Stef Ferguson continues to have the MSU Denver's women's golf team reach its peak at the end of each season. She's been doing so since becoming head coach in September, 2017, and is entering her eighth season at the helm of the program in 2024-25.
Ferguson fielded her best team yet in 2023-24, with the Roadrunners compiling a 313.1 scoring average over 25 rounds that was the best in a season for the program by more than two strokes (2.4) per round. The Roadrunners had three of the top five rounds in program history, shooting a program-record 9-over 297 at The Southern Colorado Open on March 24, as well as a 299 at the first round of the RMAC Championship on April 21 that ranked third, and a 300 on Sept. 18 at the RJGA Shootout at Estrella that was tied for fourth. MSU Denver also had two of its top six two-round tournament scores: a 605 at the RJGA Shootout was tied for second, and a 609 at The Southern Colorado Open was tied for fifth. The Roadrunners finished fifth at the RMAC Championship, matching the program's best finish in the league tournament since 2016.
Isabel Botero wrapped up her standout career by being named All-RMAC first team, and Vaijayanti Bharkhada was named to the All-RMAC second team. Botero had a 77.4 scoring average that ranked fourth in program history, while Bharkhada's 78.2 ranked ninth. Botero, who had a program-record 21 rounds under 80, shot a 4-under 68 at the RJGA Shootout for the second-best round in program history on Sept. 18, then Bharkhada shot 69 the following day, a round that was tied for third-best ever at MSU Denver.
The Roadrunners finished sixth at the RMAC Championship for the second straight season in 2023, with Bharkhada and Botero both in the top 10 after the opening round. Bharkhada would eventually earn All-RMAC first team honors after one of the best seasons in program history. Despite a late-season stretch where windy conditions sent scores soaring, MSU Denver set its program scoring record of 315.5 for the season, which was 3.1 strokes per round better than the 2014-15 team that won the RMAC Championship.
MSU Denver finished sixth at the RMAC Championship in 2022, led by Botero's tie for seventh place and top-15 finishes from both Winnie Shaw and Sydney Eye. MSU Denver was in third -- and Botero was in first -- after the tournament's opening day. Shaw earned All-RMAC second team honors. Ferguson directed MSU Denver to the third-best scoring average (321.4) in program history, which was also the best since Ferguson assumed control of the program. The Roadrunners shot the third-best two-round tournament score in program history -- a 33-over 609 at the Sam Proal Invitational, which included the fourth-best single round in program history -- a 14-over 302 for the Oct. 11 opening round. MSU Denver tied for second at the tournament.
Ferguson's Roadrunners finished an abbreviated 2020-21 season on a high note with a fifth-place finish at the RMAC Championship, tied for the program's third-best result ever at the event. MSU Denver was tied for first after the opening day of the RMAC. Eye earned All-RMAC second team status and was joined on the All-RMAC Academic honor roll by Kika Dzoan.
The 2019-20 Roadrunners were continuing their upward trend before the season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Highlights included the Roadrunners shooting a season-best two-day total of 633 at the RJGA Shootout, then following that up with a fourth-place finish at the UIS Island Getaway. Jennifer Hankins led the team on the course (scoring average of 78.0) and off while earning CoSIDA Academic All-America second team and Academic All-District 6 recognition in addition to winning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Academic Player of the Year.
Ferguson's squad finished seventh at the RMAC Championship in 2019, led by Hankins, who tied for sixth place. Hankins later earned All-RMAC second team, Academic All-RMAC and Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District.
Ferguson’s Roadrunners took fifth at the RMAC Championship in 2018 with Hankins making Academic All-RMAC first team, while she and Lindsey Gullikson were both named All-RMAC second team.
Ferguson was named by Golf Digest as one of the Best Young Teachers in America in 2021, and she is a two-time (2014 and 2015) Colorado Avid Golfer Magazine “Best Instructor for Women” winner. She is the lead instructor for Experience Golf at Common Ground Golf Course. She also served as the lead instructor at Green Valley Ranch Golf Academy from 2011 through 2016.
Ferguson is a Titleist Performance Institute 1 LPGA and PGA Class A certified instructor.
As a player, Ferguson won the 2012 LPGA Central Section Championship. In 2013, she qualified for and competed in her first major tournament at the 2013 LPGA Championship at Locust Hills.
Ferguson was a member of Colorado State's women's golf team from 2005 through 2009 and ranked among the top 10 in program history with 113 rounds played. She was a three-time Academic All-American and was also named a Mountain West Conference scholar-athlete three times as well as being named academic all-conference four times. Ferguson earned her bachelor of science in business administration from CSU in 2009.
She was raised in Broomfield, Colo.
