Williams Announces Staff Additions For Golf Programs

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina Director of Golf Kevin Williams announced that Mike Cato (men's golf) and Kathryn Carson (women's golf) have been appointed to full-time assistant coaches effective immediately. The duo will assist Williams in coaching both programs starting with the 2023-24 season.

"It's an understatement to say we are extremely excited with the staff additions of Mike Cato and Kathryn Carson as assistant coaches for our Men's and Women's Golf Programs!!," Williams said. "As a staff we are very excited for the plan we have in place for both programs and can't wait for the school year to start in August."

Cato, who was named an assistant coach at ECU prior to the 2021-22 season, begins his third year with the Pirates where he has helped the program claim three tournament titles and five top three placements over the last two campaigns. During his initial year, Cato helped coach the program to a third-place finish at the ECU Intercollegiate with a score of 888 while three golfers claimed top five finishes in A.J. Beechler (second/Wolfpack Intercollegiate; t3rd/Wake Forest Invitational), Stephen Carroll (t3rd/Wexford Intercollegiate; t5th/ECU Intercollegiate) and Tyler DeChellis (t3rd/Wexford Intercollegiate)

Last year the Pirates' won three events (Ironwood Collegiate Classic, ECU Intercollegiate and Cutter Creek Intercollegiate) and placed second at the River Run Collegiate. Freshman Lucas Augustsson became the seventh different (ninth overall) Pirate too earn American Athletic All-Conference honors after finishing tied for third at The American Championships with a four-under par 206 – the lowest score for ECU in AAC Championship history.

Augustsson posted a team-best 72.78 stroke average and recorded four Top 10 finishes in 12 events. The Halmstad, Sweden earned a pair of individual wins at the ECU Intercollegiate (213) and Cutter Creek Intercollegiate (213) in consecutive weeks becoming the first Pirates to win two events in the same season since Tim Conover during the 2016-17 campaign. For his win at the ECU Intercollegiate, Augustsson was named AAC Golfer of the Week, a first for a Pirate since Blake Taylor won monthly honors in 2019.

Prior to ECU, Cato served as the golf operations manager and head pro at Bradford Creek Golf Course in Greenville for 18 years (2000-18). He joined the staff at Bradford Creek as the assistant golf pro in 1999 and was promoted to head pro the following year and then added operations manager to his duties in 2003. He implemented the first junior golf program at course and has instructed more than 1,000 players, including 29 whom played collegiate golf.

As president of the Eastern North Carolina Junior Golf Association for 17 years (2000-17), Cato helped organize more than 25 clubs across the region. In 2008, Cato was awarded the Junior Golf Leadership Award by the Carolinas PGA. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Carolinas PGA REACH Foundation.

A four-year letterman at UNCW, Cato helped the Seahawks to a pair of Colonial Athletic Association runner-up finishes. He finished 10^th at the 1996 CAA Championships and fifth the following season. After graduating in 1997, Cato spent nearly two years as the assistant golf pro at The Witch Golf Links in Myrtle Beach.

"Mike Cato joining us in a full-time role will be huge for both programs. His teaching experience, reputation in the golf industry and passion he has for the game will be a huge asset for our programs. He is familiar with how we want our programs to look since he coached on the men's side (part time role) the last two years."

Carson, a four-time letterwinner for the Pirates, returned to Greenville as the assistant coach officially on June 12, 2023.

The Mooresville, N.C. native was a decorated golfer during her time as a Pirate competing in 140 rounds during her collegiate career and stood among the top 10 on eight occasions while carrying a 74.85 stroke average, which currently ranks fifth all-time in program history.

In her first season with the Pirates, Carson compiled a scoring average of 74.31 and carded three top 10 finishes and 10 rounds of par or better in route to being named AAC Freshman of the Year in 2018 and earning the Kristi Overton Award, which is awarded to a freshman female athlete at ECU with outstanding academic and athletic performance. As a sophomore, Carson finished second on the team in scoring average (74.15), highlighted by a top 10 finish at the Minnesota Invitational (5-under par 211) and Shot 72 or lower 11 times on the year to earn a spot on the AAC All-Conference First Team.

Carson competed in seven events during the 2019-20 campaign with a scoring average of 75.40 before the reminder of the season was canceled due the COVID-19 pandemic. Her lowest round of the season was 4-under par 68 during the final round of the Lady Puerto Rico Classic and she tied for the team lead at the Cardinal Cup at 6-over par 222.

After only competing in six events for the following season, Carson closed out her collegiate career on a strong note as she competed in all 11 events and carded four top 10 finishes for the third-lowest scoring average on the team (74.52) to earn a spot on the All-AAC Team. In her final collegiate event, Carson led ECU with a three-round total of 224 to share a seventh-place finish at the AAC Championships in Pinehurst.

Carson excelled in the classroom as well as she earned selection to the AAC All-Academic Team four times (2018-21), was tabbed a Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Division I Scholar All-American in 2018 and was named the AAC Women's Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2022. She graduated from ECU in 2021 with a bachelor of arts in psychology and a minor in exercise in sports science and recently earned her master's in industrial and organizational psychology in May of 2023.

"Kathryn Carson also is very familiar with how we want to run the programs having played for me for two years (2017-19)," Williams stated. "Kathryn started June 12 and she has been busy on the road recruiting and doing a great job evaluating! What Kathryn may lack in coaching experience (first coaching job) she makes up for in her energy level, eye for talent and eagerness to learn. Like Cato, she is extremely organized and very task driven."

Players Mentioned

Lucas Augustsson

Tyler DeChellis

Footer