Phillip Hatchett will enter his ninth season as the head coach of the WKU Hilltopper Golf program in 2018-19. He was hired for the position on August 26, 2010.
Under Hatchett's guidance, golfer Billy Tom Sargent has put together one of the strongest Hilltopper careers in many years. Over the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns, Sargent has registered 16 top-20 performances with three victories.
In 2017-18, Sargent was named to the All-Conference USA Second Team and became the second Hilltopper to qualify for a NCAA Regional as an individual, and the first since 2008. He also tied for 11th in the 2018 Conference USA Championship – the best individual conference finish for WKU since 2010.
WKU recorded five top-five performances as a team in 2017-18 with two 6-under outings that produced 858 totals. They finished the season with their best conference tournament round since 2008.
The program also had 21 top-25 individual results, 11 top-10s and six top-fives, including a win by Sargent at the Border Olympics and three consecutive top-fives from Stuart Easton in the fall.
The Hilltoppers finished the 2015-16 campaign with six top-five finishes as a team, including the program's first team championship since 2013 at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate. The Hilltoppers finished the spring season with five top-five finishes in six opportunities.
A 1985 graduate of Western Kentucky University and four-year member of the golf team, Hatchett brings with him to his current role 14 years of PGA Tour experience on the Canadian, South African and South American tours and 24 years of experience as a golf instructor.
While on the foreign PGA Tour from 1986-2000 Hatchett won nine tournaments, including three-straight Irving Cobb titles and back-to-back Quebec Open championships. He also captured the 1990 Vancouver Open crown and the 1992 Canadian Tournament Players Championship, as well as added five top-three finishes in various other foreign PGA Tour events.
"I am very excited about the hiring of Phillip Hatchett, and I really feel WKU got it right with this hire," said Kenny Perry, a PGA/Champions Tour veteran and former WKU golf teammate of Hatchett. "The players under Phillip will learn so much from his teaching abilities and his playing background. I am so glad WKU has made a commitment to the golf programs and hired a true 'Western' man for the job, and I look forward to continuing to see WKU get back to being a top program."
In addition, Hatchett created the Phillip Hatchett Junior Golf Camp in 2008 in an effort to stimulate the game of golf among younger players in the south-central Kentucky area. The Phillip Hatchett Junior Golf Camp has seen over 200 young golfers in its existence.
Hatchett and his wife, Beth, reside in Russellville.
