CAU Women’s Golf Team Takes Center Stage at 2026 Tour Championship

Clark Atlanta University’s inaugural women’s golf team is already making history before its first collegiate tournament.

The Lady Panthers have announced the four student-athletes who will make up the program’s inaugural roster: sophomores Jaida Jacobs and MaKayla Franklin, graduate student Leiahnni Smith, and freshman Trinity Watts-Nuckles. The team will begin competition in spring 2027 as members of the Peach Belt Conference.

Before taking the course for their first collegiate season, the Panthers experienced another milestone at the 2026 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.

A New Team, A New Opportunity

During championship week in Atlanta, the CAU student-athletes experienced the Tour Championship from inside the ropes at East Lake Golf Club, where they joined Golf Digest host Hally Leadbetter for a conversation about college golf, careers, and life beyond the sport.

Their experience was part of a larger milestone for the University. CAU received a $30,000 grant from Coca-Cola’s The World Is My Yard HBCU Program to support the launch of its inaugural women’s golf program.

For Jacobs, Franklin, Smith, and Watts-Nuckles, the visit also gave them an opportunity to experience the game together before their first season officially begins.

“This is our first time really bonding together as a team,” Franklin said. “Being able to experience a golf-centered moment with each other honestly means the world to me.”

More Than a Golf Career

Leadbetter used the conversation to remind the Panthers that the value of college golf extends beyond the possibility of pursuing a career in the sport.

“I don’t want you to think that college golf is only valuable if you work in the golf industry,” Leadbetter said. “That is absolutely not true.”

She pointed to the relationships and professional connections student-athletes develop through college golf, noting that the experience can serve as a valuable calling card when entering a range of industries.

For Jacobs, however, golf and her career aspirations are closely connected. The sophomore hopes to pursue a career in golf journalism, making the opportunity to see professional golf at East Lake particularly meaningful.

“I want to go into a career in golf journalism,” Jacobs said. “But seeing all of it in action on the course itself, I really like it. It’s awesome.”

Keeping Perspective

The conversation also turned to the pressure of competitive golf and the tendency to tie confidence to performance. Leadbetter encouraged the Panthers to remember that their value extends beyond their score.

“It can be very easy to equate your self-worth and your confidence with your score,” Leadbetter said. “I would just say golf is really important, but it’s not the only thing, right? Whether you shoot 65 or you shoot 85, like those other things are not changing. You’re still a great teammate, you’re still a great friend, you’re still all these other things regardless.”

The conversation then shifted to life after college golf, as Head Women’s Golf Coach Erica Payton asked Leadbetter how she approached the uncertainty of what came next.

“You want to have dreams, and you want to have goals, but you also want to be flexible and realize that things might come in a different form,” Leadbetter said.

For CAU’s inaugural team, the message is timely as the Panthers prepare for their first collegiate season and the opportunities ahead.

Expanding Access to the Game

The opportunity to experience the Tour Championship reflects the larger purpose behind Coca-Cola’s investment in CAU’s women’s golf program. Stephanie Eaddy, cultural marketing lead at The Coca-Cola Company, said the HBCU Golf Impact Grant was created to give more students access to a sport that can provide opportunities both on and off the course.

“The Coca-Cola Company is really excited about creating this program, which we believe is all about creating access and opportunities to grow the game of golf,” Eaddy said. “Grant dollars like the ones that we are giving and that we’re able to do in partnership with the PGA Tour will help create a more level playing field and give more students an opportunity to enjoy the game.”

For the four Panthers, that access is already taking shape. They have a team, a coach, a conference, and a first season ahead of them. At East Lake, they also had a chance to see the professional game up close and consider what their own paths through golf might look like. With competition set to begin in spring 2027, the Tour Championship was an early chapter in a program that is only beginning to define its place in collegiate golf.

Learn more about CAU Women’s Golf and follow the Lady Panthers’ inaugural season.