Women's Golf
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- lucille.nunn@usm.edu
- Phone:
- 266-4836
Lucy Nunn Burke was announced as the new Southern Miss head women's golf coach on May 10, 2018.
In her fifth season at the helm, Southern Miss finally gave Nunn Burke a coveted tournament championship. At Hoover Country Club, the Golden Eagles took first place out of 10 teams and saw Momoka Ando claim second place. Five individuals landed in the top-20 for single season low stroke average: Ando (73.57), Elena Melich (73.90), Friend Chompitakdacha (75.33), Jacee Fields (75.00) and Taylor Trible (76.17). Ando's 73.57 stroke average is the lowest in program history.Â
During the 2021-22Â season, Nunn Burke guided the Golden Eagles to five top-five finishes, including a third-place finish at the Lady Red Wolves Classic. She helped coach Elena Melich to C-USA Freshman of the Year honors. Momoka Ando worked her way into the top-20 for low individual stroke average in a single season with a 76.19 stroke average.Â
Burke's third season at the helm (2020-21) saw Merche Corbacho earn C-USA Freshman of the Year honors, the first league-superlative award in program history. Corbacho's 75.30 stroke average was the best by a Golden Eagle freshman, as well as the seventh-best season overall. Three of the eight-best individual seasons have come in the Burke era.
Her tenure began in grand fashion, as the Golden Eagles posted a school-record 872 at the USA Intercollegiate in Mobile, Ala. in September 2018. Burke also guided Golden Eagle standout Valentina Haupt in her senior year, as she would finish with the program record for par/better rounds and conclude with a personal-best, 2-under 214 at the C-USA Championships for fourth-place. Haupt, in June 2020, earned an LPGA exemption at the Energy Producers, Inc. Texas Women's Open and will become the first in program history to appear on that stage. Burke's first All-Conference USA honoree was sophomore Friend Chompitakdacha, who earned Third-Team honors in 2020.
Burke comes to Southern Miss after serving as an assistant coach at the University of Houston beginning in July of 2014, which included being the program’s associate head coach since October of 2016. Her duties while at UH involved assistance in scheduling, recruiting, team travel and player development.
At UH this spring, the Cougars won The American Athletic Conference Championships, earning a spot in the NCAA Regionals, in which one of their individuals advanced to the NCAA Championship.
In 2016-17, Burke helped lead the Cougars to NCAA Regional play for the third straight season and three top-five team finishes, including third-place showing at the AAC Championships and MountainView Collegiate.
Burke helped guide the Cougars to three tournament titles and a pair of individual crowns in 2015-16. The Cougars captured the 2016 American Athletic Conference Championships for the first league title in program history and advanced to NCAA Regional play for the second straight season, falling only two strokes shy of advancing to the NCAA Championships.
In 2014-15, her first season at UH, Burke helped lead the Cougars to its first NCAA Regional appearance in only the program's second year of existence. Under her guidance, Houston also captured its first team title at the UNF Collegiate.
In addition to her work duties, Burke has continued her amateur playing career and remains one of the nation's top players. In June 2015, she finished eighth at the WTGA Stroke Play Championship at Eagle's Bluff Country Club, thanks to a second-round 70, and tied for 14th at the Texas Women's Open at Rolling Hills Country Club in July 2015.
With a 71 at The Heritage Golf Course at Westmoor in Westminster, Colo., Burke also qualified for the 2015 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship at the Portland Golf Club in Portland, Ore. Her professional career began in 2010 as she competed in the 2010 US Women’s Open at Oakmont.
Before joining the staff at UH, Burke spent the previous three seasons at Kentucky. In 2013-14, she helped lead the Wildcats to a pair of top-3 team finishes, including the championship at the "Mo" Morial Invitational in Bryan, Texas, in September 2013.
Four Wildcats collected six top-10 individual finishes during the season with Kentucky earning a bid to the NCAA Regionals for the fourth consecutive season.
Burke joined Kentucky for the 2011-12 season, and she made an immediate mark, helping lead the Wildcats to a school single-season low scoring average and the team championship at the Bettie Lou Evans Fall Invitational, the program's first tournament championship since 2009.
In her second season, Kentucky bested the school record for low season scoring average by more than three strokes and won the Old Waverly Bulldog Invitational, the first of three top-5 finishes that year.
A native of Lawton, Okla., Burke was the top prep prospect in the state when she elected to play for Arkansas. As a four-year letterwinner from 2005 to 2009, she competed in all of the Razorbacks' regular-season events as a sophomore and finished that season with the team's second-best scoring average.
In her final collegiate season, Burke led the team with a sparkling 73.64 average and earned three top-10 finishes, including medalist honors at the LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic.
During her final two seasons, Burke led the Razorbacks to consecutive runner-up team finishes at the SEC Championships and finished among the top-7 individual leaders each year.
In the classroom, Burke was a four-time member of the SEC Honor Roll and was named to the 2009 All-SEC Second Team. That same year, she was named to the SEC Community Service Team and was recognized as an All-America Honorable Mention by Golfweek. She also received the Brandon Burlsworth Award for Character and Integrity.
After receiving her bachelor's degree in kinesiology from Arkansas in 2009, she joined the LPGA Futures Tour. She finished in a tie for 15th at The International at Concord in 2010 and made nine cuts in 14 events that year.
Burke and her husband, Stew, have a daughter, Effie, born in August 2020.
