Women's Golf Team Celebration
Photo by: Tim Cowie/Tim Cowie Photography

Northwestern No. 9 in Golfweek 2025-26 Preseason Rankings

8/27/2025 11:49:00 AM | Women's Golf

EVANSTON, Ill (August 27, 2025) – In an announcement Wednesday morning, the Northwestern University women's golf team will open the season ranked No. 9 on Golfweek's 2025-26 Preseason Rankings. 

2025-26 Golfweek Preseason Rankings

Head coach Emily Fletcher is set to return five golfers from last season's national championship winning squad, including Golfweek All-American Ashley Yun, who led the team with a stroke average of 71.65 while appearing in all 34 rounds.
 
Northwestern advanced to the NCAA Championship Finals for the third consecutive year, placing in third to advance to match play for the third time since 2017. The 'Cats went on to win the program's first ever national championship, defeating Arkansas, Oregon, and Stanford in match play, with all five Wildcats winning at least one match.
 
The Wildcats placed no lower than eighth throughout the season, amassing ten top five finishes across 12 events. Three players took individual victories on the campaign, including Yun at the St Andrews Links Collegiate, Dianna Lee at the PING/ASU Invitational, and Lauryn Nguyen at the Silverado Showdown, with Northwestern taking the team title at both the St Andrews Links Collegiate Stroke Play and the Silverado Showdown.
 
Yun and Nguyen were named to the All-Big Ten First Team, as well as All-Americans by both Golfweek and the WGCA, while Lee took All-Big Ten Second Team recognition.
 
Fletcher was named the WGCA Regional Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her career in addition to being named the WGCA National Coach of the Year for the first time. Assistant coach Beth Miller was also named the WGCA Assistant Coach of the Year for the second time, marking the first time in the award's history that both the National Coach and Assistant Coach of the Year came from the same program.
 
Across seventeen seasons, the coaching tandem of Fletcher and Miller have piloted the Wildcats to ten NCAA Championships Finals appearances, in addition to winning the Big Ten Championship in 2013, 2015, and 2016.
 
Looking ahead to the 2025-26 season, Fletcher is set to welcome two newcomers to the squad in Lauren E. Lee and Arianna Lau, the latter of whom was recently named on the preseason watch list for the ANNIKA Award.
 
The Wildcats are set to open the campaign in two weeks' time at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, September 8-10, in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.
 

Players Mentioned

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