Rachel Heck (born ) is an American amateur golfer.
Early life and amateur career
Heck, a native of
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...
started playing golf with her two sisters almost as soon as she could walk, competing in friendly competitions for ice cream. Her older sister, Abby, played collegiate golf at
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
and younger sister, Anna, who is committed to play golf at the University of Notre Dame, competed in the 2021
U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball The U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball is a women's amateur team golf tournament conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA). It was first played in 2015 and replaced the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, an individual tournament that was pl ...
.
A golf prodigy, Heck was a five-time AJGA All-American. She was the youngest competitor in the
2017 U.S. Women's Open
The 2017 U.S. Women's Open was the 72nd U.S. Women's Open, held at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, west of New York City.
The U.S. Women's Open is the oldest of the five current major championships and was the third of t ...
, tied for 33rd. She also made the cut at the
2018 Evian Championship, tied for 44th. She was a member of the 2018 U.S.
Junior Ryder Cup
The Junior Ryder Cup is a team golf competition between Europe and the United States for junior golfers aged 18 and under. It is based on the men's Ryder Cup and is run by the same organisations, the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe.
The 2018 e ...
team, sinking the putt that clinched the title for the U.S. She was named USA Today's High School Golfer of the Year in 2017 and 2018.
Heck was a member of the 2019 U.S.
Junior Solheim Cup team, going 2–1 over three rounds of match play. She also competed in the
U.S. Women's Amateur and finished T8 in the Girl's Junior PGA Championship. She also earned one of four amateur spots at the
2019 ANA Inspiration. Along with later fellow Stanford Cardinal Sadie Englemann, she advanced to the semifinals of the 2019
U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball The U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball is a women's amateur team golf tournament conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA). It was first played in 2015 and replaced the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, an individual tournament that was pl ...
.
In 2020, Heck was the stroke-play medalist in the
U.S. Women's Amateur, shooting 4-under-par across two rounds. She advanced to the round of 16 before falling, 1 up, to eventual champion
Rose Zhang
Rose Zhang (born May 24, 2003) is an American amateur golfer. She won the 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur and the 2022 NCAA Division I Championship. She competed in the 2019 U.S. Women's Open and was on the gold medal team at the 2019 Pan American Ga ...
. She was also a quarterfinalist in the 2020
North and South Women's Amateur The North and South Women's Amateur Golf Championship is an annual golf tournament held since 1903 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina. An invitational tournament, participants are chosen based upon their performance in national a ...
.
Heck enrolled at
Stanford University in 2021 to play golf with the
Stanford Cardinal women's golf
The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...
team. In her freshman year, she recorded six individual collegiate wins.
She became the third player in college history to sweep conference (
Pac-12
The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...
), regional (Stanford Regional) and national titles (
NCAAs), joining USC's
Annie Park
Annie Park (born April 9, 1995) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. Park has one win on that tour, at the 2018 ShopRite LPGA Classic, and competed in the 2019 Solheim Cup. Previously, she was the 2013 NCAA individual ...
and Arizona's
Marisa Baena. Heck became the first Stanford woman to win an NCAA title, and the ninth freshman to achieve the feat. Her 69.72 scoring average over 25 rounds was, at the time, the lowest in NCAA women's golf history.
Heck claimed medalist honors in the qualifier for the
2021 U.S. Women's Open
The 2021 U.S. Women's Open was the 76th U.S. Women's Open, played June 3–6, 2021 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, California.
The U.S. Women's Open is the oldest of the five current major championships and was the second of the 2021 s ...
in Novato, California, with a 36-hole total of 8-under 136. She finished 3rd at the
Augusta National Women's Amateur and won
The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship with Team USA. Heck was the 2021
Honda Sports Award
The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...
recipient and the Annika Award recipient for being the top collegiate golfer.
Amateur wins
*2016 Bubba Conlee Tournament
*2017 Rolex Girls Junior Championship
*2018 Polo Golf Junior Classic, Kathy Whitworth Invitational
*2021 The Gunrock Invitational, Fresno State Classic, Pac-12 Women's Championship, NCAA Stanford Regional,
NCAA Championship
*2022 Lamkin San Diego Invitational, The Gunrock Invitational
Source:
Results in LPGA majors
''Results not in chronological order before 2019 or in 2020.''
CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = no tournament
T = tied
U.S. national team appearances
Amateur
*
Junior Ryder Cup
The Junior Ryder Cup is a team golf competition between Europe and the United States for junior golfers aged 18 and under. It is based on the men's Ryder Cup and is run by the same organisations, the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe.
The 2018 e ...
: 2018 (winners)
*
Junior Solheim Cup: 2017 (winners), 2019 (winners)
*
Curtis Cup
The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and " ...
:
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
(winners),
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...
(winners)
*
The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship: 2021 (winners)
*
Arnold Palmer Cup
The Arnold Palmer Cup is an annual team golf competition for college/university golfers. From 2018 it has been contested between a United States team and an International team representing the rest of the world. The teams consist of 12 men and 12 ...
:
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...
*
Espirito Santo Trophy
The Espirito Santo Trophy (World Women's Amateur Team Championships) is a biennial world amateur team golf championship for women organised by the International Golf Federation.
The inaugural event was held in 1964. It was instituted by the Fre ...
:
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...
Source:
[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heck, Rachel
American female golfers
Stanford Cardinal women's golfers
Golfers at the 2023 Pan American Games
Golfers from Memphis, Tennessee
2002 births
Living people