Jennifer Kupcho, 21, of Westminster, Colo., has won the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading women’s player in the 2018 World Amateur Golf Ranking™ (WAGR). With the honor, Kupcho will be awarded exemptions into the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open and Women’s British Open, if she remains an amateur.
Kupcho had a fantastic year, winning the 2018 NCAA Division I individual championship as well as earning a place on the USA Curtis Cup Team. A rising senior at Wake Forest University, Kupcho earned five collegiate wins, including an NCAA Regional victory, while setting the single-season school scoring record with a 70.6 average during her junior year. Additionally, Kupcho spent five weeks as the No. 1 player in WAGR and spent most of the past two years ranked in the top three.
“It’s a really big honor to get this medal,” said Kupcho. “Obviously it’s been a long stretch of hard work, and it’s great to see it pay off and to have the pride of coming out on top. I’m looking forward to the next college season.”
Kupcho is the first Wake Forest women’s golfer to be awarded the Honda Sport Award, presented annually by the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) to top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports. She earned first-team WGCA All-American honors for the second straight year, and was one of three finalists for the ANNIKA Award, annually given to the most outstanding women’s player of the year. Earlier this summer, Kupcho finished T-16 in the LPGA Tour’s Marathon Classic.
After posting a 3-1-1 mark in the USA’s 17-3 Curtis Cup victory over Great Britain and Ireland at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., Kupcho helped the USA Palmer Cup Team to victory in France. Just prior to the 118th U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at The Golf Club of Tennessee, Kupcho was selected by the USGA to represent the USA in the 2018 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship at Carton House near Dublin, Ireland, later this month.
The USGA and The R&A co-award the McCormack Medal annually. It is named after Mark H. McCormack, who founded sports marketing company IMG and was a great supporter of amateur golf.
“On behalf of the USGA, our most sincere congratulations to Jennifer Kupcho for earning the esteemed McCormack Medal,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director of Championships. “Not only has Jennifer put together a remarkable individual season, highlighted by her NCAA Championship win, but she also represented the USA with respect, talent and passion during the Curtis Cup Match. We look forward to watching her do the same as a member of our World Amateur Team.”
“Jennifer has produced a high standard of golf over the past year and her excellent results make her a worthy winner of the McCormack Medal,” said Duncan Weir, Executive Director – Golf Development at The R&A. “She is following in the footsteps of a number of notable woman golfers and we would like to congratulate Jennifer on this fantastic achievement.”
The World Amateur Golf Ranking, which is supported by Rolex, was established in 2007 when the men’s ranking was launched. The men’s ranking encompasses more than 2,700 counting events, ranking 6,200 players from 106 countries. The women’s ranking was launched in 2011 and has a calendar of more than 1,850 counting events with more than 2,850 ranked players from 78 countries.
