Women's Golf
Brewer, Josh
Josh Brewer
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- jbrewer@sports.uga.edu
- Phone:
- 706-369-6110
Updated on June 1, 2024
Josh Brewer helped put Georgia women’s golf back into the national spotlight.
During his 12 seasons from 2012-24, the Bulldogs posted 35 victories, with 19 individual and 16 team wins. Headlining that list was a trio of NCAA Regional sweeps. The Bulldogs captured the 2016 Bryan Regional when Georgia shot what was then its best-ever postseason score (8-under) and Bailey Tardy earned medalist honors. Additional dominant Regional performances came in 2021 and 2023 when the Bulldogs and Jenny Bae topped the leaderboards in Columbus and Athens, respectively.
However, the most impressive performance by Brewer’s Bulldogs came in 2022 when Georgia advanced the match play at the NCAA Championships for the first time since the format was adopted in 2015. Georgia placed eighth over 72 holes of stroke play, where Jenny Bae and Candice Mahé tied for sixth to make the Bulldogs the only team in the nation with a pair of top-10 finishers. The Bulldogs then pushed Stanford, the eventual national champions, to the brink. Georgia dropped a 3-2 decision to the Cardinal and officially tied for fifth place at the NCAAs.
Sandwiched around the 2022 showing at the national championships were additional top-20 efforts at the NCAAs.
School records fell at a record pace on Brewer’s watch.
Individually, nine of Georgia’s top-10 season stroke averages are owned by Bulldogs who played under Brewer, including Bae’s school record 70.75 in 2022-23. Caterina Don broke UGA’s single round record with an 8-under 64 at the 2021 LTWF Heroes Intercollegiate. In addition, Bae set the 54-hole mark (16-under) at the 2022 Illini Invitational.
On the team front, Georgia posted its top-five season stroke averages ever. The Bulldogs also notched nine of their top-10 tourney tallies, headlined by a school-record 20-under at the 2022 Illini Invitational at historic Medinah Country Club, and 16 of the top-20 single rounds in school history, a list that features a best-ever 14-under at the 2021 Cougar Classic.
All of the aforementioned is quite remarkable considering Brewer’s experiences with intercollegiate athletics appeared to have ended in a storybook fashion two decades ago.
As a senior at Indiana, Brewer birdied the final two holes to finish second individually and help the Hoosiers secure a one-stroke victory at the 1998 Big Ten Championships. While Brewer did not know so at the time, the event was the final tournament in both his career and that of legendary coach Sam Carmichael.
“That was the last year that a conference championship didn’t earn you an automatic bid to the NCAAs,” Brewer said. “We were ‘on the bubble’ and thought winning the Big Tens would get us in, but it didn’t. Obviously, I was disappointed at the time, but to look back at it now, it was a pretty neat way to wrap up my career as a college golfer.”
After winning the 1998 Indiana Am crown that summer, Brewer quickly moved into the business world as a financial advisor with Linsco/Private Ledger in Indianapolis. Three falls later, Mike Mayer, who moved from assistant to head coach at IU after Carmichael retired, asked Brewer to share his experiences in golf and school and the transition to professional life with the current team.
From that, Brewer planted a seed with Mayer, who also was his childhood golf instructor, and when an opening arose soon thereafter, Brewer returned to Bloomington. Brewer helped the Hoosiers enjoy very solid success over the next six seasons. Indiana was represented in NCAA competition each of his those campaigns. After reaching in NCAA Regionals in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the Hoosiers returned to the NCAA Championships as a team in 2008, their first appearance since Brewer’s sophomore year in 1996.
All told, Brewer helped coach two All-Americans, three Big Ten Players of the Year honorees, two Palmer Cup members, one Walker Cup member and four scholastic All-Americans.
In 2008, Brewer ventured from his roots to become assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s golf teams at Southern Cal, where he helped both programs thrive during four seasons in Los Angeles. Brewer help produce two PAC-10 Championships teams and golfers who won National Player of the Year, National Freshman of the Year, 12 All-America certificates, three PAC-10 Player of the Year awards and two PAC-10 Freshman of the Year accolades. In addition, USC had two Curtis Cup and two Palmer Cup team members.
On June 18, 2012, Brewer was named the head coach at the University of Georgia.
“I have been blessed to learn under some of the country’s greatest coaches, and I look forward to using these lessons,” Brewer said. “Georgia is a program that has a rich and storied history beginning with one of women’s athletics greatest visionaries and leaders, Liz Murphey. I want to help build on the tradition she started at UGA of winning championships while graduating our student-athletes.”
Josh Brewer helped put Georgia women’s golf back into the national spotlight.
During his 12 seasons from 2012-24, the Bulldogs posted 35 victories, with 19 individual and 16 team wins. Headlining that list was a trio of NCAA Regional sweeps. The Bulldogs captured the 2016 Bryan Regional when Georgia shot what was then its best-ever postseason score (8-under) and Bailey Tardy earned medalist honors. Additional dominant Regional performances came in 2021 and 2023 when the Bulldogs and Jenny Bae topped the leaderboards in Columbus and Athens, respectively.
However, the most impressive performance by Brewer’s Bulldogs came in 2022 when Georgia advanced the match play at the NCAA Championships for the first time since the format was adopted in 2015. Georgia placed eighth over 72 holes of stroke play, where Jenny Bae and Candice Mahé tied for sixth to make the Bulldogs the only team in the nation with a pair of top-10 finishers. The Bulldogs then pushed Stanford, the eventual national champions, to the brink. Georgia dropped a 3-2 decision to the Cardinal and officially tied for fifth place at the NCAAs.
Sandwiched around the 2022 showing at the national championships were additional top-20 efforts at the NCAAs.
School records fell at a record pace on Brewer’s watch.
Individually, nine of Georgia’s top-10 season stroke averages are owned by Bulldogs who played under Brewer, including Bae’s school record 70.75 in 2022-23. Caterina Don broke UGA’s single round record with an 8-under 64 at the 2021 LTWF Heroes Intercollegiate. In addition, Bae set the 54-hole mark (16-under) at the 2022 Illini Invitational.
On the team front, Georgia posted its top-five season stroke averages ever. The Bulldogs also notched nine of their top-10 tourney tallies, headlined by a school-record 20-under at the 2022 Illini Invitational at historic Medinah Country Club, and 16 of the top-20 single rounds in school history, a list that features a best-ever 14-under at the 2021 Cougar Classic.
All of the aforementioned is quite remarkable considering Brewer’s experiences with intercollegiate athletics appeared to have ended in a storybook fashion two decades ago.
As a senior at Indiana, Brewer birdied the final two holes to finish second individually and help the Hoosiers secure a one-stroke victory at the 1998 Big Ten Championships. While Brewer did not know so at the time, the event was the final tournament in both his career and that of legendary coach Sam Carmichael.
“That was the last year that a conference championship didn’t earn you an automatic bid to the NCAAs,” Brewer said. “We were ‘on the bubble’ and thought winning the Big Tens would get us in, but it didn’t. Obviously, I was disappointed at the time, but to look back at it now, it was a pretty neat way to wrap up my career as a college golfer.”
After winning the 1998 Indiana Am crown that summer, Brewer quickly moved into the business world as a financial advisor with Linsco/Private Ledger in Indianapolis. Three falls later, Mike Mayer, who moved from assistant to head coach at IU after Carmichael retired, asked Brewer to share his experiences in golf and school and the transition to professional life with the current team.
From that, Brewer planted a seed with Mayer, who also was his childhood golf instructor, and when an opening arose soon thereafter, Brewer returned to Bloomington. Brewer helped the Hoosiers enjoy very solid success over the next six seasons. Indiana was represented in NCAA competition each of his those campaigns. After reaching in NCAA Regionals in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the Hoosiers returned to the NCAA Championships as a team in 2008, their first appearance since Brewer’s sophomore year in 1996.
All told, Brewer helped coach two All-Americans, three Big Ten Players of the Year honorees, two Palmer Cup members, one Walker Cup member and four scholastic All-Americans.
In 2008, Brewer ventured from his roots to become assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s golf teams at Southern Cal, where he helped both programs thrive during four seasons in Los Angeles. Brewer help produce two PAC-10 Championships teams and golfers who won National Player of the Year, National Freshman of the Year, 12 All-America certificates, three PAC-10 Player of the Year awards and two PAC-10 Freshman of the Year accolades. In addition, USC had two Curtis Cup and two Palmer Cup team members.
On June 18, 2012, Brewer was named the head coach at the University of Georgia.
“I have been blessed to learn under some of the country’s greatest coaches, and I look forward to using these lessons,” Brewer said. “Georgia is a program that has a rich and storied history beginning with one of women’s athletics greatest visionaries and leaders, Liz Murphey. I want to help build on the tradition she started at UGA of winning championships while graduating our student-athletes.”
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