Photo by Big Ten
ROSEMONT, Illinois – Michigan senior Monet Chun has been named the 2024 Big Ten Women’s Golfer of the Year, as voted on by the conference’s coaches. Northwestern newcomer Ashley Yun earned Freshman of the Year honors, while Wildcats head coach Emily Fletcher was voted Coach of the Year.
A native of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Chun earned co-medalist honors at the 2024 Big Ten Championships and Bulle Rock Golf Course and also won the Chattanooga Classic in April. Last week she was recognized as the conference’s Mary Fossum Award winner, given annually to the student-athlete with the lowest adjusted stroke average (69.8) for the season. She also was a unanimous selection to the 2024 All-Big Ten First Team, the fourth All-Conference recognition of her career. She is Michigan’s second Golfer of the Year, following in the footsteps of 2002 honoree, Ashley Lau. Chun and the Wolverines will tee off the NCAA Auburn Regional on May 6.
Yun was a unanimous selection as the 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year after a season in which her adjusted stroke average was nearly 1.5 shots better than her closest conference competitor in the rookie class. She got stronger as her debut season went along, finishing Top-3 at the PING/ASU Invitational in March and earning a Top-10 result at the Big Ten Championships. The West Covina, California, native is Northwestern’s third consecutive Big Ten Freshman of the Year (Dianna Lee [’23], Lauryn Nguyen [‘22]), fourth in the last five seasons, and seventh in the last ten years. Yun is the only freshman representative on the 2024 All-Big Ten Teams, earning a Second Team nod.
Emily Fletcher is the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second straight year and the sixth time in her career (2023, ’16, ’15, ’13, ’11). She guided the Wildcats to a Top-10 national ranking while playing one of the most competitive schedules in college golf. The Wildcats went 22-5-1 against Top-10 competition this season, and 55-9-1 against opponents ranked in the Top-25. They won titles at the PING/ASU Invitational and Silverado Showdown during the spring, finished runner-up at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, and third at the Big Ten Championships. Fletcher, Yun and Northwestern will be the No. 2 seed in the NCAA East Lansing Regional teeing off on May 6.
Chun was one of five unanimous selections to the eight-member All-Big Ten First Team, along with Northwestern’s Lauryn Nguyen, Ohio State’s Kary Hollenbaugh, Illinois’ Isabel Sy and Michigan State’s Katie Lu. They are joined on the First Team by Ohio State’s Caley McGinty, Northwestern’s Jennifer Cai and Maryland’s Patricie Mackova.
The Second Team includes Big Ten Championships co-medalist Isabella McCauley from Minnesota, Michigan’s Hailey Borja, Nebraska’s Kelli Ann Strand, Maryland’s Nicha Kanpai, Purdue’s Ashley Kozlowski and Momo Sugiyama, and Yun and Jieni Li representing Northwestern.
The Big Ten also recognized 14 Sportsmanship Award recipients, honoring golfers who distinguished themselves though sportsmanship, ethical behavior, academics and citizenship.
2024 BIG TEN WOMEN’S GOLF AWARDS
GOLFER OF THE YEAR: Monet Chun, SR, Michigan
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Ashley Yun, FR, Northwestern
COACH OF THE YEAR: Emily Fletcher, Northwestern
ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM
Jennifer Cai, SR, Northwestern
Monet Chun, SR, Michigan
Kary Hollenbaugh, SO, Ohio State
Katie Lu, JR, Michigan State
Patricie Mackova, SR, Maryland
Caley McGinty, GR, Ohio State
Lauryn Nguyen, JR, Northwestern
Isabel Sy, SR, Illinois
ALL-BIG TEN SECOND TEAM
Hailey Borja, GR, Michigan
Nicha Kanpai, SO, Maryland
Ashley Kozlowski, SR, Purdue
Jieni Li, SR, Northwestern
Isabella McCauley, SO, Minnesota
Kelli Ann Strand, SO, Nebraska
Momo Sugiyama, JR, Purdue
Ashley Yun, FR, Northwestern
SPORTSMANSHIP AWARDS
Isabel Sy, Illinois
Caroline Craig, Indiana
Kaitlyn Hanna, Iowa
Maria Vittoria Corbi, Maryland
Hailey Borja, Michigan
Megan Furtney, Michigan State
Leila Raines, Minnesota
Michaela Vavrova, Nebraska
Dianna Lee, Northwestern
Faith Choi, Ohio State
Drew Nienhaus, Penn State
Jocelyn Bruch, Purdue
Leigha Devine, Rutgers
Vanessa Ho, Wisconsin
The Big Ten Conference will be represented by seven teams and three individual competitors during NCAA Women’s Golf Regional play, beginning May 6. Northwestern is the No. 2 seed in the East Lansing (MI) Regional, which also features the host No. 5 Spartans, No. 9 Indiana and top-seeded individual Isabel Sy from Illinois. Michigan is the No. 6 seed in the Auburn (AL) Regional, where they’ll be joined by No. 2 individual Isabella McCauley from Minnesota. Ohio State earned the No. 6 seed in the Bryan (TX) Regional, along with No. 7 Maryland. Purdue is the No. 6 seed in the Las Vegas Regional, while Nebraska’s Kelli Ann Strand is the No. 3 individual in the Cle Elum (WA) Regional.
Regional play will take place May 6-8 at six regional sites, with 396 participants and each site featuring 12 teams and six individuals. The top five teams (30 teams total) and the low individual not on an advancing team (six individuals total) from each regional site will advance to compete in the national championships to be played May 17-22 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California. Championship play will be hosted by University of Texas at Austin, with the final three days of the championships televised live by the GOLF Channel.
