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Georgia fifth-year senior Jenny Bae is the 2023 Julie Inkster Award winner after putting together quite the final year of college golf.
Jenny Bae is a fifth-year senior at the University of Georgia who finished her collegiate career this spring by winning the 2023 Juli Inkster Award presented by Workday. The announcement came onsite from Workday at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.
Named after Inkster, who won 17 individual titles, this award is given to the highest-ranked D1 women’s collegiate golfer in her final year of eligibility.
Bae finished No. 4 in the D1 women’s college golf rankings on Golfstat and was No. 5 on the Golfweek rankings. She set a program record by posting eight top-5 finishes in 12 events, per a Georgia golf press release.
She won the Illini Invitational and the NCAA Athens Regional. In those two victories, Bae posted the two lowest scores in Georgia history, a 16-under at the Illinois event and a 13-under at the regional.
“If you look at her last two years, no one deserves this award more than Jenny,” Georgia women’s head coach Josh Brewer said. “It’s hard to put into words what she has meant to our program. She really put Georgia golf on the global stage with her performance at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this spring.”
Bae finished her final year with a 70.75 season stroke average, breaking another school record. To top it all off, she finished runner-up at the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur to back-to-back individual NCAA national champion Rose Zhang.
“Jenny had a remarkable career at Georgia, persevered through the challenges of the global pandemic to earn her college degree, and excelled on the golf course with an amazing senior season,” said Inkster in the press release. “I look forward to mentoring Jenny as she navigates the next stage in her professional and personal journeys.”
Winning the Inkster Award will give Bae an exemption to compete in the 2023 Portland Classic on the LPGA Tour later at the end of August. She will also automatically advance to the second stage of LPGA Q-School in October. Bae receives $50,000 from Workday as a presenting sponsor of the award to help her transition into her professional career and help pay for her two-day retreat in Northern California with Inkster.
She has already started her professional career as she debuted on the Epson Tour, competing in the Nova Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship.
