Tigers, Ragin’ Cajuns, Warhawks claim seven of top eight individual honors on All-Louisiana golf teams

Patrick Meehan
Written for the LSWA

Shreveport – Three schools – LSU, Louisiana, and ULM, claimed seven of the eight top individual honors to highlight the announcement of the 2022-23 Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) Men’s and Women’s College Golf Team, released by the organization on Monday.

Members on the 15-player team were nominated and selected by the state’s golf athletics communications directors. The men’s team consists of 10 total players comprised of a first and second team and one women’s team of five.

LSU’s Drew Doyle (Junior – Louisville, Ky.) was named Men’s Player of the Year after another impressive season in which he led the team with a 71.11 stroke average helping the Tigers reach the NCAA Regionals. In 36 rounds, shot par or better 22 times, recorded a team-best three Top five-finishes and six Top 10’s. Doyle capped his season with a seventh-place tie at the NCAA Norman Regional with an eight-under par 208.

Thomas Henson (Junior, Hermann, Mo.) of Louisiana Tech was named Newcomer of the Year after recording four top-20 finishes and in 11 tournaments (33 rounds) he posted a 74.30 stroke average for the season.

Malan Potgieter (Freshman, Kirkwood, South Africa) of Louisiana was named Freshman of the Year after the rookie finished off a stellar campaign by being named Second-Team All-Sun Belt. He played 15 tournaments and of his 43 total rounds, 21 were par or below and Potgieter recorded six Top-20 finishes and four Top-10 finishes while shooting 72.31 for the season.

Theo Sliman was named Coach of the Year after he led Louisiana to its first Sun Belt Conference championship in golf since 2007 and its first appearance in the NCAA Regionals since 2012. He guided a young squad to four top-five finishes on the season and its first appearance in Sun Belt Conference Match Play. The Ragin’ Cajuns set single-season team records in par-3 scoring (3.15), par-4 scoring (4.17) and par-5 scoring (4.81) and the team’s final round of 17-under-267 at the Ka’anapali Classic Collegiate is the lowest in school history.

LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad (Senior – Halmstad, Sweden) was named the Women’s Player of the Year for the fourth-consecutive season as she became the first four-time first-team All-America in LSU women’s golf history this past season. She finished fifth in the NCAA Championships, tying school 72-hole mark of 7-under 281 (70-72-68-71) and played in her third Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She won twice this past season to give her 11 for her decorated career and finished with a sub-70 stroke average for the fourth season in a row.

Anna Andrysova (Freshman – Prague, Czech Republic) was named Women’s Freshman of the Year after the rookie posted the third-lowest scoring average (73.55) in program history and posted six Top-10 finishes, including three in the Top 5. Andrysova finished tied for 14th in the Sun Belt Conference Championship to cap an outstanding season.

LSU’s Aine Donegan (Sophomore – Ennis County Clare, Ireland) claimed Newcomer of the Year honors as the Indiana transfer was named Second Team All-SEC after she recorded a third-place finish in the SEC Championships with rounds of 72-71-71 for 2-under 214. Donegan shot four rounds in the 60’s during the season and posted 15 rounds of par or under.

Rachel Pollock of ULM was named Coach of the Year after she led her program to its first-ever appearance as a team in the NCAA Women’s Golf Regional as an automatic qualifier. Pollock, named the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year, helped the Warhawks rewrite the record book, breaking more than 20 combined individual and team records which included the lowest team scoring average per round (293.53) as well as the four lowest rounds and four lowest 54-hole scores in program history.

Overall, the Warhawks won a program single-season record five tournaments in 2022-23. Thanks to its Sun Belt Conference Championship, ULM vaulted 15 places in the Golfstat final regular-season rankings of NCAA Division I women’s teams to No. 72 – its highest position in program history.

2023 LSWA MEN’S AND WOMEN’S COLLEGE GOLF TEAMS

MEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Drew Doyle, LSU
MEN’S FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Malan Potgieter, Louisiana
MEN’S NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Thomas Henson, Louisiana Tech
MEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR: Theo Sliman, Louisiana

MEN’S FIRST TEAM
Drew Doyle, LSU
Garrett Barber, LSU
Charlie Forster, Southeastern Louisiana
Luke Haskew, LSU
Malan Potgieter, Louisiana

MEN’S SECOND TEAM
Melan Dhaubhadel, ULM
Ryan Fulton, New Orleans
Eli Ortego, Louisiana
James Swash, Louisiana Tech
Otto Van Buynder, ULM

WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Ingrid Lindblad, LSU
WOMEN’S FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Anna Andrysova, ULM
WOMEN’S NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Aine Donegan, LSU
WOMEN’S COACH OF THE YEAR: Rachel Pollock, ULM

WOMEN’S TEAM
Anna Andrysova, ULM
Aine Donegan, LSU
Chantal Dueringer, ULM
Ingrid Lindblad, LSU
Latanna Stone, LSU

For more information on the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, visit the official website at www.lswa.info.