LSU Gold

Garrett Runion Season 2023-24

LSU
Garrett Runion
Title
Women's Head Coach
Email
grunion@lsu.edu
Phone
(225) 578-3947
Hometown
Orlando, Fla.
Alma Mater
LSU (2008)

SEC Coach of the Year — 2023
Golf Pride WGCA Central Regional Coach of the Year — 2022
Finalist Division I Jackie Steinmann WGCA National Coach of the Year – 2022,
Women’s NCAA Championship Appearances — 2021, 2022
SEC Championship — 2022
SEC Co-Coach of the Year — 2022
Louisiana Women’s Coach of the Year – 2020, 2021, 2022
Jan Strickland Award Finalist – 2016, 2017, 2018
Dave Williams Award – NCAA Division II National Men’s Coach of the Year – 2012
Eaton Golf Pride South Region Coach of the Year – 2012
Sunshine State Conference Men’s Coach of the Year – 2012

Garrett Runion, who has been a part of two national championships during his collegiate coaching career, enters his sixth season as the LSU women’s golf head coach. Runion became the fourth women’s golf head coach in LSU history on June 8, 2018.

For the second straight year he was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2023 after leading the Tigers to four wins, a semifinal spot in the SEC Match Play and advancement to a third straight NCAA Women’s Golf Championship.

In five seasons, Runion’s Tigers have won 11 titles, including the 2022 SEC Championship.

2022-23
Tigers won their 50th team event in their history and four team titles during the campaign … Team victories came at the Green Wave Fall Classic (New Orleans) and the Battle At The Beach in Mexico in the fall and the Moon Golf invitational and the Moon Golf Invitational and the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in the spring … Team finished No. 3 in the final 2022-23 WGCA Mizuno Coaches Poll … Team posted one of the lowest averages in school history at 286.65 for 34 rounds.

Tigers advanced to a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance, earning a spot in the finals in all three years the event was in Scottsdale, Arizona … The Tigers were one of just five teams to advance to the championships in all three years at that location … Advanced from a difficult regional pairing at PGA National in Florida, rallying from eight shots down in the final nine holes to finish in a qualifying spot.

Leading qualifier through stroke play in the SEC Championships, advanced through to the semifinal round in match play.

Both Ingrid Lindblad and Latanna Stone posted individual wins for LSU on the year … For second straight year named Coach of the Year in 2023, this year a solo recognition after sharing the honor in 2022 … Five rounds in double figures under par, including 14-under 274 in the Moon Golf Invitational and 13-under 275 at City Park in New Orleans in the Green Wave Fall Classic.

Lindblad earned her fourth first-team consensus All-America honor, the first LSU player to earn four consecutive A-A honors. She was also a finalist for the Annika Award

2021-22
Led the Tigers to their first Southeastern Conference championship in 30 years at Greystone in Birmingham … LSU finished second in the team qualifying, finishing 54 holes at 2-over 866 and then in match play, defeated Vanderbilt 4-1, Alabama 3-1-1 and then took the championship match over Florida, 3-0-2.

Team won two other tournaments on the year, winning the nationally televised Jackson T. Stephens Cup in Arkansas in the fall, leading the field through qualifying and then defeating South Carolina in the championship match and then winning the Clemson Invitational in the final tournament of the regular season.

Finished T2 in the NCAA Stanford Regional, posting 7 under par 845 to advance to a second straight NCAA Championship … Team had six individual wins, 56 rounds of par or under and as a team, the Tigers averaged 290.35 … Finished 14th in the final Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll and 11th in the final Golfstat Performance rankings.

Ingrid Lindblad earned consensus All-America honors and was named the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year after earning five wins that put her at nine for her LSU career, setting a school mark. Lindblad, Latanna Stone and Carla Tejedo also represented the Tigers well in events outside the college arena with Lindblad finishing as low amateur in the United States Women’s Open, Tejedo earning a gold medal along with Spain in the World University Golf event and Stone finished second in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and qualified for match play in the United States Women’s Amateur.

2020-21
The 2020-21 season saw the Tigers return to the NCAA Championship Tournament for the first time since the 2015 season and LSU finished ninth, just one shot out of the match play advancement after 72 holes … It marked the eighth time LSU had finished in the top 10 in the NCAA Championships and for the first time since 2012 … LSU finished fifth in the final Golfstat team rankings and fourth in the WGCA poll.

LSU averaged 288.42 for the season with the team posting 70 rounds of par or under in the 11 events … The Tigers had two individual wins (both by first-team All-America Ingrid Lindblad) with 12 top five finishes and 20 top 10 individual finishes … As a team, LSU won its LSU Tiger Golf Classic in April 2021 with a score of 12-under par on rounds of 289-278-285 for an 852 54-hole total … LSU was also the top qualifier for the SEC Match Play competition, shooting a 46-under score of 818 for 54 holes (272-276-270) … LSU advanced to the semifinals in the championship.

The Tigers posted two runner-up finishes in their first two events – the Blessings Collegiate Invitational and The Ally. LSU posted a 7-under 857 at Ole Waverly in West Point, Mississippi in that event (288-284-285).

LSU posted back-to-back second place finishes in the opening two events of the spring, the Moon Golf Invitational and the ICON Invitational, posting an 18-under 846 in the Moon Golf event in Melbourne, Florida and a 19-under 845 in the ICON at the Golf Club of Houston.

Team members Lindblad and Ingrid Stone played in two Palmer Cups in late 2020 and 2021 and Lindblad took third in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April 2021. Lindblad would earn first-team All-America honors, while Stone would earn honorable mention A-A status.

2019-20
During a challenging 2019-20 season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Runion led the Tigers to a final Golfweek ranking of No. 12 in the nation. The team finished 13th in the nation in the final Golfstat ranking, used for NCAA tournament bid distribution.

LSU won three regular season tournament titles and finished in the top-three in six of seven tournaments. The three tournament titles were the most in a season by an LSU team since 2014-15. The Tigers began the 2019-20 season with a third-place finish at the Mercedes-Benz Intercollegiate in Knoxville, Tennessee, led by sophomore Alden Wallace’s 2-under 211.

Lindblad, ranked as the No. 1 player in the nation in early March, went on to be a top three finalist for the ANNIKA Award. The first-team All-America became the fifth player in SEC history, and first in 15 seasons, to be named SEC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same season.

Stone was named Golfweek All-America honorable mention and earned All-SEC Second Team, SEC All-Freshman Team and SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll accolades.

LSU made up 60 percent of the Louisiana Sportswriters Association (LSWA) All-Louisiana Team – Lindblad, Stone and Kendall Griffin – while Lindblad earned Golfer of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors. Junior transfer Kiana Oshiro was named LSWA Newcomer of the Year, while Runion earned Coach of the Year recognition.

Runion led the team to an almost 10-stroke improvement in team average from 298.28 in 2018-19 to 288.71 in 2019-20.

2018-19 LSU Women’s Head Coach
In his first season at the helm, Runion returned the Tigers to the NCAA postseason as LSU competed in the East Lansing Regional in 2019, finishing the season ranked No. 50 by Golfstat.

LSU was in contention to advance to the NCAA Championships going into the final round at East Lansing, despite various weather challenges. Runion also coached the Tigers to a ninth-place finish at the 2019 SEC Championship in April, a five-spot improvement over last season and one spot out of match play.

2012-18 (LSU Men’s Assistant Coach)
Runion spent six seasons as the LSU men’s golf assistant coach and in April 2018 was named a finalist for the Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award for the third year in a row. A 2008 LSU graduate and three-year letter winner for the Tigers, Runion has been instrumental in the LSU men’s team’s return to national prominence since joining Director of Golf Chuck Winstead’s men’s staff prior to the 2012-13 season.

The LSU men’s team finished in the Top 10 at the men’s NCAA National Championships in four consecutive seasons from 2013-17 and had four former and current Tigers qualify for the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Tiger Luis Gagne received low amateur honors at the 2018 U.S. Open.

The 2014-15 season was one for the ages in the history of LSU men’s golf as the Tigers staked their claim as the premier program in college golf with a 4-1 win over USC to win the NCAA national title. From 2012-18, 12 Tigers earned All-America honors and 14 were named All-Southeastern Conference.

Runion’s first season back in Baton Rouge proved to be another strong campaign for the Tigers as they qualified for the 2013 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships. The Tigers reached the semifinals of match play for the first time in 2014 and finished the job in 2015 with the national crown. It was the program’s fifth national championship all-time and the first in 60 years. LSU had previously won the national title in 1940, 1942, 1947 and 1955.

The Tigers were also crowned SEC Champions for the first time in 28 years and the 16th time in their history when they scored a three-stroke victory over Vanderbilt and South Carolina at the 2015 SEC Championships.

In 2016 LSU advanced to the quarterfinals of NCAA match play for the third season in a row. LSU just missed a fourth consecutive appearance in 2017 with a 9th place finish.

During the 2016-17 campaign, Runion mentored then-sophomores Sam Burns and Luis Gagne as they wrote their chapters in the LSU history book. The team won a school-record six tournament titles, including the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional and Burns became the first Tiger to earn the NCAA Division I Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award from the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Burns was also named the SEC Player of the Year with four tournament titles, 14 top-10 finishes and a new LSU single-season scoring record of 70.05. Gagne ended the season ranked No. 25 nationally in the final Golfweek individual rankings while his campaign included two wins, seven top-10 finishes along with a career-low season scoring average of 71.35 strokes per round.

2010-12 (Nova Southeastern Head Coach)
Runion returned to LSU after guiding the Sharks of Nova Southeastern to the NCAA Division II national championship in his one and only season as head coach in 2011-12. The run to the national title highlighted a historic season that saw Runion receive the Dave Williams Award as the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year, as well as earning Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year and Eaton Golf Pride South Region Coach of the Year honors.

The Sharks also earned the team’s second SSC title in his tenure on staff. He served as the program’s assistant head coach during the 2010-11 season as Nova Southeastern captured the SSC titles in a strong 2010-11 campaign.

PERSONAL
A native of Orlando, Florida, Runion called Baton Rouge home in four seasons from 2003-08. A four-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll and three-time SEC Community Service Team selection, Runion graduated from LSU in the May 2008 with his Bachelor of Arts & Science degree in general studies. He has also served as the Assistant Coach Representative for NCAA Division I on the National Golf Coaches Association of America’s National Advisory Board.

Runion and his wife, Meghan, have one son, Reid, aka “Rocket”, and daughters, Riley and Raegan Lee.