BATON ROUGE – Two-time LSU All-American women’s golfer Austin Ernst, has elected to leave the women’s golf program after her sophomore season, Coach Karen Bahnsen announced on Tuesday.
Ernst, the 2011 NCAA Individual Champion as a freshman, helped LSU to third place team finishes in both the 2011 and 2012 NCAA Championships, the best finishes for the Lady Tiger team in the history of the program. She was a first-team All-American as a freshman and Golfweek chose her as second team All-American in 2012. She was also a member of the 2012 Curtis Cup Team. She was a semifinalist in the2011 U.S. Women’s Amateur and last week won the 2012 North-South Amateur championship.
The native of Seneca, S.C., told Bahnsen after the NCAA Championships that her intentions were to move back to her home state of South Carolina and participate in LPGA Qualifying School as an amateur this fall.
“Austin and our team accomplished a lot the last two years,” said Coach Bahnsen. “Although we are very disappointed Austin will no longer be playing at LSU, we wish her all the best of luck.”
Ernst averaged a team best 73.4 this past year and in 59 career rounds posted a 73.3 average (second best in career average in program history). She had three career wins and nine top 10 finishes with 28 rounds of par or under.