Women's Golf
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- kmowat@bsu.edu
- Alma Mater:
- Louisville, 2001
- Phone:
- 765-285-4086
- Years at Ball State:
- 18th season in 2021-22
17 Seasons at Ball State
Alma Mater: University of Louisville, 2001
Master’s: University of Mississippi, 2004
- Two-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year (2010 and 2013)
- Owns 20 career tournament championships
- Has coached 58 WGCA All-America Scholar selections
In more than a decade and a half at the helm of the Ball State women's golf team, Katherine Mowat has built a program that is a contender in the Mid-American Conference on the course and one of the nation's best in the classroom.
Mowat, named the head coach at Ball State on Aug. 2, 2004, completed her 17th season in 2020-21. The dean of MAC women's golf coaches, she has twice been named the league's coach of the year, claiming the honor in both 2010 and 2013.
Mowat has led Ball State to 20 tournament titles during her tenure. Her teams won a program-record four tournaments in both the 2007-08 and 2012-13 seasons, while her 2008-09 squad won three times.
Her 2020-21 team claimed her 20th career win with a 10-sroke victory at Bowling Green's Dolores Black Falcon Invitational. The 2019-20 squad defended its home course to win the Cardinal Classic at The Players Club, finished third in two other events and had its sights set on more. The Cardinals were the third-rated team in the MAC when the season was cut short by COVID-19 with three tournaments, including the MAC Championships, remaining on the schedule.
Mowat coached Ball State to arguably its best week ever in the spring of 2017 when the Cardinals won two tournaments in the span of six days and featured the individual medalist at both events. BSU finished one shot clear of the field at the Kingsmill Intercollegiate with Allison Lindley sharing medalist honors. Later that week, the team won by 13 shots at the EKU Colonel Classic, led by Sydney Anderson's first-place finish. Mowat has coached her golfers to a total of 21 individual tournament titles.
Mowat has twice guided Ball Sate to runner-up finishes at the MAC Championships -- 2010 and 2012. The second-place finish in 2010 was the best ever for the Cardinals at the league tournament and came in the same year Mowat became the program's first conference coach of the year.
Two of Mowat's golfers have won the individual conference championship, first Katie Sundberg in 2005 and later Jenna Hague in a playoff as a freshman in 2012. They are two of only four non-Kent State players ever to claim the league title, while Hague remains one of only four freshmen to win it.
Hague tied a MAC record with six career tournament victories and joined Brittany Kelly as Mowat-coached players to earn All-MAC honors three times. In total, Mowat has coached 10 all-conference selections and six league all-tournament team honorees. Kelly became the first Ball State women's golfer to compete in an NCAA Regional when she earned a berth in 2011, and Hague followed her when she was selected in 2014.
Mowat has coached each of the top five players on Ball State's all-time list for career scoring average -- Kelly (76.43), Manon Tounalom (76.89), Hague (77.22), Kelsey Sear (78.53) and Rachael Pruett (78.78).
"Building this program has been an enjoyable experience," Mowat says, "To be able to mentor female student-athletes at a great place like Ball State has been a pleasure. The young women in this program know what is necessary to be successful as a student-athlete. We have a lot of work to do to get where we want to be, but we have a strong foundation of golfers and are looking forward to the challenge of winning a Mid-American Conference Championship."
Mowat's student-athletes have also been recognized numerous times for their character and academic excellence. Liz Kim (2021), Sarah Westaway (2014) and Kirsty O'Connor (2010) each received the MAC Sportswoman of the Year Award, as voted on by their league peers, while Autumn Duke was honored with the WGCA's Kim Moore Spirit Award in 2013.
Mowat has mentored 58 WGCA All-America Scholar selections and 32 Academic All-MAC choices. Her teams have boasted at least three All-America Scholars in 12 of the past 13 years and at least five of them in four of those years. The Cardinals' five selections in 2012-13 were the most by any Division I program, while their school-record six All-America Scholars in 2018-19 were the most of any MAC team and just one shy of the most in the country.
Ball State has ranked among the top 25 nationally three times under Mowat in team GPA. The Cardinals ranked 21st for 2009-10 and 22nd for 2005-06 at 3.549 both years. They were 21st again in 2012-13 at 3.612.
"We want student-athletes to have a great experience while here at Ball State," Mowat says. "It is important for us to be competitive, but academic success is the No. 1 priority. We have a program of young women who want to do well academically and athletically, and we are constantly striving for improvement and excellence in both areas. The academic support student-athletes receive at Ball State is outstanding, and we make a conscious effort to recruit great students who are great golfers."
Mowat came to Ball State after spending three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Mississippi. The Rebels made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2003 and 2004 under the guidance of Mowat and head coach Meghan Bolger. Ole Miss registered six top-5 finishes in 2003-04, including a win at the Waterlefe Invitational for the school’s first tournament title since the 2001-02 season. In addition, Mowat helped tutor former Ole Miss golfer Bernadette Luse who qualified for the 2005 LPGA Tour and won Golf Channel's Big Break in 2008.
As a player, Mowat earned All-Conference USA accolades and was named to the league’s all-tournament team in her final two collegiate seasons at Louisville. She captured medalist honors at the conference tournament in 2000 and led her team to an NCAA Regional in 2001. Mowat was also highly successful in the classroom. As a senior in 2001, she was named to the NGCA All-America Scholar Team and the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America First Team. A 2001 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee, Mowat was honored as a Conference USA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient plus was named to C-USA’s Honor Roll and Louisville’s Dean’s List.
Mowat won the Indiana Women’s Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship in 2006 and 2007 and placed second at the 2002 Tennessee Women’s Open. She competed in the 2002 Ontario Women’s Amateur and Canadian Women’s Amateur, finishing in the top 20 of both tournaments.
Personal Information:
Family: Married to Mandy Harrison ... two daughters - Myla Susan Mowat Harrison (born Dec. 18, 2011) and Katy Alice Mowat Harrison (born June 25, 2014).
High School: Lester B. Pearson H.S. in Burlington, Ontario
College: University of Louisville (2001); Earned two letters and was the team’s Most Valuable Player as a junior and senior ... played her first two collegiate seasons at Iowa, where she earned two letters.
Experience:
** 2009-10 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year **
** 2012-13 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year **
2004-Present: Head Women's Golf Coach at Ball State University
2001-04: Assistant Women's Golf Coach at the University of Mississippi
Other: Director of the Mississippi Golf Camps; Golf Instructor at Mississippi and Stanford Golf Camps; Instructor at the Longest Drive Junior Golf Program through the Boys and Girls Club of Muncie
Tournament Titles (20)
2021 Dolores Black Falcon Invitational
2019 Cardinal Classic
2018 Ball State Sunshine Invitational
2017 EKU Colonel Classic
2017 Kingsmill Intercollegiate
2016 Bulldog Florida Invitational
2014 Dolores Black Falcon Invitational
2013 Angola Shootout
2012 SCU Colby Invitational
2012 The Preview
2012 Cardinal Classic
2009 The Preview
2009 El Diablo Invitational
2008 Iowa Hawkeye Invitational
2008 Butler Spring Invitational
2008 Tina Barrett Invitational
2008 Ball State Cardinal Classic
2007 Tri-State Thunder Invitational
2007 Butler Spring Invitational
2006 Butler Spring Invitational
