Morgan Baxendale, a Florida native, earned All-SEC honors for the Commodores
TAMPA, JUNE 2, 2021 – The USF women’s golf program has added another strong piece to its lineup as head coach Erika Brennan welcomed Vanderbilt transfer Morgan Baxendale to the Bulls’ program.
A four-year player for the Commodores and All-SEC second team selection, Baxendale, a Florida native from Windermere, earned her degree in sociology from Vanderbilt and elected to play her additional COVID year at USF.
“We are elated to add Morgan to our team,” head coach Erika Brennan said. “She has a crystal-clear vision for her future and we are committed to coming alongside her to achieve her goals. She is compassionate and also a fierce competitor and that balance bodes so well for her time at USF. She will hit the ground running and provide awesome leadership among the team.”
Baxendale earned SEC All-Freshman and All-SEC second team honors in her first season for the Commodores, as she posted a 73.30 average playing 30 rounds, including a low round of 69. She won the Brickyard Collegiate in her first collegiate tournament and posted six top 40 finishes and a 15th-place finish at the SEC Championships. She won a round in the quarterfinals of SEC match play that year and went on to finish 34th individually at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional.
Baxendale posted a 74.59 average in her sophomore campaign and finished third in the NCAA Auburn Regional, her third top 20 finish on the year, and 79th in the NCAA Championships. In her junior campaign, she posted an average of 74.94 and finished fourth in the Mason Rudolph Championship. Her senior campaign saw her finish 16th at The Ally at Old Waverly with a total of 1-over-par.
Baxendale qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship in 2019 and 2020 and advanced to the match play round.
Born in Pennsylvania, Baxendale moved to Florida in her youth and graduated from The First Academy in Windermere in 2017. The team captain ranked No. 16 in the 2017 Golfweek Junior Girls ranking and was the Spectrum Sports Central Florida Girls Golfer of the Year as her team finished second in the Florida 1A state tournament and she placed fifth. She won the 2015 Florida State Girls 13-15 Junior Championship and was a four-time FSGA Florida Cup recipient.
“I chose to play golf for fifth year at USF for a number of reasons, but mainly because of the people, the location, and I knew that I could continue to grow as a person and a player,” Baxendale said. “I can’t be more excited for the opportunity to be a Bull for a year! Lets go!”
About USF Women’s Golf
The Bulls are in their third season under head coach Erika Brennan in 2020-21. USF is among the fastest rising program in the country, as they climbed 75 spots in the national Golfstat rankings following Brennan’s first season. The Bulls won two tournaments in 2018-19 and set several program records, including season scoring average (293.43) and team rounds of par or better (6), and in 2019-20 the Bulls posted a wire-to-wire win at the Old Friends Invitational, marking the program’s third tournament title since spring 2019.
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