Patti Rizzo, a 20-year veteran on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour, enters her fourth season as the head coach of the Barry University women’s golf program.

Last season, Rizzo guided a young Buccaneer program to their first winning tournament season with a 67-49-1 record since taking over in 2005. Barry advanced to the NCAA Division II South Region tournament for the second straight year and fifth in school history.

RemiJin Camping, who led the Bucaneers with a 76.61 stroke average, earned All-Sunshine State Conference and NGCA All-America honors for the third straight year. She finished the season with seven top-10 finishes including one tournament win at the NSU Spring Classic.

After narrowly missing out on a team regional appearance in 2005, Rizzo managed to get the team back into championship form in 2006, guiding the team to their fourth NCAA regional appearance. She also guided the Bucs to a 49-56-2 tournament record.

For the second consecutive year, Camping earned NGCA All-America, All-Sunshine State Conference and SSC All-Tournament. Freshman Johanna Soderstrom made her mark on the Buccaneer program as member of Rizzo’s first full recruiting class, setting a school-record five-under-par 67 at the NIU Springlake Invitational. She also finished tied for sixth at the NCAA Regional and advanced to the NCAA National Championship in Allendale, Mich., as an individual, becoming the first to make it back to nationals since Barry did it as a team in 2002.

In 2005, Rizzo stepped in and guided the Buccaneers to a 28-43 tournament record. She became just the second women’s golf coach in Barry history, replacing Roger White who founded the program in 1998.

Although the Bucs missed out on their fourth consecutive regional appearance, Camping advanced to the Regional Tournament as an individual where she finished tied for seventh overall. As Rizzo’s first recruit at Barry, Camping exploded in the SSC, winning the conference tournanament by two strokes. She also earned SSC All-Tournament, All-SSC and SSC Freshman-of-the-Year honors, while becoming the first Buccaneer to earn NGCA All-America and NGCA Freshman-of-the-Year honors. Shannon Langhardt, Michelle Torry and Lauren Kane also earned NGCA Scholar All-America awards.

Rizzo brings outstanding amateur, collegiate and professional experience to the position. Her amateur career was highlighted by a near win at the 1981 Florida Lady Citrus in Orlando, where she almost became the first amateur since JoAnne Carner (1969) to win an LPGA event when she finished regulation play in a five-way tie for first-place, but was defeated by Beth Daniel. However, Rizzo won the World Amateur, Trans-National, Eastern Amateur and Mexican Amateur in 1980 and the North & South Amateur Championship, the South Atlantic Amateur Golf Championship and the Harder Hall Invitational in 1981. She also claimed medalist honors at the 1981 U.S. Women’s Amateur, as well as at the 1980 and 1981 AIAW National Championships. A 1981 collegiate All-American at the University of Miami, she was Golf Digest’s top-ranked amateur in the country in 1980 and Golf Magazine’s top-ranked collegiate player in 1981.

In 1982, she joined the LPGA full-time and was named the circuit’s Rookie-of-the-Year, with five top-10 finishes, including fourth-place at the Arizona Copper Classic. In 1983, she won her first LPGA tournament at the Boston Five Classic and posted six additional top-10 finishes. She carded a career-best score of 64 on her way to winning the LPGA Corning Classic in 1985. Her best overall season came in 1989 as she posted 10 top-10 finishes, including a win at the Red Robin Kyocera Inamori Classic and a runner-up finish at the Planters Pat Bradley International.

Rizzo played on the tour regularly for 10 years, amassing over $1 million dollars in earnings and posting four tournament wins: the 1983 Boston Five Classic, the 1985 LPGA Corning Classic, the 1988 Sara Lee Classic, and the 1989 Red Robin Kyocera Inamori Classic.

Since 1994, she has played in selected LPGA events and has also played extensively in Japan, where she remains one of the most popular foreign players. She still holds her LPGA Tour card, but after a brief two-year retirement, she returned to play part-time on the LPGA and Legends Tours during summer of 2006. Rizzo has two children, Severiano and Gabriela.