North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Women's Golf Announces Standout Recruiting Class
12/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
The nationally-ranked NC State women's golf team has added four new signees in the early signing period. India Clyburn, Leonie Bettel, Laura Kowohl and Naomi Ko will be eligible for the Wolfpack in the fall of 2015.
"I am very excited about the 2015 class. We look forward to welcoming India, Leonie, Laura and Naomi to our team next fall and for them to become part of our Wolfpack family," head coach Page Marsh said. "We have signed four talented young women who will be joining our current players Rachael, Stephanie, Cecily and Crystal.
"Not only are they talented golfers who have experience in both medal and match play formats as individuals and as team members, but they are also dedicated young women who are excited about the opportunity to compete for NC State while earning their degrees. Each will be a great ambassador for our university and help achieve our vision of excellence in our golf program."
Clyburn, currently ranked 84th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), is a current member of England Golf. She is the top-ranked player on the 2014 Girls' Order of Merit. She's represented her nation four times in international play, including helping England to a championship at the Ladies Home International matches where she won every match. She's also played in the World Junior Girls Golf Championship in Canada, the European Girls Championship in Slovakia and the Girls Home International matches.
Some of her 2014 highlights include shooting 3-under to win the English Girls Amateur Championship and winning the U21 Scotland Junior Ladies Stroke Play Championship by a tourney-record 12 shots. She shot 15-under in that tournament, including 9-under 65 in the final round. She was a semi-finalist in the 2015 British Girls in Northern Ireland. Her sister, Holly Clyburn, competes on the Ladies European Tour.
Bettel, a standout player from Vienna, Austria, had a strong summer winning the Austrian U18 Match and Stroke play titles as well as winning the Austrian Ladies Strokeplay where she shot 68 twice. She was recently honored as the Austrian Junior Player of the Year. Her strong play earned an opportunity to represent her country by being chosen for the three member Austrian team who competed at the 2015 World Amateur Team Championship (Espírito Santo Trophy) in Tokyo, Japan. Leonie, or 'Leo', also had strong showings against elite competition at the Girls British Open Amateur (round of 16) the 2014 Duke of York (T-6th) and the European Girls' Team Championships where she fired a final round 69 to help Austria into the 'A' bracket.
Ko, from Victoria, Canada, has played the last three years on the Canadian National Development team and was named the top player at Claremont's Sports Institute. Naomi brings a broad range of experiences competing on a team and as an individual in both stroke and match play formats. She has shown the ability to win and to finish consistently in fields. She is currently ranked 274 in the WAGR and has had successful wins at the 2014 CN Future Links Ontario Championship and 2014 BC Junior Girl's Championship. She was 4th at this year's Canadian Junior Girls and was named to the 3 member team that represented Canada in the World Junior Girls' Golf Championships.
Ko has competed in amateur and professional events (as an amateur) finishing as a quarterfinalist in the prestigious Women's Western Golf Association and 10th at the BC Canadian's Women's Tour event. She has also competed internationally at the AJGA St. Louis Classic (2nd), the South American Amateur (12th) , 2014 AGJA Girls Championship (13th), the Porter Cup (16th) and the 2012 Aspen Junior Golf Classic (Champion).
Kowohl is a native of Kronau, Germany, and is a member of the German Girls' National Team. She also plays for the top tier golf club St. Leon-Rot who in September won the German Team Matches. Laura advanced to match play at the British Girls Championship in Ireland and also anchored the German girls' team at the European Junior Team Championship (4th) in Slovakia. Laura finished 10th at the German National Girls Championship. Kowohl's extensive team and match play experience will help NC State in the future as the NCAA Championship moves to a medal and match play combination format.
Each player will bring her unique personality to our program. All are passionate about competitive team golf and are looking forward to arriving next fall and making their contributions to our women's golf program. They understand that a culture of excellence has been established here and are respectful of the hard work that has gone into creating this environment. The incoming and current players have crossed paths at national and international major golf events. All have a great respect for each other.
"I look foward to having the opportunity to support and coach them," Marsh said. "I've enjoyed watching them and getting to know them and their families through the recruiting process. I look forward to them joining our Wolfpack Golf family here."
