Augusta University women’s golf head coach Caroline Haase-Hegg knows what it takes to make it to the pinnacle of a collegiate sport. Haase-Hegg enters her ninth year at the helm of the Augusta women’s golf program in 2023-24.
Caroline Haase-Hegg completed her first year as a head coach in 2015-16 and she brought the Jaguars into the top 30 of the national rankings and returned the team to the NCAA Regional. Haase-Hegg came to Augusta in Augusta 2015 after serving as the assistant coach at Purdue University for five years.
Haase-Hegg being announced with Director of Athletics Clint Bryant at a press conference on Aug. 4, 2015. (Photo courtesy of Augusta Chronicle)
Under Haase-Hegg, the Jaguars have advanced to the NCAA Regional six times in her nine years overseeing the program.
The 2023-24 season saw the Jags bring home their third consecutive Southland Conference championship, taking a commanding 67-stroke victory. The women's golf program went on to sweep the conference superlative awards. After winning the individual Southland championship by nine strokes, Kennedy Carroll was named the conference Player of the Year. Emma Charles was voted Newcomer of the Year, while Kiera Gonzalez-McCarthy was voted Freshman of the Year. Four different Jags were named All-Conference, and Haase-Hegg garnered her second Coach of the Year honors. Winning the conference championship earned AU a spot in the NCAA East Lansing Regional.
The 2022-23 team was the most successful in Augusta history. After not participating in the fall, freshman Mirabel Ting won the Moon Golf Invitational and was named Southland Conference Golf Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. Ting was named First Team All-Conference while Napabhach Boon-In and Victoria Zheng were named Second Team All-Conference. Augusta finished the season on a high, carding top-five finishes in five of their last six tournaments. Haase-Hegg's team would secure its second consecutive Southland Conference Championship and earned a spot in the the Athens NCAA regional. The team would jump from 10th to 5th in the final day of the NCAA Regional led by Ting's final round 67. After finishing 5th overall, Augusta qualified for the NCAA National Championships for the first time in school history. The team finished 36th overall in Scottsdale, Az. For the year, Haase-Hegg was named to the 2023 Division I Jackie Steinmann WGCA National Coach of the Year Watch List. Ting was named a 2023 Mirabel Ting Named WGCA Division I All-American and honored with the WGCA Division I Kim Moore Spirit Award. She was also named to the 2023 Division I WGCA Freshman of the Year Watch List and selected as an automatic qualifier for the Prestigious Arnold Palmer Cup.
The 2021-22 team saw success in its first year as an affiliate member of the Southland Conference. After winning her inaugural tournament as a Jag, freshman Chloe Holder was named Southland Conference Freshman of the Year. Senior Natalia Yoko carded a win in the Valspar Invitational - Augusta University's home tournament. The team went on to win the Southland Conference Championship and earned a spot in the the Franklin, TN NCAA regional. Natalia Yoko and Chloe Holder were named All-Conference First Team, Napabhach Boon-In was named All-Conference Second-Team, and Kennedy Carroll was named All-Conference Third Team. Head Coach Caroline Haase-Hegg was named the 2021-22 Southland Conference Coach of the Year. In the NCAA regional, Natalia Yoko qualified for the NCAA National Championship, finishing 53rd overall.
The 2018-19 squad shattered several school records, while earning a No. 45 national ranking – the fourth highest in school history. The 2018-19 Jags set new team records for par-3, par-4, and par-5 scoring, while recording the most rounds at par or better and earning the highest national scoring rating ever. The team also shot the lowest 36-hole, and 54-hole total scores ever and three of the starting five Jaguars achieved the lowest scoring average. 2019 Senior Maggie Ashmore posted the lowest scoring average of all time at 72.53 and 2019 juniors Linda Lundqvist and Charlotte Alran ranked second and third at 72.91 and 73.05. Lundqvist also had the most rounds at par or better in a single season in 2018-19 and Ashmore had the third most. The 2018-19 Jaguars also claimed the lowest par-3, par-4, and par-5 individual scoring average in school history.
In 2016-17, Augusta was ranked as high as No. 42 in the nation and finished top 10 in 10 of their 11 events in 2016-17. Augusta was top five in four of the five fall events and were top 10 in five of the six spring events. The Jaguars were one of 72 teams in the nation to be selected to the NCAA Golf Regional Championships. The selection for Augusta was the seventh in the 17-year history of the program and marked the second-straight trip for Haase-Hegg in her second season.
In her first season in Augusta, Haase-Hegg helped the Jaguars reach their sixth NCAA Regional. One of many highlights to Haase-Hegg’s inaugural season, was taking the first-place title at the 3M Augusta Invitational. Augusta won their home event for the first time at the ninth-annual event - besting the 16-team field at three-under par to win by 10 strokes at Forest Hills Golf Club on March 13, 2016.
The Jags finished in the top 10 in all nine regular-season events and carded five top-five places. Haase-Hegg was nominated for the Dick Wallace Coach of the Year award at the 2016 Augusta University Athletics Awards Banquet.
Haase-Hegg, who was announced as the head coach of the Jaguars on August 4, 2015 at a press conference in the J. Fleming Norvell Golf House, spent five seasons with the Purdue Boilermakers and helped coach the team to three top-10 showings at the NCAA Championships including a runner-up finish in 2011 and third place in 2013. Under Haase-Hegg and the Boilers staff, there individuals earned Big Ten Championships, while the team garnered the 2013 Big Ten Team Championship.
During her time in West Lafayette, Haase-Hegg coached five All-American selections, three Big Ten Players of the Year, and nine Academic All-American Scholar team recipients. She also coached Paula Reto for all four years at Purdue. Reto represented South Africa in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and finished tied for 16th.
Prior to coaching, she played four seasons for Purdue from 2003 to 2007. The Culver, Ind., native graduated in May 2007, with a classical studies degree and a minor in philosophy. Haase-Hegg was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, an NGCA All-Scholar Team recipient and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society.
Before Purdue, Haase-Hegg served as a staff professional at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at Capitol Hill in Prattville, Ala. Her career began in June of 2008 at the Randall Oaks Golf Course in Dundee, Ill., where she served as the golf professional.
Haase-Hegg won the Indiana State Open the summer of her sophomore year at Purdue. She was the Indiana state high school golf champion in 2001, runner up in 2000 and earned all-state honors all four years at the Culver Academy. Haase-Hegg spent the first year after graduation from Purdue as a faculty intern at her high school alma mater.
