Three Ohio Valley Conference Championships and two second place finishes in the last six seasons – EKU women’s golf is one of the most consistently successful programs in the nation.
It didn’t take long for Mike Whitson to turn the Colonels into the premier program in the Ohio Valley Conference. In just his third season as head coach, Whitson led the Colonels to their second-ever OVC Championship and the program’s first NCAA Regional appearance in 2013. After a second place finish at the OVC Championship in 2014, Whitson had EKU back on top of the league and making a second NCAA Regional appearance in 2015. The team made it back-to-back championships by winning in record fashion in 2016. In 2017, Eastern just missed a third straight title, finishing second.
Under Whitson’s guidance in 2018, Elsa Moberly turned in one of the best performances in program history. She broke numerous school records in back-to-back tournaments against some of the toughest competition in the nation. She tied for fifth overall, set a new record for 54-hole total and matched her own single round record against a loaded field at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate. A week later, Moberly finished second at the prestigious Golfweek Conference Challenge and along the way shattered her own record with a round of 65. She rose to 32nd in the Golfstat Cup standings and reached 21st in the Arnold Palmer Cup rankings. At the end of the season, Moberly was ranked high enough to earn an individual bid to the NCAA Championships, the first-ever by an Eastern Kentucky golfer.
In addition to Moberly’s success, Ragnhildur Kristinsdottir was chosen as the OVC Freshman of the Year, only the second Colonel ever to earn that honor.
Whitson was chosen as the OVC Coach of the Year in 2013, 2015 and 2016.
Eastern concluded the 2016-17 season ranked 96th in the nation in the final Golfstat Rankings, higher than such teams as Virginia Tech, Kansas, Indiana, Cincinnati, South Florida and Nebraska. The Colonels won a program record five tournaments. EKU finished in the top-10 at all 11 events, including 10 top-5 finishes. The squad combined for the lowest average score in program history at 299.81, more than three shots better than the previous mark.
Whitson coached teams now own the top six lowest team scoring averages and eight of the top nine in program history.
Before the 2015-16 season, the program had shot only nine rounds below 299. In 2015-16 alone, Eastern shot 13 rounds as a team below 299 and did so 18 more times in 2016-17.
Moberly and senior Sofie Levin established a number of new season and career records in 2016-17. Moberly set new single season program records for scoring average (73.47), national ranking (91), par or better rounds (13) and birdies (83). She also tied the school mark with four tournament victories.
Levin concluded her four-year career as a four-time All-OVC selection and the EKU record holder for lowest career scoring average at 75.79. She also set records for career par or better rounds (22), rounds played (121) and birdies (250).
Eastern captured the 2016 OVC title by 18 shots and broke conference records for 54-hole total (888) and team tournament scoring average (296.0). The Colonels went on to place 16th at the NCAA Shoal Creek Regional in Alabama.
The 2015-16 team set several new program records. EKU’s 54-hole total of 867 at the Ball State Cardinal Classic beat the previous mark by 27 strokes. The Colonels’ round of 284 at the Ball State Cardinal Classic tied the program record. Individually, Amanda Lindahl garnered the first-ever OVC Freshman of the Year award for a Colonel.
Eastern Kentucky’s remarkable 2015 season ended with the best performance ever by an OVC team at the NCAA Regional. EKU placed 15th at the South Bend Regional. The Colonels finished just one shot behind North Carolina and three shots in front of 45th ranked San Jose State. No other OVC squad has ever finished higher at a regional.
With a starting-five that included two freshmen and three sophomores, Whitson had his team on the cusp of back-to-back OVC titles in 2014. Eastern entered the final day of the OVC Championship with a six-stroke lead before finishing second by two shots. That same group posted their own comeback to win the 2015 conference crown. Eastern entered the final round trailing by four shots, but Levin’s 4-under 68 propelled her team to a one shot victory. Levin took home OVC Championship MVP honors after finishing first overall.
EKU was picked to finish sixth in the OVC in 2013, but Whitson took a team that included three freshmen and a first-year transfer to the top. Eastern took the lead on day two of the OVC Championship and never relinquished it. Under Whitson’s tutelage, Kristen Dorsey earned OVC Championship MVP honors after finishing first by two shots.
Whitson, a former Eastern Kentucky University men’s golfer, was selected as the women’s golf head coach in August 2010. He was a four-year letter winner for the Colonels from 1994 to 1998, helping the team to a second-place Ohio Valley Conference finish and capturing All-OVC honors in 1998.
“The experience of being back at EKU and working with the women’s golf program has been very exciting for me,” Whitson said. “It is an honor to be back home and coaching at my alma mater. We are in the midst a very exciting time in EKU golf. It didn’t take long to see the impact the completion of our practice facility and our new locker room would have. The potential for our program is limitless.”
In eight seasons at Eastern Kentucky, Whitson has coached 16 All-OVC selections. His teams own program records for single round (284), 36-hole tournament (576) and 54-hole tournament (867) scores. In addition, during his eight seasons as head coach EKU has posted the 45 lowest single round team scores in program history, the eight best 36-hole tournament scores and the 24 lowest 54-hole tournament scores.
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Individually, Whitson’s players have recorded 63 of the top 68 single round scores in team history, 18 of the top 19 36-hole tournament scores and the 37 lowest 54-hole tournament scores. Players coached by Whitson own the 21 lowest single season scoring averages in school history.
Before returning to his alma mater, the Paris, Kentucky native spent five years as the head women’s golf coach at Indiana State University. Whitson was hired in 2005 and charged with restarting the women’s program after a 28-year hiatus. His first Sycamore team (2006-07) placed eighth among 10 teams in the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference tournament. By 2009, Whitson had his squad up to sixth. In 2010, ISU turned in its best performance, a third place finish. In four seasons of competition, he coached four All-MVC selections.
In addition to their success on the course, Whitson’s student-athletes have excelled in the classroom. In 2010 Indiana State was listed fourth on the Women’s Golf Coaches Association’s (WGCA) top-25 list of team grade point averages. Whitson’s squad had the highest team GPA among NCAA Division I institutions. In four seasons Whitson coached 17 WGCA All-American Scholar Team selections, including five each in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
In his first year at EKU, Whitson saw five more of his student-athletes selected to the WGCA All-American Scholar Team. In 2012, six Colonels earned spots on the All-American Scholar Team. No other school in the nation placed more student-athletes on the team. Five more Colonels were named to the WGCA All-American Scholar list in 2013. Four each were recognized in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018, bringing the total to 35 in seven seasons as EKU’s head coach.
Eastern’s 2012-13 team grade-point-average of 3.604 ranked 22nd among all divisions of women’s golf on the WGCA Top-25.
Whitson spent three seasons (2001-04) as an assistant women’s golf coach at the University of Tennessee. He helped UT advance to the NCAA tournament each season, including the NCAA Championships during the spring of 2004 where the team placed 11th. Tennessee was a regular in the top 10 nationally during Whitson’s tenure, and reached as high as No. 2 in the WGCA Division I Coaches poll. He also coached three All-Americans, three Academic All-Americans, and three future LPGA Tour members; Jessica Shepley, Young-A Yang and Violeta Retamoza.
Whitson’s collegiate coaching career began at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. In 2000-01, his only season at the school, Whitson led the women’s golf team to a No. 16 ranking in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
As a senior in 1998, Whitson fired a second round score of 64 at the OVC tournament. He finished tied for third with a three-round total of 214, two shots under par.
As an amateur, he won the Michelob Classic and the Club Car Classic. Whitson was also runner-up at the Kentucky State Amateur Championship twice. After concluding his collegiate career, Whitson played on a number of professional golf tours, including the Hooters Tour, Central Florida Tour and Development Players Tour. As a pro, he claimed the Owensboro Open title and finished among the top 10 in five other events. In addition, Whitson posted three straight top-10 finishes at the Kentucky Open.
Whitson earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from EKU in 1998. He completed a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in athletic administration at the University of Kansas in 2005. Whitson and his wife Autumn reside in Richmond with their daughter Leeann (8) and their son Collier (6).
