Sydney Naro, a graduate transfer from Michigan State with a strong record of competitive success at the college and amateur levels, will join the Northern Illinois University women's golf team for the 2022-23 season, NIU head coach Kim Kester announced Thursday.
"We are super excited to have Sydney join the NIU Golf family," Kester said. "She is a very accomplished golfer with great character. We know she can step right in and help take the program to the next level on and off the course. She has had a great career at Michigan State and a lot of success during summer play and we know that will translate to NIU."
Naro won the 2020 Ontario Women's Amateur Championship with a 72-hole score of even par 285 after shooting rounds of 69-73-72-71. She tied for 16th at the 2019 Michigan PGA Women's Open with rounds of 73-72-73.
At Michigan State, Naro competed in 13 tournaments over the past three seasons for a collegiate career stroke average of 76.1. She played in six events as a freshman in 2018-19, including each of the last four, and recorded a fourth-place finish at the Lady Buckeye Invitational with a score of three-over par 219. She opened the tournament with a career-low score of 67. Naro went on to place 22nd at the Big Ten Championships with a three-over par 147 (75-72) and finished the season with a career low stroke average of 74.75.
She played in four tournaments in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season, compiling a scoring average of 77.2 in 10 rounds and recorded a similar scoring average in the 2021 while playing in three events.
Naro, who attended high school in Australia where she played for Hills International Golf Academy, has lived in seven different countries. She qualified for the 2017 U.S. Junior Girls Championship and was a quarterfinalist at the 2018 U.S. Women's Western Junior Golf Championship at Mistwood Golf Club in Romeoville, Illinois. The two-time Academic All Big Ten and WGCA All-American Scholar will be studying for a master's degree in history at NIU.
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