The College of Charleston Women’s Golf team won the 2023 Colonial Athletic Association Championship on Sunday, April 16, 2023, punching a ticket to an NCAA Regional for the 10th time in program history. The Cougars earned their fifth CAA title since joining the league, beating second-place Delaware by 17 strokes this weekend.
CofC set a CAA tournament team record 17-over 880 (295-292-293) to secure its second straight league title. The Cougars now have six conference titles including a 2006 SoCon Championship. All six league titles and all 10 NCAA Regional appearances have come during the Jamie Futrell coaching era. Charleston has won all five of its titles at at the Reserve Club at St. James in Southport, North Carolina. The team’s 17-stroke victory is tied for the largest since the Cougars won their first CAA title by 18 strokes in 2015.
Sophomore Emma Schimpf won the individual title at 3-under, the only competitor under par for the entire championship. Schimpf becomes the second consecutive CofC individual champion and third all-time, taking the reins from last year’s champion Viktoria Hund, who finished third.
Schimpf, last year’s runner-up, led at the end of the final two rounds and finished at 3-under, the fourth-best 54-hole performance in the history of the Championship and best since Delaware’s Andi Slane was 7-under in 2015. Charleston is the first back-to-back team champion since Delaware in 2016 and 2017. The Cougars’ +16 performance as a team was one stroke off the tournament record by UNCW in 2008.
Hund finished tied for second, making it the second straight season the Cougars have gone 1-2 at the championship. The junior posted a 2-over day with five birdies.
Adrian Anderson earned a top 10 finish at her first championship at T8 followed by Othilie Lied at T15 and Emily Dunlap at T19 to ensure all five Cougars finished in the top 20, the only team to do so at the tournament.
The Cougars now turn to the NCAA Regional from May 8-10, 2023. Locations will be designated during the 2023 NCAA Selection Show, which is set to air April 26 on the Golf Channel at 1 p.m.
