Mackenzie Cohen ’17 of the Rhodes women’s golf team has been named the 2016-17 SAA Woman of the Year. The Southern Athletic Association (SAA), in partnership with the Summit Management Corporation, bestows a Man and Woman of the Year award following the conclusion of each academic year. Recipients are selected based on leadership, character, and athletic/ academic success.
After helping the Rhodes women’s golf program secure its third National Championship in four years, Cohen graduated this year with a bachelor’s degree in music as the most decorated athlete in the SAA’s young history. A three-time All-SAA First Team performer, Cohen was the only NCAA Division III player to qualify and play in the prestigious U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2015. That year, she was the SAA tournament champion and Player of the Year. Not only has Cohen garnered several honors from SAA, but also she has been recognized as a Women’s Golf Coaches Association’s (WGCA) First Team All American and a WGCA All-Academic Scholar. Recently, the Rhodes Athletic Department presented Cohen with the Rebecca Rish Gay award honoring the outstanding female athlete.
Outside of her golfing successes, Cohen has participated at Rhodes as a lead member of the Rhodes Singers and a Mike Curb Institute for Music Community Engagement Fellow. She also helped design a music theory component to the guitar club at Sherwood Middle School and helped with marketing for the Audubon Sessions concert series. This spring, she was inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society.