Just weeks after capping decorated college careers with NCAA individual titles, Matthew Wolff and Maria Fassi were announced Tuesday as the winners of two of college golf’s most prestigious awards.
Wolff, who won six times during his sophomore season at Oklahoma State, was named the recipient of the Fred Haskins Award, given to the most outstanding Division I male golfer. Fassi ended her four-year run at Arkansas with a second straight Annika Award, handed out to Division I’s most outstanding female golfer.
The awards are voted on by players, coaches and members of the media, and were announced Tuesday evening on Golf Channel.
Wolff finished this season with nine top-10s in 12 starts and an NCAA-record 68.7 scoring average while also capturing GCAA first-team All-America honors and the Jack Nicklaus Award. He was a finalist for the Hogan Award. He won the NCAA individual title by five shots at Blessings Golf Club, becoming the ninth Oklahoma State player to medal at the NCAA Championship.
By receiving the Haskins Award, Wolff, who plans to turn pro this summer, gets a sponsor invite into this fall’s PGA Tour season opener, A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier, on Sept. 12-15.
Georgia Southern graduate Steven Fisk and Wolff’s Oklahoma State teammate Viktor Hovland, who is set to turn pro after three seasons in Stillwater, were the other Haskins finalists.
Fassi grabbed her second consecutive Annika Award thanks to a senior season where she won the SEC Championships and the NCAA individual title on her school’s home course. She was a WGCA first-team All-American and finished runner-up at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April, though that performance wasn’t factored into her Annika Award credentials.
The winner of the Annika Award receives an exemption into the 2020 Evian Championship, though Fassi had already been awarded an invite into this year’s major championship July 25-28 in France for her Annika Award win last year.
Annika Sorenstam informed Fassi of the exemption last month right before Fassi was to take her last final exam at Arkansas.
“I was just joking with her, ‘I don't care if I fail this final if I do something like that. You've made my day already,’” Fassi said. “It was just some great news, especially as a rookie on the LPGA. It's going to be great and crucial for me to be able to earn money and keep my card. Having that opportunity, I mean, I'm just beyond blessed that they thought of me.”
Now, Fassi will get to play back-to-back Evian Championships.
Wake Forest grad Jennifer Kupcho and rising Florida State sophomore Frida Kunhult were the other Annika finalists.
The Fred Haskins Commission, which for the past 48 years has overseen the Haskins Award, also administers the Annika Award. Winners of the Haskins, which include Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, have captured 31 majors and notched more than 300 professional victories. Former Duke standout Leona Maguire is the only other two-time winner of the Annika, which was first awarded in 2014.