For more than a decade, Kory Henkes has led the Ole Miss women’s golf team, steering the program to national recognition. In her sixth season as head coach, Henkes guided the Rebels to their first NCAA National Championship in 2021.
This week, Henkes is preparing for a notable return as her No. 15 ranked Rebels travel to Hilton Head, South Carolina. They will compete at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate from March 2-4 at Long Cove Club. The event is hosted by Henkes’s alma mater, the University of South Carolina, and will be broadcast on Golf Channel. This marks Ole Miss’ debut at this tournament.
During her collegiate career at South Carolina, Henkes was part of the women’s golf team that won its only SEC Championship in 2002. She played four years for the Gamecocks and earned recognition as a two-time WGCA All-American Scholar and two-time Southeastern Conference Honor Roll recipient.
Since taking over as head coach on June 22, 2015, Henkes has overseen significant achievements: Ole Miss has won 22 team titles and secured 15 individual wins under her leadership. Seven players have been named All-Americans while eleven received All-SEC honors during her tenure.
A major milestone came in 2019 when Ole Miss claimed its first SEC Championship by defeating South Carolina in match play. Reflecting on that win six years ago, Henkes said it was “putting Ole Miss on the map a little bit,” establishing an ongoing standard of excellence for the program.
In 2020, she became the first head coach from Ole Miss women’s golf to receive SEC Coach of the Year honors.
The following year brought further success as Henkes led the Rebels to their historic NCAA National Championship—the first such title for any women’s team at Ole Miss and its first university-wide since football’s championship in 1962. Seniors Julia Johnson and Kennedy Swann were both named WGCA All-Americans following that season; Johnson earned first-team honors while Swann received honorable mention status.
With this achievement, Henkes became both the first Rebel head coach to earn WGCA National Coach of the Year recognition and only the seventh SEC coach ever honored since 1984.
In another landmark moment for Ole Miss women’s golf under Henkes’s direction, the team won its inaugural NCAA Regional Championship in Bermuda Run in 2024 after shooting their lowest-ever postseason round (279).
The current campaign continues this trend with back-to-back victories early in the season. Four different players have registered top ten finishes as Ole Miss aims for its eighth consecutive postseason appearance and fourth straight trip to NCAA Championships.
Looking ahead to Monday’s competition in South Carolina represents a personal homecoming for Kory Henkes—a former player turned leader—highlighting her journey within collegiate golf.
For updates on Ole Miss women’s golf, information is available through social media channels including Twitter (@OleMissWGolf), Instagram (OleMissWGolf), Facebook (Ole Miss Women’s Golf), and general athletic news accounts @OleMissSports on Twitter and Facebook or @OleMissAthletics on Instagram.
