ATLANTA – 2025 Centre graduate Grace Walker has been named the winner of the 2024-25 Southern Athletic Association Woman of the Year award, the conference office announced. The SAA Woman of the Year is the highest honor the league bestows for a female student-athlete, as voted on by the conference's athletic directors.

"It's been an honor and a privilege to watch the four-year development of Grace, not only as an amazing golfer, but also as a person," said Brad Fields '98, Director of Athletics at Centre College. "Her talent on the course, under pressure, from the time she was a first-year at the NCAA Tournament all the way throughout her career has been special to watch.  Add to that her nearly perfect GPA and her involvement on campus and in the community, and she's worthy of the league's highest individual honor – an example of the best of the best to hold up to inspire future generations of Colonels."

In the storied history of the Centre women's golf program, Grace Walker has enjoyed one of the most decorated careers of any player the Colonels have ever had. Walker is the fifth All-American in program history, receiving the prestigious honor twice in her career.

"It has truly been a joy coaching Grace over the past two years. She is the epitome of what it means to be a student-athlete," said Centre women's golf coach Cheyann Knudsen. "Her discipline in the classroom, on the golf course, and within her sorority has been nothing short of remarkable. The amount of hours and hard work she has dedicated over the past four years is a true testament to her character. She consistently gave her best in everything she pursued, balancing intense academic, athletic, and leadership commitments with unwavering dedication and determination."

In her four years at Centre, Walker played a major role in one of the longest sustained runs of success for Centre women's golf, helping the Colonels reemerge as the top team in the Southern Athletic Association. The team won SAA Tournament championships in 2022, 2023 and 2024, each time setting a new conference record for margin of victory in the championship tournament and coming one stroke shy of completing the career conference title sweep in 2025.
 
Walker's teams qualified for three NCAA Tournaments in her Centre career as the Colonels finished 11th in 2022, 10th in 2023 and 14th in 2024. She also qualified as an individual for the NCAA Tournament in her senior season in 2024-25.

Individually, in addition to her two NCAA All-America honors, Walker is a four-time Women's Golf Coaches Association Region 2/Southeast All-Region selection and a three-time All-SAA First Team selection. Twice during her career she ended the season ranked in the top ten nationally in scoring average according to Golfstat.

In the classroom, Walker graduated with a degree in Economics and Finance, carrying a grade-point average of 3.97, and was named a four-time WGCA All-America Scholar and two-time CSC Academic All-District recipient.

Off the course, Walker has made her presence felt in and around the Centre community. As a member of Kappa Delta all four years, she has served as a budget board member and secondary panhellenic delegate for the organization. While with Kappa Delta, Walker was a regular volunteer in both Danville and Lexington, Ky. From 2022-24 Walker was a member of Centre's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She also helped raise money for Prevent Child Abuse America through fundraising and philanthropy and volunteered with her Centre women's golf teammates at the Kentucky Golf Show.

"Beyond her accomplishments, she is a humble, kind, and exceptional person," said Knudsen. "She led by example and inspired those around her. Her presence will be deeply missed, but her impact will be felt for years to come."

This marks the seventh time that a Centre student-athlete has won the Man or Woman of the Year honors from the SAA since the inception of the conference in the 2012-13 season, and Centre's first since the 2021-22 season.

"The fact that Centre has had either the SAA Man or Woman of the year seven times in the past nine years speaks volumes to the quality of exceptional student-athletes with which we are privileged to work," Fields added. "The SAA is packed full of inspiring student-athletes, which makes the honor that much more special."

Walker's picture will join Mason Paas (Men's Lacrosse, 2016-17), Noah Martin (Men's Swimming, 2017-18), Annie Rodenfels (Women's Cross Country/Track, 2018-19), Cal Lewellyn (Football, 2019-20), Kristin Dean (Women's Soccer, 2020-21) and Cameron Zak (Women's Soccer, 2021-22) in the hallway by the Champions Room in Sutcliffe Hall.