After leading the Golden Eagles to another season highlighted by outstanding achievements in 2024-25, Hans Kersting returns for his eighth year as the head coach of the Cal State LA women’s golf program. A 20-year PGA professional in Los Angeles, Kersting has valuable experience in college golf, both as a former player and as an instructor.
Kersting has quickly built the Golden Eagles into one of the premier programs in the nation. Cal State LA made its second straight appearance in the NCAA West Regional and made its presence felt. The Golden Eagles led the regional after the opening round and were third, just two shots out of the lead, entering the final round. Cal State LA finished in sixth place – two spots higher than its finish in 2023-24 – and just one spot out of reaching nationals for the first time.
Kersting led the Golden Eagles to an exciting second-place finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, matching the program’s best finish. Cal State LA shot the lowest round of the tournament on the final day by 12 shots to climb into second.
The Golden Eagles won the Sonoma State Spring Invite for a second straight season, although this time they won it in solo fashion for the first time, beating the runner-up team by 10 shots. It was part of an amazing season for Cal State LA, which also finished second four times, fourth once, sixth twice and were in the top-10 for all 11 tournaments in 2024-25.
Kersting led the Golden Eagles to a program-record 301.25 scoring average. A program-record three golfers – Joshlyn Ayala, Daniela Andrade and Morgan Sjoerdsma - earned first-team All-CCAA honors and Andrade won the Tim Tierney Pioneer Classic for the second individual title of her career.
Cal State LA was ranked a program-best 26th in the final NCAA rankings from Scoreboard and received votes, just outside of the top-25, from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association.
The Golden Eagles also excelled academically once again as a program-record six golfers – Sarah Amaya, Andrade, Ayala, Brenna Ozel, Harley Richardson and Sjoerdsma – earned WGCA All-American Scholar honors and Sjoerdsma earned Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Communicators for a fourth time.
The golf program was named Cal State LA’s Team of the Year for the first time and Kersting was the Coach of the Year.
It was a tremendous follow-up to a historic 2023-24 season when Kersting led the Golden Eagles to a first-ever team appearance in the NCAA West Regional and to the first-ever national top-25 ranking in the WGCA poll. The Golden Eagles also recorded their first-ever tournament win as a team and had two golfers pick up individual victories during the season.
Cal State LA had two players – Sjoerdsma and Andrade - earn first-team All-CCAA honors.
The Golden Eagles claimed their first-ever tournament win by capturing the Sonoma State Spring Invite in a tie with Simon Fraser after a series of close calls that included two second-place finishes, two third-place finishes, a fourth-place finish and a fifth-place finish. The Golden Eagles finished in the top-10 in all nine tournaments they entered and earned a No. 8 ranking in the West Region to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
Cal State LA, after finishing fourth in the CCAA Championships, ended its season with an eighth-place finish in the NCAA West Regional.
Sjoerdsma won the third tournament of her collegiate career when she took top honors at the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout, while Andrade won in the first collegiate tournament of her career at the RJGA Shootout in Arizona.
The Golden Eagles set a new program scoring record of 302.18, nearly eight shots better than their previous best.
The Golden Eagles enjoyed great academic success as well as all five of their starters – Sjoerdsma, Andrade, Ayala, Harley Richardson and Sarah Amaya - earned WGCA All-American Scholar honors and Sjoerdsma earned first-team Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA), becoming the first student-athlete in Cal State LA history to earn Academic All-America honors three times.
The success in 2023-24 continued the progress they made in the 2022-23 season when Kersting led them to a national ranking of 34 at the end of the season. Cal State LA was also a program-best No. 13 in the final NCAA West Region rankings and was on the verge of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Cal State LA did have an individual qualify as Sjoerdsma was part of the regional field for a second straight season.
Cal State LA was a close fourth in the CCAA Championships and Sjoerdsma earned All-Tournament honors for a second straight year after a fifth-place finish.
The 2022-23 season saw the Golden Eagles finish second in three tournaments as they came closer and closer to a first-ever tournament victory.
The Golden Eagles also excelled academically once again with Sjoerdsma becoming the first player in program history to earn back-to-back Academic All-America honors. After earning third-team honors in 2021-22, Sjoerdsma earned second-team honors in 2022-23. In addition, five Golden Eagles were named to the WGCA’s All-American Scholar team. Sjoerdsma and Emily Wang earned the WGCA honor for a third time and were joined by teammates Joshlyn Ayala, Pratima Sherpa and Harley Richardson.
Kersting led the Golden Eagles to an exceptional season in 2021-22 after the 2020-21 season was canceled due to COVID. Kersting led the Golden Eagles to a thrilling second-place finish at the CCAA Championships, by far the team’s best finish ever. The tournament also produced the program’s first individual champion in Sjoerdsma and the first two All-Tournament players in Sjoerdsma and Marie Dean.
Sjoerdsma and Dean also earned All-CCAA recognition for the second straight season.
Cal State LA soared to No. 42 in the nation, a stunning rise considering the Golden Eagles were ranked No. 154 in the nation at the start of 2020. The Golden Eagles also found themselves in contention for an NCAA postseason berth for the first time after achieving a West Region ranking of 14. Sjoerdsma became the first Golden Eagle to compete in NCAA competition when she qualified for the regional as an individual.
The Golden Eagles also excelled academically with Sjoerdsma becoming the first player in program history to earn Academic All-America honors from the College Sports Communicators and three Golden Eagles were named to the WGCA’s All-American Scholar team. Sjoerdsma and Emily Wang earned the WGCA honor for a second time and were joined by teammate Caitlyn Jimenez.
Kersting got the Golden Eagles’ surge to national prominence started in 2020 before COVID hit. Cal State LA had beaten CCAA competitors for the first time in program history and the Golden Eagles skyrocketed from 154 in the nation to No. 70 by season’s end.
Cal State LA earned its first two All-CCAA awards when Dean and Sjoerdsma were honored. Sjoerdsma and Wang then became the first two Golden Eagles to earn WGCA All-American Scholar honors.
The Golden Eagles played extremely well in three spring events with a young squad of first and second-year players. The season was ended before the CCAA Championships could be contested.
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Kersting led the young Golden Eagle program to some incredible achievements in 2018-19 in only the second year for women’s golf at Cal State LA. The Golden Eagles improved their best 54-hole team score by a whopping 225 shots from their inaugural season.
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The Golden Eagles finished sixth in the CCAA and bettered their previous best round in each of the three days of the conference tournament. Cal State LA’s top four players consisted of one senior and three freshmen.
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Kersting led the Golden Eagles through their inaugural season in 2017-18 and began laying the groundwork for the program’s future success.
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Before coming to Cal State LA, Kersting was most recently the Director of Golf at Woodland Hills Country Club, where he worked for 16 years. During his time there, Kersting developed an extensive junior golf program that helped to develop future college golfers. Since 2015, Kersting has been a private golf instructor at different golf courses throughout Los Angeles.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of New Mexico, where he was a four-year starter on the men’s golf team and earned honorable mention All-America honors in 1992. He previously won the New Mexico High School State Championship in 1990.
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After graduating, Kersting spent time competing professionally on various tours. In addition, he worked as a golf professional at The Club at Las Campanas in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He also was a golf professional at Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. During his time at Desert Mountain, Kersting worked as an instructor with the Nicklaus/Flick golf schools. He lists the late Jim Flick as his mentor in golf instruction.
He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children, Malani and Brody.
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