With ample justification, Anna Howerton took lofty goals into the “spring” golf season at High Point University.
“I’d love to be a contributor to bringing a Big South Championship to High Point,” Howerton told TriadGolf.com on Tuesday. “I’d like to be the Big South Conference Player of the Year.”
Lofty goals, yes. Cocky or arrogant? No. Just honest. And realistic given Howerton’s track record, which prompted Big South coaches to pick the Winston-Salem native as their 2025 Preseason Player of the Year.
Howerton was Big South Freshman of the Year last year, with individual highlights including winning the UNC Greensboro Collegiate and finishing third in both the Big South Conference Championship and the 19-team Golfweek Intercollegiate won by the Panthers at Caledonia Golf and Fish Club in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
Howerton has made a strong start to the current spring season. She went 3-0 in a match-play event with Samford, Gardner-Webb and The Citadel at Charleston (S.C.) Municipal Golf Course and followed with a tie for sixth at 3-over-par 219 as the Panthers won a 14-team event at nearby RiverTowne Country Club. Earlier this month, she tied for eighth individually as HPU finished seventh in a 16-team field in Jacksonville, Florida.
In the first match of the fall 2024 season, Howerton shot a bogey-free (first in collegiate competition) 66 in a return to Caledonia.
“I’m having fun. I’m in a good place,” Howerton said. “I’m really starting to see my potential. I’m really feeling I can do this at an elite level.”
At Reagan High, Howerton often played in the team’s individual No. 1 lineup spot (based on previous scores) on a team was voted the nation’s top prep team by the National High School Golf Association and included Wake Forest star Macy Pate and Virginia Tech standout Morgan Ketchum.
“Playing with them, really upped my drive,” Howerton said.
Next up: a duel Saturday with local rival Elon University in “The Battle of the Triad,” at High Point Country Club’s Willow Creek course. Players on each team will play two matches. All eight players on the HPU roster will take part. Elon, which has nine players, have their No. 8 and 9 players play in one match each.
Despite shooting 77 (HPU’s best score) in cold, wet and windy conditions at the final round in Jacksonville, Howerton has a 71.93 scoring average as a sophomore.
“That was a test of my mental game,” Howerton said. “I had to knuckle down and stay level-headed.”
Howerton and the Panthers have about a month to prepare for the Big South tournament at Fripp Island, S.C. That’s where High Point can earn an automatic NCAA regionals berth with a conference title.
As a mid-major, HPU has little chance of receiving an at-large berth. The Panthers enter the match with Elon at No. 94 in the national rankings.
Howerton is No. 254 in the individual rankings. With few, if any, opportunities to play the highly ranked players from power conferences such as the SEC or ACC, moving up the rankings is especially difficult. At 5-foot-3 with a slender, athletic build, she has a solid, all-around game, but doesn’t enjoy a significant distance advantage off the tee.
A “people person” and finance major who maintains that she has no desire for the lonely rigors of the LPGA Tour, Howerton still makes five-hour drives to see instructor Rickey Sullivan at Bulls Bay Golf Club, north of Charleston. After the sessions, she makes the return trip home.
“It’s not something I see myself doing forever,” Howerton said of a potential career traveling alone on the road. “I’m definitely trying to play as well as I can now, but I don’t aspire to do this after college.”
Howerton sees this weekend’s event as a milestone. In past years, HPU has played a similar event with UNC Greensboro, but not at Willow Creek, the Panthers’ “home” course.
“It’ll be a really cool event,” Howerton said. “I don’t think we’ve ever hosted an event at Willow Creek.”
