available Aug. 8) that features its second annual College Golf Guide.
In the women’s “Golf First” ranking, Duke is No. 1, followed by No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Rollins, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Virginia, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Southern California, No. 8 California, No. 9 Wake Forest and No. 10 Pepperdine.
“It is a distinct honor for the program and the young women who make up our team to receive a ranking this high,” said Virginia coach Jan Mann. “Our goal is to build one of the finest overall programs in the nation and this recognition shows one of the sport’s most-respected publications has taken note of our efforts.”
According to the publication, the rankings and College Golf Guide package provides a blueprint for high school students with aspirations of playing golf in college and professionally (“Golf First” ranking), as well as students focused on education who still desire to play competitive golf (“Academics First” ranking).
Golf Digest rated 772 NCAA men’s programs and 500 women’s programs in the five categories, grading each area on a 100-point scale to determine overall scores. Five criteria form the basis of the rankings: a college golf team’s adjusted scoring average, player growth while on the team, academics, climate and coaches/facilities.
Golf Digest’s academics numbers were taken from the U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” guidebook. The climate numbers were provided by Longitudes Group and measure each school’s 30-year average of playable days from September 1 to May 31. The player-growth category is a refinement to Golf Digest’s rankings this year and is based on two measurements: the number of players on the roster during the last four seasons who lowered their adjusted scoring average on a year-over-year basis, as well as the team’s combined improvement or decline.
Last year the Cavaliers finished second at the ACC Championship and went on to place eighth at the NCAA East Regional. Virginia finished the season ranked 16th in the Golfstat rankings and 19th by Golfweek. Those were the highest season-ending rankings in the program’s history. Leah Wigger became the program’s first All-American, earning second-team honors by the National Golf Coaches Association and Golfweek. Wigger capped the year by recording her second straight top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships.
The full college rankings, including every Division I, Division II and Division III school in the U.S. with a golf program, can be viewed at www.golfdigest.com/collegeguide