Golfer Anna Morgan Crowned SoCon Female Athlete of the Year

For the second consecutive year, Furman student-athletes have swept the Southern Conference Player of the Year honors. The 2022-23 SoCon Female Athlete of the Year Anna Morgan continued the tradition for the Dins this year.

Courtesy of Furman Athletics

Deniz Sariaslan

August 28, 2023

From ITA All-American Katarina Kozarov ’20 to Furman’s all-time leading rebounder Tierra Hodges ’22, the Lady Paladins have long been recognized for their brilliance on the court and field. Bearing a collection of Southern Conference (SoCon) Player of the Year honors, the Dins now have a new addition to the list of award winners: Anna Morgan.

Morgan, who has now won the SoCon Female Athlete of the Year title for two successive seasons, became only the third athlete in history to achieve this feat. This marked Furman’s fourth consecutive win and the 12th in school history.

A two-time Edna Hartness Furman Female Athlete of the Year selection and two-time reigning SoCon Women’s Golfer of the Year, Morgan led the league with an impressive 72.43 stroke average over 35 rounds. Thanks to this extraordinary performance, the senior from Spartanburg, S.C. concluded the season 73rd in national rankings, the highest among SoCon golfers.

A three-time All-SoCon selection, Morgan led the Paladins to victory at the 2023 SoCon Championship and the Lady Paladin Invitational. Alongside her remarkable contributions to the Furman Women’s Golf Team, she won individual medalist honors at the SoCon Championship and the UNF Collegiate. She also finished the NCAA Athens Regional tied for tenth. Overall, she tallied four top-10 finishes in 11 events this past season and participated in her second successive Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

In addition to her athletic accomplishments, Morgan demonstrated academic excellence, maintaining a 3.58 GPA in Politics and International Affairs. The 2022-23 SoCon Female Athlete of the Year earned several academic honors such as the CSC Academic All-District Team, WGCA All-America Scholar Team, and SoCon Academic Honor Roll. As a member of Furman’s Kappa Delta sorority, she worked with local Girl Scout troops and helped fundraise for Greenville’s Julie Valentine Center, a nonprofit organization supporting sexual assault and child abuse survivors.

“To be just Anna when I play golf and not worry about other people,” Morgan answered when asked her favorite piece of advice in a July 2022 interview. The title-winning athlete at the 121st Women’s North & South Amateur Championship seems to have lived out this advice, as her victory in Pinehurst, N.C. came exactly one year after the interview, in July 2023.

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About the Contributor

Deniz Sariaslan, Managing Editor

A senior from Turkey, Deniz is a double major in Economics and Communication Studies. His interest in media goes a long way back to 2019, since when he has been working as an NBA-credentialed editor at Turkey’s largest social media network on basketball. Having served as The Paladin’s sports editor for the past two years, he has decided to step out of his comfort zone and embrace a new challenge. So here he is now, executing the Managing Editor role.