Allysha Mae Mateo named WCC Women's Golf Player of the Year

SAN MATEO, California – BYU junior Allysha Mae Mateo was named the 2020-21 West Coast Conference Women’s Golf Player of the Year on Monday.

“Allysha Mae deserves this award, she has earned it,” said BYU head coach Carrie Roberts. “She had an incredible year and it’s so satisfying for me to see her hard-work payoff. She has been one of the steadiest players I’ve ever coached and has been invaluable to our success.”

Mateo received the Player of the Year honor, as well as selection to the WCC All-Conference team based on votes cast from each of the league’s women’s golf coaches.

“I’m really happy that all of the work that I put in last summer and during the school year has paid off,” said Mateo. “I really want to play well for our team.”

The junior from Honolulu, Hawaii was a consistent frontrunner for the Cougars throughout the season, posting a team-low score in eight of ten tournaments and leading BYU to top-5 finishes in its last five events. For the season, Mateo posted top-15 individual finishes in nine of ten tournaments, including five in the top-5 and four top-3.

Throughout the season, Mateo was featured in the Golfstat top-250 player rankings. In the latest poll, she came in at No. 109, the highest among the other nationally ranked individuals in the WCC.

Mateo claimed her best finish of the season with a runner-up at the Lady Red Wolves Classic in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Oct. 22-23. At the par-72 Sage Meadows Country Club, Mateo carded a three-round score of 68-73-70—211 at 5-under for the tournament.

Mateo and the Cougars faced difficult competition throughout season, including tournaments that featured national-powers Oklahoma State, USC and Baylor.

At the Cowgirl Classic in Stillwater, Oklahoma in October, Mateo finished in third place, leaving her tied with or better than seven golfers from No. 6 ranked Oklahoma State. Mateo would again go toe-to-toe with some of the nation’s best at the SMU Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas in February, where another top-3 finished placed Mateo tied with or better than four of five golfers from No. 15 Baylor.

Mateo finished the regular season with a scoring average of 72.89 per tournament round.

Golf was not the only thing Mateo succeeded at this season. The junior business major balanced a rigorous class schedule in BYU's No. 2 nationally ranked accounting program, while consistently shining on the golf course. As a sophomore in 2019-20, Mateo was named to the WCC Women’s Golf All-Academic Team with a 3.97 GPA.

Mateo becomes the eighth player in BYU women’s golf history be named conference player of the year. She is the first since Kendra Dalton, who did so in consecutive seasons 2016-17 and 2017-18. She also joins BYU current head coach Roberts, who was named conference player of the year in both 1999-2000 and 2000-2001.

“My biggest goal is to win as a team,” said Mateo. “I want to win a conference championship as a team and go onto regionals and nationals. I really want to feel that success as a team. That’s my main goal. Of course, I would also like to win individually, and not finish in the top 3.”

The Cougars’ season may have ended as a team, but Mateo hopes to received an invitation to compete as an individual in the 2021 NCAA Women’s Golf Tournament.

The tournament selection show will be broadcast live on the Golf Channel on Wednesday at 12 p.m. MDT.

Allysha Mae Mateo 2020-21 Tournament Results

WCC Women's Golf All-Conference Team

 BYU Women's Golf All-Time Conference Players of the Year