Awards Recognize Most Outstanding NCAA Division I Collegiate Golfers for 2019-20 Season
(ORLANDO, Fla.) – Natalie Srinivasan (Furman) and Sahith Theegala (Pepperdine) were announced on Golf Central as winners of the 2020 ANNIKA and Fred Haskins Awards, respectively, recognizing the most outstanding female and male NCAA Division I collegiate golfers for the 2019-20 season.
Ron Kruszewski, chairman and CEO of Stifel, joined Golf Central to announce Theegala as the Haskins Award winner. Hall-of-Famer Annika Sorenstam also joined Golf Central to announce Srinivasan as the ANNIKA Award winner.
ANNIKA AWARD PRESENTED BY STIFEL: Srinivasan, a first-team All-American and Golfstat’s top-ranked female college golfer in the country, recorded three victories this season. As a result of winning the 2020 ANNIKA Award, the Furman senior receives an exemption to compete in the 2021 Evian Championship on the LPGA Tour.
“I was definitely shocked when I got the call from Annika,” said Srinivasan in an interview with GOLF Channel’s Steve Burkowski. “It was something I really didn’t expect. This award means so much since it is voted on by coaches, my fellow players and the golf media. It is really special to me and I really didn’t expect it at all.
“It has been tough,” continued Srinivasan on the cancelled season. “I really felt like this year I had a chance to win nationals. That was hard to deal with, but all of these post-season honors that have come out have been really helpful in giving me a really positive end to my year.”
Srinivasan announced she will turn professional this summer and begin her professional career on the Symetra Tour.
“I have Symetra conditional status so I’ll be able to start that up in July when the Tour starts back up,” said Srinivasan. “Hopefully I’ll be able to play and move forward with my professional career.”
FRED HASKINS AWARD PRESENTED BY STIFEL: Theegala, a first-team All-American senior and Golfstat’s top-ranked player in the country, led his Pepperdine team to their first-ever regular season number-one ranking in program history. His 69.04 scoring average also is the lowest in Pepperdine history and he is the first non-Power-5 conference winner of the Fred Haskins Award since 2005.
“This is an incredible honor. Words can’t even begin to describe it,” said Theegala in a Golf Central interview with Burkowski. “Just to think that my name belongs with some of those other names on this list, like Tiger [Woods] and Phil [Mickelson] and some of the greats, is just incredible to think about. It is still a little bit of a shock.
“My team was such a big reason why I had a good year this year,” continued Theegala. “Our team was just so competitive within ourselves that we never let ourselves get complacent. We were always keeping each other on our toes. I attribute a large part of my individual success to the team and my coaches pushing me.”
Voting for both awards are compiled and verified by the Fred Haskins Commission, which oversees both awards. Celebrating its 50th year, the Fred Haskins Award has been given to players who have captured 31 major championships and more than 300 professional tournaments around the world, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ben Crenshaw. Maria Fassi (Arkansas) became the first back-to-back winner of the ANNIKA Award in 2019, while Matthew Wolff (Oklahoma State) won the 2019 Fred Haskins Award. GOLF Channel and Golfweek are media partners for the ANNIKA and Fred Haskins Awards.
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