NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Women's golfer Ami Gianchandani '23, who excelled on the course, in the classroom and in the community during her outstanding Yale career, has been selected as an NCAA Woman of the Year nominee.
 
Gianchandani is one of the most decorated women's golfers in school history. Most recently, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) named her as the 2023 Dinah Shore Trophy award winner which recognizes student-athletes who excel in academics and athletics while also demonstrating outstanding leadership skills and community service.
 
In May, Gianchandani was the recipient of the Nellie Pratt Elliot Award, the most prestigious athletic award given to one senior female sport participant. It is presented to the senior women's sport student-athlete whose excellence in the field of athletics and in her life at Yale best represents the ideals of sportsmanship and Yale tradition.
 
Gianchandani is a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year (2018-19 and 2021-22) and earned Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2018-19. She established career records for the best scoring average and most individual wins in Yale women's golf history. She also set school records for lowest season scoring average, best 18-hole score and best 54-hole score. 
 
Gianchandani has also been active off the course. She earned Yale Athletics' Thomas W. Ford Award this past year, presented annually to the student-athlete who during the past four years demonstrated a commitment to strengthening the relationship between Yale Athletics and the youth in the New Haven community. She was an NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative for the Ivy League and was vice chair. She also has served on the executive board of Yale's SAAC.
 
A statistics and data science major, she has spent more than 200 hours mentoring students through Code Haven and The First Tee. In addition, she is co-founder of Accel Golf, a golf statistics program used by golfers at all levels worldwide.
 
Gianchandani is a two-time team captain and earned Yale's Francis Gordon Brown prize. She was named first team All-Ivy in 2019 and 2022 and was selected to the second team in 2023.
 
Gianchandani was a participant at the US Women's Amateur on four occasions (2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023). She is a native of Watchung, N.J., and is a graduate of The Pingry School.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2023.
 
Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its core member schools (and sponsored sports) and submits its conference nominee(s) to the NCAA. Then, the NCAA Woman of the Year selection committee identifies the Top 30 – 10 from each division – and from there selects three finalists from each division. From the nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics selects the NCAA Woman of the Year, who is named during a luncheon at the annual NCAA Convention.