Caroline Keggi
Caroline Keggi Courtesy: New Mexico Athletics
Release: 11/25/2014
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Caroline Keggi
Caroline S. Keggi was a member of the Lobo women’s golf team from 1984-87 and is a testament of the saying, “hard work pays off.”
Keggi started her amateur years in 1980, collecting gold trophies with a victory in the Connecticut Junior Championship. Two years later she won the New England Junior and was runner-up in the USGA Junior Girls Championship. In 1983, she won the Women’s Western Junior Championship and was named an AJGA All-American. In addition to that, she was a four-time Connecticut Women’s Champion (1984-1987), two-time New England Women’s champion (1984-85), Connecticut’s Woman Athlete of the Year (1985), and the California State Amateur Champion (1987).
Keggi transferred to New Mexico from Ohio State and made her mark as a Lobo. She was named to the WAC All-Conference team three times and improved her play each year. She finished 24th at the NCAA Championships her sophomore year before tying for second as a junior. Keggi finally came away as the NCAA Individual Champion as a senior in the spring of 1987. She captured the national title on her home turf at UNM’s Championship South Golf Course in a playoff over Anne Jones of San José State. Keggi was the first–and so far–only national champion in women’s golf at the University of New Mexico. Keggi twice earned All-America honors and received the Honda Broderick Award for Golf — the most prestigious honor given to a collegiate player.
Keggi’s amateur success did not stop there as she was runner-up at the Trans-National, a member of the U.S. Curtis Cup Team and was nominated for the Women’s Sports Foundation Amateur Athlete of the Year. In addition to that she had the honor of being named Albuquerque Sports Hall of Fame Female Athlete of the Year in 1986 and 1987. Keggi concluded her amateur career by winning the 1988 Harder Hall and Women’s South Atlantic Championship.
Her professional career began in 1988 when she was invited to play in the Nabisco Dinah Shore, one of the five major championships on the LPGA tour. Keggi placed fourth at the event, which is the highest finish ever by an amateur in the prestigious event. During her rookie year in 1989, she posted six top-20 finishes, and a year later, she recorded her career-low round of 67 during the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open played in Duluth, G.A., on the Atlanta Athletic Club’s Riverside Course. Keggi finished tied for sixth at the event. She went on to post seven top-10 finishes in 1990, including second place at the Stratton Mountain Classic. Continuing her professional career in 1991, she had five top-10 finishes, her best being a second-place finish at the LPGA Bay State Classic. She added five top-10 finishes in 1992.
In March 1993, Keggi was diagnosed with the E-Coli bacteria. A determined Keggi fought through pain and competed in a full schedule of 25 events. In 1994, she posted a tie for 13th at the Standard Register PING.
On Dec. 8, 1999, Keggi was inducted into the Connecticut State Golf Association Hall of Fame. She has had an outstanding golf career and credits her family and Floyd Gensler, a Connecticut Golf Pro, as the individuals most influencing her career. To this day she is influencing current and future Lobos. Lobo head women’s golf coach Jill Trujillo said, “Caroline is one of the biggest parts of our Lobo golf history. Her NCAA Individual Champion trophy inspires all of our incoming players and we are proud to call her our own.”