SMU Athletics

Lauren Mason enters her sixth season (2026-27) at the helm of SMU Women's Golf. Mason took over as Head Coach in 2021-22 and has turned the Mustangs into contenders with four NCAA Regional appearances, three NCAA Championship appearances and two conference titles. She oversaw the program as it transitioned to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

The 2025-26 season was another historic one for Mason and the Mustangs. Under Mason’s leadership, SMU won the NCAA Waco Regional round and advanced to the NCAA Championships for the third time in four seasons. Seniors Mackenzie Lee and Emily Odwin earned All-ACC honors in the program’s second season in the ACC. Mason helped guide Lee to winning the 2026 Huntington Bank Collegiate victory. As a team, the Mustangs logged eight top 5 finishes during the 2025-26 campaign. SMU finished the season No. 18 in the scoreboard rankings. With a 71.84 scoring average, Lee and Odwin set the program record for scoring average by a senior.

Under the leadership of Mason, SMU finished the season ranked No. 18 in the scoreboard rankings. Individually, Mackenzie Lee (#63) and Emily Odwin (#72) each finished in the top 100 of the rankings.

Lee added another program first to her resume as she represented the United States at the 2026 Arnold Palmer Cup, becoming the first SMU women's golfer to participate in the Palmer Cup. She joined Hank Kuehne (1998, 1999) and Bryson DeChambeau (2015) as Mustang golfers to appear in a Palmer Cup. Lee and Odwin also competed at the August National Women’s Amateur in April of 2026, where Odwin finished tied for 27th at the event.
  
In 2024-25, the Mustangs had another strong season ending in the NCAA Regional round. Mackenzie Lee was named All-American honorable mention and All-Conference in the first season in the ACC. Lee broke the program record for single season scoring, career birdies and career rounds of par or better. Emily Odwin had another strong season with the third lowest scoring mark by a Mustang (72.40). Celine Chen had a breakout year once averaging 71.29 during a stretch of 17 rounds in the middle of the season. As a team, the Mustangs had a second-place finish at the Briars Creek and two third-place showings. 
 
During 2025, Mason was instrumental in Mackenzie Lee making the Augusta National Women’s Amateur where she finished in the top 11 with a hole-in-one. Emily Odwin won her US Open Qualifier and earned a bid to the US Women’s Open. Grace Jin, just joining SMU in the summer of 2025, won the Texas Women’s Amateur Championship for back-to-back victories at the tournament. Both Jin and Lee earned spots at the US Women’s Amateur in Bandon Dunes taking place in August of 2025. Carrying on the SMU legacy of victories at Pinehurst No. 2 (Payne Stewart-1999 US Open & Bryson DeChambeau-2024 US Open) Mackenzie Lee won the North & South Women’s Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2. She also recorded her third hole-in-one of the calendar year during the tournament. As of July of 2025, four returning Mustangs are ranked in the top 400 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings: Mackenzie Lee (No. 32), Emily Odwin (No.156), Grace Jin (No. 259) and Celine Chen (No. 374). 

In 2023-24, the Mustangs picked up where they left off in 2023 with more tournament titles. They won top honors at the Jim West Challenge where they broke four key program records. They set the 54 hole team record (38-under par) and the 18 hole team record (23-under par), beating the previous record by nine strokes. Ellie Szeryk set the 54 hole record (16-under) and Mackenzie Lee broke the 18-hole record (10-under). The team added another team title at the Chevron Collegiate which they immediately followed with a title at The Show. They returned to the top of the leaderboard with a victory at the Texas Showdown. At the AAC Championship, the Mustangs repeated as Champions with a dramatic come-from-behind win. Returning to the NCAA Regionals, the Mustangs finished in a tie for second to comfortably qualify for the NCAA Championships. At the Championship, the Mustangs finished in 24^th. Three Mustangs were named all-conference, Emily Odwin, Mackenzie Lee and Ellie Szeryk.

In 2022-23, the Mustangs broke numerous records and set a new standard for SMU Women's Golf. The Mustangs started off the season with two second-place finishes before breaking through with a victory at the Hurricane Invitational. In the spring, the Mustangs started an astounding streak of five straight tournament wins with a victory at the Trinity Forest Invitational. With victories at the Briar's Creek Invitational and the Chattanooga Classic, the Mustangs were poised for a strong performance at the conference championship. At the AAC Championships, the Mustangs dominated, claiming a 14-stroke victory and their first conference title since 1992. Freshman Michelle Zhang won medalist honors and four Mustangs were named All-Conference. In its first regional appearance since 2017, SMU again dominated, easily qualifying for the NCAA Championship with another victory. At the NCAA Championship, the Mustangs successfully qualified for the fourth round with a strong performance over the first three days. SMU kept moving up all the way into a tie for 11th, the best Mustang finish since 1986, barely missing out on match play. Zhang would go on to finish in a tie for fifth in the nation. A pair of Mustang freshman, Zhang and Mackenzie Lee were named All-Americans. In all, the Mustangs broke 39 program records including smashing the single season scoring record by over five strokes. SMU's six tournament titles in 2022-23 doubled the previous Mustang record of three.

In her first season on the Hilltop (2021-22), Mason led the Mustangs to a tournament victory in the team's first outing at the Badger Invitational in September. SMU recorded four top five finishes throughout the season including third at the GCU Invite and the AGT Intercollegiate. They finished fourth out of 10 teams at the AAC Championship, while senior Kennedy Pedigo won the individual title and clinched a birth to the NCAA Regionals where she finished 24th out of 59 players. SMU featured two all-conference golfers and set program record for low round and low round versus par (-11, 277, Feb. 28, GCU Invite).

Mason arrived on the Hilltop after two seasons in charge of the men's and women's golf programs at Texas A&M-Commerce and a standout playing career at Texas Tech.

Mason guided both the Texas A&M-Commerce Lion men's and women's programs to NCAA Division II top-10 finishes in 2021, reaching the medal-match play quarterfinals with the men and finishing ninth with the women. Both were the best national finishes in Texas A&M-Commerce history, as the women made their first appearance at the finals site, and the men made just their second.
 
In her two-year tenure as head coach, the Lion women finished top-three in 12 of 16 tournaments, including two tournament wins at the Jack Brown Memorial and West Texas A&M Desert Invitational in 2021. The Lion men also had two tournament victories, at the Midwestern State Invitational in 2020-21 and the 2021 NCAA Super Regional. In her first season as head coach, the Lions were poised to earn a postseason selection, ranked inside the top-30 at the time of the season's cancelation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Mason coached a total of 13 all-conference selections in three seasons in Commerce, nine of which came while she was head coach (five women's, four men's), and four all-region selections (three women's, one men's). In 2021, her teams produced both the men's and women's Lone Star Conference's Newcomer of the Year, and saw the first two All-American selections in Lion women's golf history, plus an additional All-American selection on the men's side.
 
Her teams have been successful in their studies, as the Lion women were named the 2020 Lone Star Conference Academic Champions, and seven players (six women, one man) were named All-American Scholars. In her two years as head coach, her teams posted GPAs above 3.00 each season.
 
As an assistant at Texas A&M-Commerce, she helped the Lions reach the NCAA Super Regional, the women's program's first trip to the NCAA postseason.
 
In four seasons as a student athlete at Texas Tech, she played in every event, posting a school-record 134 rounds, and competed in two NCAA Championships for the Red Raiders. She won co-medalist honors at the Henssler Financial Intercollegiate, and posted two top-15 finishes at the Big 12 Championships. She graduated from Texas Tech with both a bachelor's (2017) and master's (2018) in sport management
 
Mason is a native of Queensland, Australia, and was the second-ranked amateur player from the country entering college. She represented her country several times in international competition, and earned status on the Symetra Tour for the 2019 season.
 
Mason Timeline
2021-Present: Head Coach, SMU (women)
2022-Present: Member of the Arnold Palmer Cup Committee
2019-21: Head Coach, Texas A&M-Commerce (men & women)
2018-19: Assistant Coach, Texas A&M-Commerce (men & women)
2013-18: Student-Athlete, Texas Tech

MASON NOTABLES:
2: AAC Coach Of The Year
2: AAC Titles
21: All-Conference selections
9: All-America Scholars (8 women's, 1 men's)
12: Tournaments Victories at SMU
3: NCAA Championship Appearances (11th place in 2022-23)
3: All-Americans (2 women's, 1 men's)
2: NCAA Division II Championships Appearances as head coach (one men's, one women's)
2: AAC Championship
3: NCAA Division I Championship Appearance at SMU (11th in 2023)
1: NCAA Division I Regional Championship (2026 Waco Regional)