Photo by: Columbia University Athletics
Women’s Golf Named Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year
4/29/2026 3:53:00 PM | Women's Golf
Xu earns unanimous First Team selection; four named All-Ivy
NEW YORK — Columbia women's golf head coach Amy Weeks and assistant coach Katie Rudolph have earned the 2025-26 Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year award, first year Kristina Xu was unanimously voted First Team All-Ivy League, and four Lions earned All-Ivy accolades. The 2025-26 Ivy League women's golf postseason honors and awards were announced on Wednesday, as voted on by the league's eight head coaches.
This is Columbia's first Ivy League Women's Golf Coach or Coaching Staff of the Year selection since the award was first given out in 2015. Weeks and Rudolph led the Lions to their first ivy League Championship in nearly 20 years this past weekend, which was the icing on top of a record 2025-26 season for the program. Columbia won two of its nine events, finished runner-up twice and earned a record six top-three team finishes.
Joining Xu with All-Ivy League honors are sophomore Sarah Shao and first year Emily Zeng, both of whom were named Second Team All-Ivy League. Senior Yoko Tai is Columbia's Academic All-Ivy League selection. Each of the league's eight institutions is represented by one member.
First year Kristina Xu led the youth movement. The rookie from Claremont, California, boasted a team-leading 73.44 stroke average, which currently stands as the program's new single-season record. She started all nine events, earning two individual victories, as well as a team-leading four top-five, five top-10 and seven top-25 finishes. Xu impressively won in her collegiate debut, besting the 90-player field at the Battle at the Creek (Sept. 15-16). She then was co-medalist three weeks later at the Princeton Invitational (Oct. 4-5) with a 54-hole score of 2-under-par 211. She piggybacked that success into the spring season, carding a season-low score in relation to par of 3-under-par 213, including a season-low round of 5-under-par 67, to finish fifth at the Space Coast Classic (Feb. 21-22). She earned a runner-up the next week to help the Lions to the More Than Golf Invitational title, the team's first tournament win in a decade. Xu capped her incredible season by tying for seventh at the 2026 Ivy League Championship.
Shao, a sophomore, is second on the team in stroke average at 74.96 heading to NCAA Regionals. She posted two top-five, four top-10 and six top-25 finishes in nine events, all of which rank second on the team. Shao started the year with a tie for third at the Battle at the Creek and followed with a top-10 the very next week in the Red Bandanna Invitational (Sept. 22-23). A native of Green Brook, New Jersey, Shao then came on strong at the end of the year, earning a top 10 at the ECU Ironwood Invitational, and then coming through with a third-place individual finish at the 2026 ivy League Championship. Shao was then named to the All-Championship Team.
Zeng sat out the fall due to injury but was impressive once healthy in the spring. The rookie from Beijing earned a top 10 in her very first collegiate event, the Space Coast Classic, and then won the More Than Golf Invitational with a 54-hole total of 1-under-par 218. Zeng's individual win led the Lions to the team title, their first since 2016. Zeng then came through huge in the third round of the Ivy League Women's Golf Championship, carding a final-round 1-over-par 73 to help the Lions overtake Harvard for the title.
Tai earned Academic All-Ivy League honors by boasting a GPA of 3.94 as a double major in computer science and mathematics at Columbia College.
Columbia will learn which of the six regional sites it will compete at during the 2026 NCAA Women's Golf Selection Show, which airs on the Golf Channel this Wednesday, April 29, at 4 p.m. ET. This year's regional sites are Ann Arbor, Michigan; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Simpsonville, Kentucky; Tallahassee, Florida; Waco, Texas; and Stanford, California.
FOLLOW THE LIONS:
For the latest on Columbia women's golf, follow @CULionsWGolf on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
This is Columbia's first Ivy League Women's Golf Coach or Coaching Staff of the Year selection since the award was first given out in 2015. Weeks and Rudolph led the Lions to their first ivy League Championship in nearly 20 years this past weekend, which was the icing on top of a record 2025-26 season for the program. Columbia won two of its nine events, finished runner-up twice and earned a record six top-three team finishes.
Joining Xu with All-Ivy League honors are sophomore Sarah Shao and first year Emily Zeng, both of whom were named Second Team All-Ivy League. Senior Yoko Tai is Columbia's Academic All-Ivy League selection. Each of the league's eight institutions is represented by one member.
First year Kristina Xu led the youth movement. The rookie from Claremont, California, boasted a team-leading 73.44 stroke average, which currently stands as the program's new single-season record. She started all nine events, earning two individual victories, as well as a team-leading four top-five, five top-10 and seven top-25 finishes. Xu impressively won in her collegiate debut, besting the 90-player field at the Battle at the Creek (Sept. 15-16). She then was co-medalist three weeks later at the Princeton Invitational (Oct. 4-5) with a 54-hole score of 2-under-par 211. She piggybacked that success into the spring season, carding a season-low score in relation to par of 3-under-par 213, including a season-low round of 5-under-par 67, to finish fifth at the Space Coast Classic (Feb. 21-22). She earned a runner-up the next week to help the Lions to the More Than Golf Invitational title, the team's first tournament win in a decade. Xu capped her incredible season by tying for seventh at the 2026 Ivy League Championship.
Shao, a sophomore, is second on the team in stroke average at 74.96 heading to NCAA Regionals. She posted two top-five, four top-10 and six top-25 finishes in nine events, all of which rank second on the team. Shao started the year with a tie for third at the Battle at the Creek and followed with a top-10 the very next week in the Red Bandanna Invitational (Sept. 22-23). A native of Green Brook, New Jersey, Shao then came on strong at the end of the year, earning a top 10 at the ECU Ironwood Invitational, and then coming through with a third-place individual finish at the 2026 ivy League Championship. Shao was then named to the All-Championship Team.
Zeng sat out the fall due to injury but was impressive once healthy in the spring. The rookie from Beijing earned a top 10 in her very first collegiate event, the Space Coast Classic, and then won the More Than Golf Invitational with a 54-hole total of 1-under-par 218. Zeng's individual win led the Lions to the team title, their first since 2016. Zeng then came through huge in the third round of the Ivy League Women's Golf Championship, carding a final-round 1-over-par 73 to help the Lions overtake Harvard for the title.
Tai earned Academic All-Ivy League honors by boasting a GPA of 3.94 as a double major in computer science and mathematics at Columbia College.
Columbia will learn which of the six regional sites it will compete at during the 2026 NCAA Women's Golf Selection Show, which airs on the Golf Channel this Wednesday, April 29, at 4 p.m. ET. This year's regional sites are Ann Arbor, Michigan; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Simpsonville, Kentucky; Tallahassee, Florida; Waco, Texas; and Stanford, California.
FOLLOW THE LIONS:
For the latest on Columbia women's golf, follow @CULionsWGolf on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and on the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
Players Mentioned
Feature: WGOLF | Xu Wins Battle at the Creek
Monday, September 29
