After taking over the reigns midway through the 2016-17 season, Jason Malcolm completed his sixth season and fifth full academic year at the helm of the Merrimack College women's golf team during the 2021-22 campaign.
Malcolm guided a pair of sensational freshmen during the 2021-22 campaign. Yiting Pan (79.38) and Prakruthi Sastry (79.44) led the team in stroke average for the season and Pan was honored as an All-NEC Second Team player after the conclusion of the year and was also tabbed the Merrimack College Athletics Female Rookie of the Year. Sastry and Jacquelyn Stiles also paced the Warriors at the 2022 NEC Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla. and both earned All-Tournament team honors to help the team finish third overall for the second straight spring. Sastry also led the tournament after 18 holes and finished third individually.
The Warriors took a big step forward during the 2020-21 season, which was conducted entirely during the spring due to COVID-19 precautions. Merrimack improved throughout the year and capped it with a third place finish out of seven teams at the NEC Championship, which included an incredible even par round of 72 from Jordan Laplume during the final day that earned her All-Tournament team honors with a fourth place individual finish. Three players, including Jacquelyn Stiles and Priscilla Hemway had top-20 individual showings in the team's first appearance in the tournament. Laplume earned another accolade not long after when she was selected to the NEC All-Conference Second Team, which made it eight all-conference selections for Malcolm.
In the Warriors' first season at the Division I level in 2019-20, their fall was highlighted by Laplume, who registered a top-10 and top-20 finish in the team's five tournaments. During the coronavirus shortened spring season, freshman Alexandra Tomasso had a top-30 result at the Lonnie Barton Invitational for the best individual result. Laplume and Tomasso also both had stroke averages under 85 on the year to show strong signs of promise moving forward.
The long-time playing and coaching veteran helped lead Merrimack to its best season in program history in 2018-19 to wrap up the Division II era on an incredible note. Not only did Merrimack win its fourth and final Northeast-10 Conference championship in five tries, but the Warriors made history by earning an automatic team qualification into the NCAA Division II Women's Golf Super Regional Championship. Along the way, Merrimack won a season-record five tournaments and placed second at two others to comprise the greatest year thus far in the still relatively young history of the program. For his efforts, Malcolm was named NE10 Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.
Malcolm also provided guidance for the greatest individual season by a student-athlete in school history for 2019 graduate Krystal Knight, who became the first WGCA All-American in school history after qualifying as an individual for the 2019 NCAA Division II Women's Golf National Championship. Knight, who was just the second student-athlete ever in school history to achieve such a feat, won seven individual tournaments -- including her second straight NE10 medalist honor -- to wrap up her career as a four-time all-conference first team selection and a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree. She also was a three-time NCAA Super Regional qualifier, as well. She was joined by freshman Laplume '22 -- the NE10 Rookie of the Year -- and graduating seniors Olivia Dempster and Nina Harrington as all-conference honorees under Malcolm's watch in the 2018-19 academic year.
Malcolm's second full year with the program in 2017-18 featured six top-four team finishes, including one victory and three runner-up performances. Knight had the best individual campaign up until that point in program history, winning five of the nine events she competed in, including the 2017 NE10 Championship, marking the fourth straight year that a Warrior had claimed the title. Malcolm also saw three single-round scores of 70 recorded, tying the program's single-round-low record. Merrimack would finish with three all-conference selections, while Knight earned a spot on the CoSIDA/Google Cloud Academic All-District squad and was an NE10 Sports Excellence Award winner and all-academic team selection.
Malcolm was instrumental in helping both Knight and 2018 graduate Alessandra Ricigliano earn NCAA Super Regional in the spring of 2017 after he took over the reigns of the program earlier in the winter. That marked the first occasion in school history that Merrimack had multiple student-athletes qualify for the NCAA Super Regionals in the same season.
A 15-year veteran offering professional instruction at various golf facilities over that span, Malcolm arrived in North Andover after serving as assistant coach at nearby NE10 institution Southern New Hampshire University for two seasons. His responsibilities Involved in all aspects of coaching one of the top-ranked Division II men's programs in the country while helping establish the foundation for the women's team that was launched in 2014-15. He recruited student-athletes for both teams while helping to lead the men's program to a second-place finish at the NCAA East/Atlantic Super Regional en route to a qualification in the NCAA National Championships in 2015-16.
Malcolm is also in his fifth season as a PGA Professional at Nashua Country Club, as well, after a successful nearly three-year stint at Dublin Lake Club. He supervised a six-member golf staff managing tournaments and organizing junior clinics, private lessons and more.
Additionally, Malcolm has worked as a PGA professional at four other clubs/institutions over the past decade, including Winchester Country Club (2011-13); Old Marsh Golf Club (2002-07); Whitinsville Golf Club (2003-07) and Franklin Country Club (2002).
A 2001 graduate from then-Bryant College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and major in Computer Information System, Malcolm served as team captain during his senior year while helping the Bulldogs qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championship. He earned NE10 All-Conference First Team and Division II All-New England First Team honors in 2000 and was the recipient of the Bryant College Bulldog Leadership Award.
Malcolm would coach Northbridge High School's golf team from 2003-07 and also has competed in several regional amateur and professional tournaments, qualifying for the Massachusetts Open Championship in 2014 over that span.
Malcolm resides in Hollis, New Hampshire, with his wife, Ingrid, and their daughters, MacKenzie and Everly.
