Photo courtesy of Winthrop Athletics
Jodi Wendt, an LPGA Teaching Professional and a former player on the Players West Professional Tour, was promoted to head coach for the Winthrop women’s golf team in the spring of 2006 after joining the program as an assistant coach in 2003. Wendt announced her retirement which was put into effect on Aug. 15.
In 2017-18 the team enjoyed one of its most successful seasons under Wendt’s coaching as it finished off the season with a runner-up finish at the Big South Conference Championship. Winthrop placed with a 54-hole total of 914, which was the third lowest in program history in conference championship competition for the Eagles. The second place finish was the best by the women’s golf team since a runner-up finish in 1999. The year before that the Eagles placed fifth with a 54-hole total of 894, which is the best by any team in program history for a championship.
In Wendt’s first season as head coach, the Eagles had four Top 3 finishes highlighted by capturing the 2007 Shamrock Intercollegiate, overcoming a seven-stroke deficit. The following season the Eagles earned their highest ranking in program history when Golfweek Magazine ranked them seventeenth.
After a strong 2008-09 season, Wendt was named the Big South Conference Coach of the Year. The Eagles finished third at the Big South Championship that season. In her 15 seasons as head coach of the Eagles, the team finished in the Top 3 of the conference championship seven times.
Wendt graduated from Minnesota State University in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in social studies education and a minor in political science. She was a four-year member of the school’s golf team and was honored as an academic All-American all four years. As a collegiate player she earned All-American honors twice and was the 1996 Arizona State Amateur Champion. In 2008, Wendt was inducted into the Minnesota State Athletics Hall of Fame.
Carleigh Greene, Winthrop women’s golf team redshirt sophomore, played as an individual at Low Country Intercollegiate and posted collegiate-low 80 in the final round. Her 36-hole score of 162 at LCI was a collegiate best, which was previously 168 at Terrier Intercollegiate. Greene, of the 13 individuals competing at the LCI, had the second-best finish.
Greene reminisces on times with Wendt as her golf coach. “My favorite memory with Coach Wendt was a qualifying round at Waterford Golf Club and we were on hole 14 and Coach accidentally dropped her phone in the porta john (porta potty) when she went to use the restroom,” Greene said. Wendt made a big contribution and impact to the Winthrop women’s golf team.
“The thing I will miss the most about Coach Wendt is her constant support and positivity that existed on and off of the golf course. She was a very encouraging coach and we will all miss her tremendously.”
Kasay Holbrook Gambrell has been hired as head coach of the Winthrop University women’s golf program, Winthrop Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Ken Halpin announced.
Greene and the team are looking forward to meeting their new coach, Gambrell, very soon. “I have not met Coach Gambrell yet, but I am looking forward to her leadership with our team and we have heard amazing things thus far from our athletic department about the kind of passion and competitiveness she is going to bring to our program,” Greene said.
Gambrell comes to Winthrop after serving as head coach at Presbyterian College (2015-19). Gambrell took over the program at Presbyterian College in 2014 after serving one year as an assistant for the Blue Hose. During her time in that program, the team finished fourth in the Big South Conference Championship twice, including this past spring.
Gambrell graduated from PC in 2012 following one of the most distinguished careers in the history of the program. She earned Big South Conference Player of the Week three times and accumulated seven Top 10 finishes and set three individual school records.
