University of North Carolina Athletics
Three Former UNC Golfers Finding Success At The Professional Level
January 22, 2003 | Women's Golf
Jan. 22, 2003
Former Tar Heel golfers Suzy Whaley, Donna Andrews and Marcy Newton are working on successful careers in professional golf.
Whaley, known as Suzy McGuire while at Carolina, has been in the national news recently after qualifying last September for a Professional Golf Association Tour event. The 1989 Carolina alumna was the first female to win the PGA Connecticut Sectional, which earned her the right to play in the 2003 Greater Hartford Open.
The GHO will be held July 21-27 at the Tournament Players Club at River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., where Whaley's husband, Bill, is the general manager.
Last summer in Southern Pines, N.C., Whaley won the 2002 Golf for Women Magazine LPGA Teaching and Club Pro Championship, shooting a 7-under 209 and winning by nine strokes. She won the 2000 and 2001 Connecticut Open Championship, setting a course record (67) in the 2000 Championship at Tallwood Country Club.
After graduating from UNC with a degree in economics, Whaley, 36, played on the Ladies PGA Tour in 1990 and 1993. She has worked for the Nicklaus-Flick Golf Schools and at the Tumble Brook Golf and Country Club in Bloomfield, Conn.
She is now a member of the LPGA teaching division and the head professional at Blue Fox Run Golf Course in Avon, Conn. Whaley and her husband have two girls, Jennifer, 8, and Kelly, 5.
Donna Andrews, a 1989 UNC graduate, has been on the LPGA Tour since 1990 and currently holds exempt tour status. She is one of 12 Tar Heels named to the Atlantic Coast Conference 50th Anniversary Team.
The 35-year-old resident of Pinehurst, N.C., is on the LPGA Tour Executive Committee (2001-03) and was co-vice president last year. The Committee elected her president of the tournament division for 2003.
In the past two seasons, Andrews has had five top 10 finishes. In 2001, she carded a career-low 62 in the second round of the Williams Championship. That year she also led the Tour in driving accuracy at 85.3 percent, and she surpassed the $3 million mark in her career earnings total.
Since 1990 when she turned professional, Andrews has won six tournaments, including the 1994 Nabisco Dinah Shore, one of the Tour's major tournaments.
While at UNC, Andrews won the 1989 Furman Invitational and was named to the All-America second team in the same year.
Marcy Newton's professional career began after tying for 23rd in the 2000 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.
In her 2001 rookie season, Newton placed 16th in the Welch's/Circle K Championship, and she also carded her season-low 67 in the second round of the Standard Register PING Tournament.
Newton won the 2000 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship as well as the 1995 U.S. Girls Junior Championship. While at UNC, she won three tournaments and earned a spot on the 1999 All-America second team. Newton, from High Point, N.C., has also been named to the ACC 50th Anniversary Team.
![Images from the first round of the 2026 Gators Invitational on Friday, March 6, 2026 at Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. [Photo by Matt Pendleton Photography for North Carolina Tar Heels Athletics]](https://images.sidearmdev.com/resize?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net%2Fsidearm.nextgen.sites%2Func.sidearmsports.com%2Fimages%2F2026%2F3%2F7%2F260306-NCAAWGOLF-UNC-GatorsInvitational-0828-MattPendleton_copy.jpg&height=340&type=webp)
Players Mentioned
