THE NANCY LOPEZ AWARD
VIRADA NIRAPATHPONGPORN

In 2004, the U.S. Women's Amateur Champion, Virada Nirapathpongporn was selected as the fifth recipient of the Nancy Lopez Award. The talented native of Bangkok, Thailand enjoyed a remarkable year by also finishing second at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship and 60th at the U.S. Women's Open. In between she was a major star on the Duke University women's team, one of the finest collegiate squads ever assembled. She finished in the top 10 all but two of her college events, one of the latter being an 11th at the NCAA Championship. She was ranked first in GolfWeek's women's amateur ranking for 2003.

She was also the 2002 NCAA individual champion and owns Duke records for scores on 18 holes (65), 54 holes ( 207) and 72 holes (279). She is the only Duke player to earn first team NGCA All-America accolades in her first three years. Nirapathpongporn is a two-time NGCA Academic All-America and a member of ACC 50th anniversary golf team.