Tacoma, Wash. – Mary Lou Mulflur has been named captain of Team Washington as the state joins the USGA’s U.S. National Development Program (USNDP) in 2026. Founded in 2024, the USNDP aims to expand, strengthen and diversify the junior golf pipeline by creating critical development, competitive and talent identification opportunities within each U.S. state for elite athletes aged 13-18.
Mulflur is well-known throughout the region for her 42-year tenure as head coach of the women’s golf program at the University of Washington, from which she retired in June 2025. A year removed from that decorated career, in which she often saw and evaluated the finest golf talent in Washington, Mulflur is honored to have this new opportunity.
“I am really excited,” she said of her Team Washington captaincy. “The level of talent in this state is tremendous, and sometimes we are kind of forgotten up here in our little corner of the world. I think the USNDP is going to be great and I’m just hoping to do right by these kids.”
Team Washington – set to be assembled for the 2027 season – will be selected by an advisory committee comprised of representatives from Washington Golf, Washington Junior Golf Association, the Pacific Northwest PGA Section and the Oregon Golf Association. Players will earn their way onto the team by accumulating points and demonstrating competitive performance in select 2026 events. There will be 12 boys and 12 girls selected.
Team Washington is being managed by Washington Golf, under the direction of Nate Schroeder, WA Golf’s senior director of championships and golf operations.
“We really wanted to make sure we launched this program with solid leadership in place,” Schroeder said. “A year ago we didn’t know Mary Lou would be available, so having her as our captain is something we’re very excited about. We’re looking forward to a great start to our program.”
During Mulflur’s tenure at UW, the Huskies won the NCAA D-I Women’s National Championship in 2016. Mulflur was named the National Coach of the Year in that year, as well as in 2015. The women’s team showed tremendous consistency under Mulflur’s direction, reaching NCAA regionals in all but one season since its inception. Mulflur has proven to be a top branch in her own coaching tree, too, evidenced partly by former Husky Kelli Kamimura leading Washington State’s program for over a decade.
In Montlake, Mulflur was the third head coach to succeed Edean Ihlanfeldt, founder of the UW women’s golf program and PNGA Hall-of-Famer under whom Mulflur played in the 1970s. A 1980 UW graduate, Mulflur has shared a lifelong connection with the game of golf, one that goes beyond her first head coaching season in 1983. At Grant High School in Portland, Ore., she won state titles as a member of its golf team. On her own, she won the 1975 Oregon Junior Championship and, on three occasions, the Oregon Coast Invitational.
Her leadership experience is not limited to the collegiate level, serving as a years-long member of the LPGA SAFECO Classic Advisory Board, and aiding in the creation of a junior golf program for inner city girls.
In her approach to Team Washington, Mulflur’s approach to mentoring junior players may differ slightly from that of collegiate players.
“Junior players haven’t quite had as much life experience,” she said. “But they bring enthusiasm, and they’re there because they want to be there.”
Washington is one of now 30 states to be part of the program, up from the seven that comprised it at its launch. The USGA hopes to include all 50 states by 2033.
The USNDP is designed to ensure that American golf is the global leader in the game by focusing on six key pillars: talent identification, access to competition, national teams, athlete resources, player development and relations and athlete financial support. The state junior team program will focus on creating a developmentally appropriate, aspirational pathway for athletes within each state to compete at higher levels of the game.
About the Washington Junior Golf Association
The WJGA was founded by Joan Teats in 1977. It is a 501c3 non-profit association that is dedicated to supporting boys’ and girls’ junior golfers by providing a comprehensive, competitive program that helps build character and sportsmanship, providing lifelong benefits. Serving over 1,200 members, it continues to be one of the largest state junior golf competitive programs in the country. Visit wjga.net for more information.
