Many players we nowadays consider the greats of the game flourished in their college careers with a string of victories before becoming household names.
For example, in the men’s game, Tiger Woods won 11 times in his Stanford career. That was impressive considering he only attended the university for two years before turning professional, although honorable mentions to Patrick Rodgers and Maverick McNealy, who had the same number of wins during their – admittedly longer – Stanford careers.
Decades after Woods’ heroics, Jon Rahm was another player who achieved 11 collegiate wins, this time at Arizona State University, while others on that number include Furman's Brad Faxon between 1980 and 1983 and UCLA's Corey Pavin from 1977 to 1982.
Mexican superstar Lorena Ochoa, who would eventually claim 27 LPGA Tour wins including two Major titles, surpassed even that total, with 12 wins in her spell at the University of Arizona.
While that feat was impressive, it was equaled by Stanford’s Rose Zhang, who did it in style by becoming the first woman to win the NCAA Division I Golf Championship twice in 2023, while Ingrid Lindblad of LSU also managed it between 2020 and 2024.
Before then, another player who would go onto a successful professional career, Arkansas's Stacy Lewis, won the same number between 2005 and 2008.
Phil Mickelson had a legendary college golf career, with 16 wins including a record-equalling three NCAA Division I Championship titles. Mary Moan of Princeton also collected 16 collegiate wins between 1994 and 1997, along with Renee Heiken Illinois between 1990 and 1993. Even they don't hold the record for most collegiate wins, though, although there are just three ahead of them.
Juli Inkster won 17 times during her career at San Jose State between 1978 and 1982, but ahead of her is Keith Fergus, who holds the distinction of the man with the most collegiate wins at 19, which he achieved during his time at Houston between 1973 and 1976. He then embarked on a PGA Tour career that included three titles.
However, even his extraordinary achievement was eclipsed decades later by North Dakota State’s Amy Anderson between 2009 and 2013. If the name doesn’t seem familiar, that's because since 2017 she has been known by her married name, Olson.
Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, it wouldn’t come as such as surprise that Olson had a successful college career. After all, she first picked up a club at the age of two and won the prestigious US Girls Junior in 2009.
That year, she enrolled at North Dakota State, and she hit the ground running, leading the women’s golf program in scoring as a freshman and repeating the feat in each of her following three years as a college golfer.
The one caveat over Olson’s astonishing achievements in college golf is that two of her wins came at Division II and Division III level. However, she surpassed Inkster’s women’s record of 17 Division I wins in the 2013 Summit League Championship to cement her name in the history books months before leaving her amateur career behind and turning professional.
Perhaps given her sky-high achievements in college golf, her LPGA Tour career was never likely to surpass them, although she did achieve top-10 finishes in Majors three times (including twice as runner-up) before announcing she was retiring from the professional game in April 2024 following an 11-year career.
While Olson turns her attention to other challenges – including motherhood, after giving birth to a baby daughter in September 2023 – she will surely look back on her career with plenty of fondness, not least that remarkable, record-breaking college golf career.
Most College Golf Wins
- 20: Amy Anderson (Olson)
- 19: Keith Ferris
- 17: Juli Inkster
- 16: Phil Mickelson, Jay Don Blake, Mary Moan, Renee Heiken
- 14: Maria Hernandez
- 13: Chris Perry, Chanelle Avaricio, Stacy Lewis
- 12: Hunter Richardson, Ingrid Lindblad, Rose Zhang, Amanda Blumenherst, Lorena Ochoa, May Anna Widman
- 11: Braden Thornberry, Maverick McNealy, Jon Rahm, Patrick Rodgers, Mike Van Sickle, Travis Bertoni, Tiger Woods, Brad Faxon, Corey Pavin, Lindy Miller, Maria Fassi, Kayla Katterhenry, Avery Kiser, Janice Moodie, Tracy Kerdyk, Mary Wilkinson, Nancy Lopez
