Krystal Kelly
Krystal Kelly
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- Title
- Head Coach
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- Phone
- 408-554-5742
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- knkelly@scu.edu
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- Year
- 15th
Establishing a culture of teamwork after a successful playing career, Krystal Kelly is entering her 15th full season as Santa Clara head women's golf coach in 2024-25.
In that time, the program has amassed 17 of the 25 tournament team titles in school history and produced many of the top all-time players, including Annie Freman and Kristin Le who combined to produce five All-West Coast Conference seasons from 2014-17.
The 2023-24 campaign saw the Broncos qualify for their second-straight postseason tournament with a return to the National Golf Invitational where they finished in third place. Santa Clara had a record-breaking turnout in the season-opening UVU Timpanogos Collegiate Invitational, shattering the school record for a 54-hole total at 18-under 846. The previous record was a 1-under 863 (2018 UC Irvine Invitational). The Broncos also shattered the 18-hole score with a 12-under 276 in the second round, and was a combined 12-under 546 after 36 holes - also a new school record. Santa Clara ended up finishing runner-up at the event as one of two top-three finishes during the fall portion of the campaign. SCU ended up finishing thirdat the WCC Championship
In 2022-23, Kelly and her staff set the groundwork for hosting what is poised to be one of the top tournaments in California for years to come - the Silicon Valley Showcase. The SVS was a massive success in its inaugural year, drawing some of the top teams on the west coast and garnering attention from multiple media outlets. The Broncos finished fifth at the WCC Championship and played in the postseason at the National Golf Invitational where they finished in fifth place.
After dealing with issues surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic in both the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, Kelly and the Broncos had a fantastic comeback season in 2021-22, setting a new single-season school record scoring average of 297.47 while winning a pair of tournaments and posting three more runner-up finishes. Senior Claire Choi had one of the finest seasons of any Bronco in the program's history with a pair of individual victories at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic and Bobcat Desert Classic (both also team victories) en route to tallying the third-lowest scoring average in program history (74.03). Freshman Borina Sutkito also had a fantastic season with the fourth-lowest scoring average of 74.07. Both players earned All-WCC honors at seasons end.
In 2018-19, Kelly led the program to its then-best-ever scoring average (298.97) and six top three finishes, including a victory at thePat Lesser Harbottle Invitational, among the team's 10 tournaments performances.
During both the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, the Broncos matched a school record with three tournament victories. As a senior in 2016-17, Freman extended her school record to six career tournament crowns and ended her time with the best career scoring average (75.05) in Santa Clara history. In addition, Le established herself on the national scene by becoming the second Bronco (Miki Ueoka, 2009) to reach the NCAA Championships.
The 2017-18 campaign featured victories at the Wyoming Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate and Cal Poly Invitational. The following season, the team claimed a victory in the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational and current team members Sarah Busey and Emily Sumner earned All-WCC accolades.
In 2013-14, the Broncos finished third at the WCC Championships and set a program record with three team titles. They posted seven top five finishes in 11 tournaments.
Under Kelly's watch, the Broncos have 48 of the top 50 18-hole team scores and the best 30 54-hole totals in school history, and her players have captured 17 of the 27 all-time individual tournament titles. She's had seven players earn All-WCC honors and coached the school’s first ‘Freshman of the Year’ when Freman was voted the 2013-14 WCC’s top first-year player. Freman set a then-program record with her 74.19 stroke average and tied the season mark with three tournament titles in 11 events.
However, Busey (73.43) and Sumner (73.97) each snapped Freman's single-season mark during 2018-19.
Kelly, a former All-America player and NCAA Champion at UCLA, made an immediate impact as head coach in the spring of 2011 as the Broncos cracked the nation's top 100 as a team and three players received All-WCC honors at season's end. During the fall of 2011, the Broncos won a pair of tournament titles and two of her golfers claimed individual awards.
Kelly was named head coach on Feb. 8, 2011, following the resignation of Polly Schulze. In 2009, as a Santa Clara assistant coach, she redesigned the team's practice program, focusing on individual instruction.
On Oct. 25, 2011, Kelly won her first college tournament as a head coach, claiming the SCU Colby Invitational. Two weeks later, the Broncos did it again, winning the Lamkin Grip Cal Poly Invitational. Taylor Camany (Colby Invitational) and Balbina Guajardo (Lamkin Grip) were the individual winners.
With a 2012-13 roster that included four freshmen and just one senior, Kelly did perhaps her finest job of coaching and personal instruction. The team posted seven top 10 finishes in its 10 events with the first-year team members playing an integral part in the development and success of the squad. All five players, including three freshmen, placed in the top 20 and the team finished fourth at the WCC Championships.
The following season, the Broncos scored what to that point was the lowest 18-hole total in their history with a first-round 291 (Sept. 16) at the Boise State Invitational. Later that day, they shattered that mark with a second-round 287 and captured their first team title of the season the next day with a final round 297. Two seasons later at the 2016 Wyoming Cowgirl Classic, Santa Clara matched the school record with an opening-round 287 (April 4).
That mark was eclipsed three times, including the new record of 280 (8-under) in the second round of the UC Irvine Invitational (Oct. 29, 2018).
Another highlight was the victory at the 2013 SCU Colby Invitational as the team battled from six shots back on the second day to capture the 36-hole event by one shot on Oct. 22. The Broncos claimed their third title of that season by tying for the top spot at the Grand Canyon Invitational on Feb. 25, 2014.
Prior to coming to Santa Clara, Kelly played professionally from 2006 through 2008. She was named the California Player's Tour 'Player of the Year' in 2007, leading the tour's money list.
Kelly is a PGA Class "A" member and has been the PGA assistant golf pro at San Jose's Silver Creek Country Club since April of 2008. In 2004, she earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from UCLA. Kelly and her husband, Matt, have a son, Kolt.
