UO wgf, April 23

EUGENE, Ore. – Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen earned all-America honorable mention recognition from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) on Tuesday after enjoying a terrific true freshman season for the Oregon women’s golf team. Nielsen is only the third Duck in program history to receive WGCA all-America honors, and the first since 2013. Paula Patterson was Oregon’s first-ever all-American in 1996-97 as a first-team selection, and Cassy Isagawa was on the second team as a freshman in 2011-12 before earning honorable mention in 2012-13. Nielsen joins Isagawa as the only Oregon freshmen ever to garner all-America status. “Congratulations to Sofie for achieving this incredible honor,” said head coach Derek Radley. “She has an extremely high golf IQ and is one of the most mature freshmen I have ever been around. “She pays attention to detail while striving to improve each and every day, but most importantly, she is a wonderful young lady who has care and love for her teammates and others. Her future is bright and this award is just the beginning.” One of the most highly-regarded recruits in program history out of Nykoebing Mors, Denmark, Nielsen led the Ducks with a 72.52 scoring average – good for No. 2 in Oregon single-season history – while posting seven straight top-20 finishes as a true freshman before the 2019-20 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nielsen finished her inaugural season at No. 24 on the Golfstat individual national rankings, the fifth-best end-of-season ranking in program history and the ninth-best ranking in the nation for a true freshman. Nielsen’s best showing of the season came in what ended up being the final event of the year at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational, where she shot 2 under to tie for sixth place overall, headlined by a 3-under 69 in the last round. The true freshman led the Ducks with 10 rounds of par or better on the season, including a pair of sub-70 performances.