DALLAS – The 2023-24 Conference USA women’s golf all-conference and superlative honors were announced Thursday with New Mexico State’s Emma Bunch named the CUSA Women’s Golfer of the Year. All superlative awards, as well as the second and third-team all-conference teams were voted on by the league’s seven head coaches, while the first team all-conference selections are based on the league’s top-five ranked players by Clippd.
Bunch was also named the league’s Most Improved Golfer of the Year, while Jax State’s Jinger Heath was named the Freshman of the Year. WKU’s head coach Adam Gary was tabbed the Coach of the Year following a very strong campaign in Bowling Green.
All seven women’s golf programs collected all-conference accolades. League Champion and Clippd No. 66 Sam Houston paced the league with four honorees, including two on the first team, while No. 69 WKU had three representatives, including a pair on the first team and No. 77 New Mexico State also had three student-athletes across the all-conference teams.
Bunch, the 48th-ranked player in the country and a five-time CUSA Golfer of the Week selection, has won five consecutive individual titles including the CUSA Championship. As a sophomore, Bunch has reduced her scoring average by 4.6 strokes per 18 holes (74.3 to 69.7). Bunch also finished as the Aggies’ top individual in eight of NM State’s 10 tournaments this season and became the program’s first-ever Arnold Palmer Cup selection.
Heath played all 30 rounds for the Gamecocks as a true freshman and posted the third-best scoring average in a single season in program history (73.53). That average broke the program record for a freshman by more than a full stroke. She is the highest-ranked freshman in CUSA and earned her first career win at UNCG’s Advance Golf Partners Collegiate, shooting a four-under 212. The Decatur, Alabama, native recorded three top-10 finishes for the Gamecocks.
Gary tied his own record of single-season victories with two, having won the Jennifer Duke Invitational and Spring Break Shootout. He also continues to add to his own record of most career tournament victories in WKU program history, with 11. Gary has led WKU to a top-three finish on eight occasions, including five consecutive top-three finishes.
Golfer of the Year
Emma Bunch, New Mexico State
Most Improved Golfer of the Year
Emma Bunch, New Mexico State
Freshman of the Year
Jinger Heath, Jax State
Coach of the Year
Adam Gary, WKU
First Team All-Conference
Emma Bunch, New Mexico State
Catie Craig, WKU
Jennifer Herbst, Sam Houston
Sarah Arnold, WKU
Jenn David, Sam Houston
Second Team All-Conference
Addie Westbrook, WKU
Kendall Maynard, MTSU
Jinger Heath, Jax State
Alison Gastelum, New Mexico State
Zulaikah Nasser, Sam Houston
Third Team All-Conference
Marta Romeu Chen, UTEP
Ashley Stevenson, Jax State
Viera Permata Rosada, Sam Houston
Karissa Kilby, FIU
Isabel Laulhe, New Mexico State