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She is one of the most successful golfers in the history of the University of Texas and has been an LPGA player for 18 years. Kate Golding is in her 14th season on the coaching staff of her alma mater’s women’s golf team and currently serves as assistant head coach.
Golden has helped the Longhorns return to being one of the best teams in the country. Along with head coach Ryan Murphy, Golden has helped the Longhorns win three consecutive Big 12 Conference Championships (2017-19) for the first time in program history over the past nine seasons and qualify for the last seven NCAA Championships. In 2018-19, Texas earned its best finish at an NCAA Championship (T-5th) since 2003. After the 2019-20 NCAA Championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020-21 Longhorns reached the quarterfinals of match play to capture the championship for the second consecutive year, finishing in the top five two consecutive times.
In the 2022-23 season, Golden helped the Longhorns to their seventh consecutive NCAA Championship appearance and a tied for fifth place. Texas is one of four programs to make the last seven NCAA Championships. The Longhorns finished second in stroke play at the 2023 NCAA Championship. Texas won the Cactus Cup and the Big 12 Match Play Championship.
In the 2021-22 season, the Longhorns captured their fourth Big 12 championship in the last five seasons. Freshman Bohyun Park led Texas with a third-place finish at the Big 12 Championships. The Longhorns took second place at the NCAA Albuquerque Regional to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships, where they finished 13th.th Place. Park was named to the WGCA All-America Second Team.
Since the start of the 2014-15 season, she has helped Texas golfers post 18 of the top 19 18-hole scores in program history and each of the top 10 54-hole total scores in school history. Each of the top 18 18-hole team scores and the top 20 54-hole team scores in program history have been posted during that time.
Golden returned to the Forty Acres as a volunteer assistant coach prior to the 2010-11 season. In total, she has worked with teams that have won six NCAA championships and captured four Big 12 Conference championships. She has mentored several All-America selections: Bertine Strauss (2015), Sophia Schubert (2017 and 2018), Kaitlyn Papp (2018, 2019, 2020), Hailee Cooper (2019), Agathe Laisne (2019) and Sophie Guo (2020).
Golden joined the Texas staff after serving as interim head coach for Florida State’s women’s golf team in the spring of 2010. Under her guidance, the Seminoles finished 10th at the 2010 NCAA Championship, their best national finish since winning the 1981 AIAW Championship. In addition, Golden led FSU to a 14th-place finish in GolfStat’s national rankings and a 22nd-place finish in GolfWeek’s season-ending rankings after taking over a team that was unranked in both polls.
Prior to Tallahassee, Golden was a volunteer assistant coach for the University of Houston men’s golf team.
Golden played on the LPGA from 1992 to 2010, and over the course of her professional career she won the 2001 State Farm Classic, competed in more than 30 major championships and earned nearly $1.5 million. En route to the State Farm Classic title, Golden posted a then-tournament record of 21 under par during the 72-hole event. She totaled eight top-five finishes and 14 top-10 finishes.
Golden graduated from the University of Texas in 1989 and was a four-year member of the women’s golf team under former Hall of Fame head coach Pat Weis. She was selected to the All-America second team in 1989 and was a three-time first-team All-Southwest Conference selection (1987-89). Golden was named to the Southwest Conference All-Decade Team in the 1980s and won three college tournaments during her career.
Golden, the 1987 Southwest Conference individual champion, is the daughter of Joe Bob Golden, a former Texan and the 1954 Southwest Conference individual champion of the men’s golf team. The Goldens were the only father-daughter team in Southwest Conference history to win individual titles in the same sport. Joe Bob Golden played for Harvey Penick at Texas from 1952 to 1954 and was his assistant while he was studying law at UT.
Golden is a former member of the LPGA Board of Directors and Players Committee and currently serves on the board of directors of the charity Golfers Against Cancer.
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