Margot and Mitch Milias Director of Women's Golf Anne Walker was named National Coach of the Year by the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) on Thursday. She guided Stanford to the 2022 National Championship, as freshman Rose Zhang won the individual national title and swept all major awards.
"I'm honored to be named the 2022 Division I Jackie Steinmann WGCA National Coach of the Year," Walker said. "This is the ultimate team award and I just want to say thank you to everyone who was involved this year to bring this award back to Stanford. I want to say thank you to my assistant coach Maddie Sheils, our staff on campus, our volunteer coach Richard Sheridan and a special thank you to all the players – this is really a representation of all the work they've put in this year and all the players before them, too. Thank you to my family – husband Chris and children Emma and Isla – the ultimate support. None of this would be possible without you. Thank you again to the WGCA."
Walker's Cardinal won six of its 11 stroke-play events in 2021-22, with Zhang claiming four individual titles and Rachel Heck two. Stanford defeated No. 8 Georgia, No. 5 Auburn and No. 2 Oregon in match play en route to the crown.
For the second straight season, one of Walker's freshmen was the national champion and swept all major national and conference awards. After Heck did so in 2021, Zhang repeated the impressive feat in 2022 by winning the NCAA individual title, the ANNIKA Award, WGCA Player and Freshman of the Year and Pac-12 Golfer and Freshman of the Year.
The 2021-22 season marked Stanford's second national title in program history, and the Cardinal is the first women's program to win two titles since the NCAA moved to the match-play format for the 2014-15 season. In those seven years, Stanford is the only program to qualify for match play every year.
Walker, who just concluded her 10th season, has had at least one first team All-American in all 10 seasons and multiple golfers have earned All-American honors in nine straight years under Walker's tutelage.
This year's honor marks Walker's second National Coach of the Year recognition (2015) and she was also named Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the third time (2015, 2021, 2022).