Winthrop University Athletics

Jodi Wendt, an LPGA Teaching Professional and a former player on the Players West Professional Tour, was promoted to head coach in the spring of 2006 after longtime head coach Eddie Weldon retired. Wendt first joined the program as an assistant coach in 2003 before taking over for Weldon.
 
In 2017-18 the team enjoyed one of its most successful seasons under Wendt’s direction as it capped off the season with a runner-up finish at the Big South Conference Championship. It was the best finish under Wendt in the conference championship. The Eagles posted a 54-hole total of 914, which was third lowest in program history in conference championship competition. The 2^nd place finish was the best by the women’s golf team since a runner-up finish in 1999. The year before that the Eagles placed 5^th with a 54-hole total of 894, which is the best by any team in program history for a championship.
 
During Wendt’s tenure the Eagles have six Top 3 finishes at the Big South Championship and 23 Top 3 finishes in regular season tournaments. Wendt was voted the 2008-09 Big South Conference Coach of the Year. Wendt led the team to a ranking of 17^th by Golfweek Magazine in the 2007-08 season, the highest ever ranking in program history. During the course of the year the Eagles two second-place finishes (Bill Berg Inv. and Winthrop Intercollegiate) while also finishing 3^rd at the Starmount Forest Fall Classic. The team finished in the Top 5 in five of the nine events it competed.
 
In 2016-17 the Eagles won the Terrier Intercollegiate and the Winthrop Intercollegiate. Ashley Sloup and Chelsea Dantonio tied for first in the Winthrop Intercollegiate while Sloup placed 3^rd at the Terrier Intercollegiate. In 2017, Sloup won the Winthrop Intercollegiate with a school record 67 in the final round as the team finished 2^nd.
 
In 2015-16 the Eagles won two events, the Winthrop Intercollegiate and the Lady Eaglecat Invitational. Dantonio tied for first the Winthrop Intercollegiate while Sloup tied for 1^st at the Lady Eaglecat.
 
Sloup and Dantonio are just a small example of the success Winthrop golfers have had under Wendt. In 2018 Julie Reinertsen finished 3^rd in the Big South Championship, the highest finish for an Eagle golfer since 2009 (Sara Hester finished 3^rd). Reinertsen also finished 2^nd at the Preview at the Patriot in the fall of 2016. In the fall of 2014 Jennifer Dilger captured the ECU Lady Pirate Intercollegiate at 2-under par while capturing the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate and also had a second place finish at the Terrier Intercollegiate. Meagan Wallace and Viivi Nuorti tied for second at the Winthrop Intercollegiate. Wallace captured the 2013 Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate and won the 2014 Highlander Invitational. Brittany Dabule won the 2009 Winthrop Intercollegiate.
 
In Wendt’s first season as head coach, the Eagles had four Top 3 finishes highlighted by capturing the 2007 Shamrock Intercollegiate, overcoming a seven-stroke deficit to do so. The following season the Eagles earned their highest ranking in program history when Golfweek Magazine ranked them 17^th. The program captured the Draper Valley Intercollegiate, tying the program 18-hole record of 292 and finished with program record 589 for 36 holes.
 
After a strong 2008-09 season, Wendt was named the Big South Conference Coach of the Year. The Eagles finished 3^rd at the Big South Championship that season. In her 15 seasons as head coach of the Eagles, the team finished in the Top 3 of the conference championship seven times.

"Jodi’s experience as a collegiate and professional player coupled with her vast experience as an LPGA Class A instructor is going to enhance the Winthrop program. Her experience as a teaching professional is clearly above anything we have had here before," said former Eagles coach Eddie Weldon after retiring and Wendt was promoted to head coach.
 
A native of Hutchinson, MN, Wendt graduated from Minnesota State University in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in social studies education and a minor in political science. She was a four-year member of the school’s golf team and was honored as an academic All-American all four years. As a collegiate player she earned All-American honors twice and was the 1996 Arizona State Amateur Champion. In 2008, Wendt was inducted into the Minnesota State Athletics Hall of Fame.

Coach Wendt earned a coaching certificate upon graduation and served as girls golf coach at Hutchinson (MN) High School from 2001 until 2003. She also served as head golf pro and manager of Meadow Links Golf Course in Hutchinson for three years. Prior to returning to her hometown to coach and serve as club pro, Coach Wendt was an assistant golf pro for three years at a course in Queen Creek, Arizona, and for two years at a course in Glendale, Arizona.