Ket Preamchuen Vanderpool was named the head coach of the Georgia State women's golf program in August 2023 after four seasons as an assistant coach for the Panthers.
A former professional player, Vanderpool is the third head coach in the program's history.
She helped coach the Panthers to their most successful season in recent years in 2022-23, including six top-five finishes in 10 events, highlighted by a victory at the Little Rock Golf Classic last fall for the program's first tournament title since 2010. During the year, the Panthers shot four of the top nine rounds in school history, led by a record-tying 283 second round at Little Rock.
“I am very excited and thankful for the opportunity that Charlie Cobb and Doug Justice have given me to lead our GSU women’s golf program,” Vanderpool said. “I am ready to help our program ascend to the next level. I believe the future of our women’s golf program is very bright, and I am thrilled to be leading it.”
Vanderpool originally joined the GSU staff in January 2020 and helped steer the program through the challenges of CoVID 19 in 2020 and 2021. During those first two years, she worked with Emma Berlin, who finished 2019-20 with one of the top 10 single season scoring averages in program history, and Mahina Leveau, who earned a second-place finish at the Georgia State Invitational and shot one of the lowest three round scores in program history as a freshman in 2020-21. In one of her first events with the Panthers, the team shot its lowest round, a 1-under 287, in nearly five years, at the Amelia Island Collegiate.
Before coming to Georgia State, Vanderpool spent two years as a graduate assistant coach at Kennesaw State, her alma mater, from 2015-17 after playing professionally. During that time, she was directly involved with recruiting both domestically and internationally, and she helped guide the Owls to the 2015 Atlantic Sun Conference championship and a berth in the 2015 NCAA Regional.
Before returning to Kennesaw State in a coaching capacity, Vanderpool played professionally on the Symetra Tour.
She was a four-year standout for the Owls from 2009 to 2013 as one of the top players in program history. A three-time, first-team All-Atlantic Sun Conference and National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-America Scholar honoree, she led the Owls in stroke average, top 20 finishes, top 10 finishes and rounds of par or better during her first three seasons at KSU.
Vanderpool helped lead the Owls to the program’s first-ever Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and NCAA Regional appearance in 2012. She was presented the 2013 “Dr. Dave Waples Total Person Award” by the Kennesaw State Athletics Department, which goes to an upperclassman who exemplifies athletic and academic achievement, character, leadership, and community service.
For her career, she totaled 20 top 20 finishes, 14 top 10 finishes and 22 rounds of even par or better, posting the fourth-best career stroke average in school history at 75.73 career stroke average.
On the administrative side, Vanderpool has worked as an intern with both the American Junior Golf Association and the Georgia State Golf Association.
She finished tied for second in the 2019 Georgia Women’s Amateur and then advanced to the match play Round of 16 in the USGA Women’s Mid-Amateur in September, earning her the 2019 Player of the Year Award from the Georgia State Golf Association.
A native of Chachoengsao, Thailand, Ket is married to Matt Vanderpool.
