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Furman Golf 2013-14 Head Coach Kelley Hester Kelley Hester is entering her second year as head coach of the Furman women's golf team. In her first year with the Paladins, Hester led the team to a second-place finish at both the Southern Conference Championship and the Lady Paladin Invitational. Head Coach Kelley Hester Georgia '96 2nd Season "Not only is Furman one of the top lib2 eral arts universities in the nation, it is steeped in women's college golf history and tradition. Few programs can claim the success in Furman's past. " – Hester Under Hester's tutelage, senior Laura Wearn established a new single season school record after posting a 73.35 stroke average over 31 rounds and earned All-American honorable mention accolades from Golfweek during the 2012-13 season. Wearn, who ranked No. 39 in the Golfstat rankings, received an at-large bid as an individual to the NCAA West Regional. Hester took the helm of the Furman program after spending the previous five seasons as head coach at the University of Georgia. She led the Bulldogs to five consecutive NCAA Regional appearances and 10th and 15th-place finishes at the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Championships, respectively. In 2009, Hester, who is a LPGA Class A member, was named LPGA National Coach of the Year. Hester's Georgia squads finished in the top-20 of the final Golfweek/Sagarin rankings in each of her five seasons, including finishing 12th nationally in 2011-12. Along with her team's consistent success, Hester recruited, coached and developed Marta Silva Zamora, who was named consensus National Player of the Year in 2011. "Kelley Hester is a proven head coach of the highest caliber," said Furman Director of Athletics Gary Clark at the time of Hester's hiring. "Her teams have finished ranked in the top-20 in each of the last seven seasons. More importantly, her approach to the game and preparation for her team are a great fit for Furman University. Kelley is the right person at the right time to lead our women's golf program back to national prominence." Hester was a four-year letterwinner and threetime All-Southeastern Conference selection for Georgia from 1993-96. She was a member of Georgia teams that placed fourth at the 1993 NCAAs and captured the 1993 and 1994 SEC championships. Individually, she recorded 21 top-20 finishes in 40 tournaments during her four-year career. Hester graduated cum laude from Georgia with a degree in public relations, was a two-time National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-America Scholar, served as president of UGA's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and was selected to be the female student-athlete to the Athletic Board as a senior. After two years on the Futures Tour (1996-97), a stint as an assistant pro at Idle Hour Club in Macon (1997-99) and a season as head coach at Mercer (1998-99), she returned to the Bulldogs as an assistant coach from 1999-01. Thirteen-Time Southern Conference Champions Hester was then chosen by UNLV as its first-ever women's golf coach in 2001 and was charged with building a team from scratch to begin competition that fall. Her efforts paid immediate dividends as Hwanhee Lee captured medalist honors at the fourth tournament in UNLV history. Though Hester left UNLV after one season, her influence continued. The team she put together earned a bid to the 2004 NCAAs where Sunny Oh, a Hester signee, won the 2004 West Regional and finished 11th individually at the NCAAs. Hester then ventured to her SEC roots and had a similar effect on the University of Arkansas program. In five seasons at Arkansas, Hester led the Lady Razorbacks to their best team and individual finishes in school history. Arkansas posted its first top-10 effort at the 2006 NCAA Championships, and Stacy Lewis captured individual medalist honors at the 2007 NCAA Championships. A native of Macon, Ga., Hester and her husband Trey have a six-year-old daughter, Elizabeth "Bebe".