Notes from the Field: The New Flag Bearer

When Anna Morgan ’24 signed on with the Furman women’s golf team in the fall of 2019, she understood she was joining a program whose alumni read like a “Who’s Who of Women’s Golf.”

Over the course of six decades, the program has produced two World Golf Hall of Famers (Betsy King ’77 and Beth Daniel ’78), an All-American who became president of Nike Golf (Cindy Davis ’84), a 17-time winner on the LPGA Tour and top network commentator (Dottie Pepper ’87) and a consensus National Player of the Year (Natalie Srinivasan ’20).

“I knew Furman had a really good program and I was aware of its history,” says Morgan, who grew up in nearby Spartanburg, South Carolina, and whose mother, Elizabeth Huddleston ’93, is a Furman alumna. “I wanted to go somewhere I could play competitive golf at the highest level and test myself.”

Morgan got her wish and much more, managing to leave her own indelible imprint on the program. She finished her career with eight collegiate wins, the most in Furman history and three more than the five career victories each posted by King, Daniel, Pepper and Jennifer Perri ’02.

She was named Southern Conference Player of the Year three times and the league’s Female Athlete of the Year a record three times. She played in three consecutive Augusta National Women’s Amateurs, arguably the most prestigious female amateur event in the world and qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open in 2022.

She was among 15 players to be listed on the 2023-2024 ANNIKA Award spring watch as the nation’s top collegiate player. She also was one of 12 amateur women golfers invited to try out for the Curtis Cup team, another elite amateur event.

Anna Morgan ’24. Photo by Owen Withycombe, Furman University.

GOING OUT WITH A FLOURISH

Morgan’s final season in 2023-24 was particularly impressive. She recorded seven top-five finishes in 11 events, including victories at the Lady Paladin Invitational, Landfall Tradition, Lady Puerto Rico Classic and Southern Conference Women’s Championship.

Morgan’s stroke average over those 33 rounds was 70.1, the lowest in the history of the women’s program. Her career stroke average of 72.1 is also the program’s best. She was named a first-team All-American by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association, making her just the eighth player in program history to receive first-team honors.

Furman women’s golf coach Jeff Hull says the program has been fortunate to bring in a special golfer every few years who rises to the highest level and keeps the women’s golf flag flying high. Morgan is the most recent player to pick up the banner and carry it forward.

She also fulfilled her role as an outstanding student, double majoring in communication studies and politics and international affairs and graduating with a 3.6 grade-point average.

“It’s great to have somebody like Anna come in and set the bar a little higher,” Hull says. “And she’s really done it the right way. She’s a great player and she’s fun to be around.”

AN ACE IN OTHER SPORTS

Morgan is a great athlete, period. She started getting serious about golf when she was around 11. Before then, she most enjoyed being the only girl playing Little League baseball, where her fastball was her best pitch and she could hold her own with the bat, once clearing the bases with a grand slam.

“I got on the mound with my pink glove and threw the ball as hard as I could,” she recalls.

But when Little League officials told her it was time for her to move on to softball, that didn’t interest her at all. So, golf and basketball became her primary sports. Once she entered Spartanburg High School, she turned her complete focus and competitive energy to golf.

Hull says Morgan’s fiery, competitive nature is always with her on the golf course, which can be a drawback in a sport that often demands Zen-like patience. But it’s also what makes her the player she is.

“It’s both her strength and weakness,” he says. “Anna knows this, and we’ve talked about it. But you never want to take away a golfer’s personality. You want to help them understand and manage their emotions.”

Morgan can agree with that. “I see competition as a fun way to challenge myself and push myself to be better,” she says. “My emotions can hurt me sometimes on the course, but more often they help me and boost my game.”

It didn’t take long for Hull to see that competitive behavior once Morgan arrived on campus. During her freshman year, she finished second to senior teammate Srinivasan at the prestigious Moon Golf Invitational and was unhappy with her performance.

“I said, look, you just lost to the best player in the country, so don’t worry about it,” Hull says. “But she thought she should have played better.”

A TEST WITH THE BEST

The next step for Morgan is to test her game at the professional level, which is always the final step of the progression – and the most challenging one. No matter how good one is in college, competing at the professional level requires a higher and more consistent level of performance. That’s what placed King, Daniel and Pepper in the golfing stratosphere. They combined to win 83 LPGA tournaments after turning professional, nine of which were major championships.

It’s also true that the life of a professional golfer is not for everybody. Srinivasan, the nation’s top player in 2020, tried the professional game for a few years before deciding it wasn’t for her and enrolled in medical school instead. But Hull thinks Morgan has the game and temperament to make it on the highest level.

“Anna is one of the most natural and athletic ball strikers I’ve ever seen, man or woman,” he says. “She’s long enough, and she’s developed a good short game. She knows now she doesn’t have to hit every green in regulation to shoot a good score. She also has a tremendous work ethic. She’s the first one at the practice facility and the last one to leave. She’s always doing whatever she can do to become better.”

For Morgan’s part, playing professional golf is what she has dreamed of and she’s ready to take that next step.

“I enjoy playing golf because it’s fun, and I think playing professional golf will be fun,” she says. “I’ll treat my preparation for tournaments like a job, but not the game itself. As soon as I see golf as a job, I think my career will be over.”