OXFORD – Despite becoming the first Ole Miss women’s golfer to ever win the SEC individual championship, Caitlyn Macnab isn’t one to rest on her laurels. She is ready to make one last run at a national championship with her Rebels teammates.
Macnab, a South Africa native who began her career at TCU, transferred to Ole Miss prior to the 2023-24 season. With her 5-under-par finish in the third round of the SEC Women’s Golf Championship at the Pelican Golf Club on April 16, Macnab became the first Ole Miss women’s golfer to win the SEC individual crown. Ole Miss as a team advanced to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion South Carolina but earned its seventh straight NCAA Tournament berth. The Rebels begin NCAA postseason play as a No. 3 seed in the Charlottesville Regional on May 5.
Macnab tied for 25th at the SEC championships and tied for 120th at the NCAA Championships last year. She wants to finish her college career on a high note. So far, so good.
“Whenever I’m at an event, I want to win,” Macnab said. “That doesn’t happen most of the time. But I think the competitive nature within me is always striving towards that. And yeah, finishing strong is always what I’m striving to do. I always want to finish strong. But I think it’s also put the team in a good position and maybe help motivate them to finish strong moving forward as well.”
The daughter of “pretty high-level field hockey” players, Macnab said she grew up playing nearly every sport in Johannesburg, South Africa – softball, swimming, track and field and field hockey. But on her fifth birthday, she played in her first golf tournament. Her parents told her they thought she had “natural talents,” and her story unfolded from there.
“(Golf) can be incredibly frustrating when things are just not going your way. I mean, there’s so many outside factors and outside influences that can affect every single shot,” Macnab said. “A part of it is taking it within the stride and moving on. … What makes me come back? You hit some incredible golf shots, which is awesome. I think I’m also just a competitor at heart. … I love the game for everything that it is. All of its essence, I suppose.”
Macnab was the top-ranked golfer in South Africa and won the 2019 South Africa Women’s Open. She was ranked No. 68 in the world among amateurs before ever setting foot in college. South Africa doesn’t have collegiate golf the way the United States does, and once she learned about college golf late in middle school, Macnab said she was locked in on moving to the United States to further her career.
While at TCU, Macnab was named All-Big 12 and a WGCA All-American. But after two seasons in Fort Worth, Texas, Macnab said she needed a change and “wasn’t progressing the way that I wanted to.” She was looking to improve her game to put herself in the best position to be successful.
When it came time to look at schools, Ole Miss stuck out. The 2021 team national champions had facilities that were second-to-none, she said. Macnab said she was also drawn toward the passion and competitiveness of the coaching staff and to the small-town feel of Oxford.
Since transferring to Ole Miss, Macnab has improved her stroke average by 1.97 shots and has won four tournaments, including a tie for first at last season’s NCAA Regional at Bermuda Run. She has spent 23 weeks inside the World Amateur Golf Rankings’ top 20 since becoming a Rebel; she was not ranked in the top 20 while at TCU. Macnab has participated in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in all four of her college seasons.
“Course-management wise, I’ve improved heaps and bounds. How I see the game has maybe improved, and just playing more percentage,” Macnab said. “ … I’m quite an aggressive player. I like to go for par-fives and go attack at pins, which can sometimes be to my detriment but also to my advantage. So, just understanding when to and when not to I think has been the key.”
As the end of her college golf career draws nearer, Macnab admits she has spent time thinking about her past, present and future. But more than anything, she is determined to live in the moment. And, while she naturally wants to help lead the Rebels to another national title and to claim the individual crown, she’s more interested in taking it all in.
“Just trying to be where my feet are. And I’ve just been trying to take it all in, honestly, and just enjoy being on a team. The ease of rocking up when the coaches tell us to rock up and everything’s booked for and everything’s paid for, it’s pretty awesome,” Macnab said with a laugh. “So, trying to enjoy it while I can.”
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