KATIE
BURNETT
Burnett grew up playing several sports and blossomed as a golfer in high school. She won several junior tournaments outside of high-school competition including the prestigious Georgia Peach tournament. With the Brunswick High girls team, she was a four-time team MVP, set school records for lowest nine- and 18-hole scores and also won the 2008 individual Class AAAA state championship.
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Burnett received numerous scholarship offers for softball before receiving any scholarships for golf. She was a highly sought-after pitcher and third baseman, having a 62-mph fastball as a 14 year-old. She accepted a full golf scholarship from the University of South Carolina and became one of the best to ever play for the Gamecocks.
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She won three straight team-MVP awards and graduated as the all-time career scoring leader for the Gamecocks. She still holds the record for the best individual finish at the NCAA Championships by any Gamecock with a fifth-place finish. She was an NCAA regional champion in 2010, was a two-time All American and also earned All-SEC honors while also being named a four-time Academic All-American. As a senior, Burnett was South Carolina’s female nominee for the prestigious SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Award.
Burnett was the 8th-ranked player in college golf prior to turning professional in June 2012. She won her first professional event, the Michigan Women's Open by 10 shots. The first summer she was a professional, Burnett qualified for the 2012 U.S. Women's Open. In December of that year, after winning the second stage of LPGA Q-school by six shots, she gained partial status on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour (LPGA). She also gained full-status on the Ladies European Tour (LET) for the 2013 season through qualifying school only two weeks later.
Halfway through her first season, she earned full-status on the LPGA Tour and finished that season in the Top-100 on the money list. Burnett played in only seven events on the LET as a rookie with three top-five finishes including a runner-up finish and ended that season in the Top-40 on the LET money list.
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After that, she was a steady force on both the LPGA and LET tours. The highlight of her career was her runner-up finish in the 2016 LOTTE Championship played at the Ko Olina Resort in Hawaii. Leading after the third round, she saw her 30-foot birdie putt slide by the cup on the 72nd hole to just miss going into a playoff.
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She recorded nine total top-20 finishes in her career on the LPGA Tour, including the runner-up and another top-10 finish. On the LET, she had a 54 percent Top 20-finish ratio, including five top-five finishes in only 24 true LET starts. Burnett decided to retire from pro golf after the 2018 season, even with full status on the LPGA Tour for the 2019 season.
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Burnett is currently a PGA Professional living and working in the Netherlands. Her role as the Technical Director for the Dutch Golf Federation is focused on getting the next generation of elite Dutch golfers to the highest levels of professional golf.