Coaching Experience
• Head Coach, Flagler College (2008-present (women); Spring 2009-present (men))
Education
• B.A., Business Administration, Lincoln Memorial University, 2002
Coaching at Flagler
Santiago Cavanagh begins his 17th season as the director of golf. He started as the head women's coach in the fall of 2008 and then added the men's head coaching duties in the spring of 2009.
Cavanagh has been selected as the Peach Belt Conference's Coach of the Year nine times - 2010 (men), 2014 (men and women), 2018 (women), 2019 (women), 2021 (women), 2023 (women), 2024 (women), and 2025 (women). He was the first coach to be named coach of the year in the Peach Belt for both a men's and a women's sport.
Under his guidance, five men have earned PING Division II All-America honors while another 10 have earned all-region accolades. The women's program had its first All-American in Stella Jelinek (2023). Cavanagh added to his All-America total with Jelinek, Jordyn Hodgson, and Henriette Stranda in 2024 and Jelinek and Stranda earned All-America honors agains in 2025 with Hodgson receiving honorable mention honors. A total of 48 golfers (32 women and 16 men) have earned All-PBC honors and three golfers, Stephanie Tucker (2014), Pauline Tainton (2019) and Stella Jelinek (2023-25), were named PBC Player of the Year. He has also coached five PBC Freshmen of the Year. Forty golfers have earned academic All-PBC honors.
The women's golf team advanced to the NCAA Division II National Tournament for the second year in a row and advanced to the semifinal round. The women won their first NCAA Division II Southeast Regional title, winning by seven strokes.
The 2023-24 campaign saw new heights to women's golf program. For the first time, the Saints qualified for the national championships and went on to finish in first place in the stroke-play portion. Jelinek, Hodgson, and Stranda earned all-tournament honors by finishing in the top 10. The Saints also won its sixth won their sixth conference tournament title.
The 2022-23 season, the Saints women finished in second place while the men were fourth in the PBC Tournament. Stella Jelinek took home PBC Player and Freshman of the Year, which was only the second time that has happened since the league sponsored the sport. She and Jordyn Hodgson earned first team all-conference honors while Sophie Wheeler was selected to the second team.
In 2021-22, both men's and women's golf teams finished in second place at the PBC Tournament. Mauro Baez played as an individual at the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional. Baez earned first team all-conference honors on the men's side while Sophie Wheeler, Jan Browne, and Fernanda Lacaz were selected to the women's all-conference teams.
The women's golf team won their fourth consecutive PBC Tournament title in the spring of 2021. The Saints had five all-conference selections, including Kim Jakobs who earned her fourth award.
The 2019-20 season saw Mauro Baez earn PING All-America and all-region honors. Daniela Alonso was selected as the PBC's Freshman of the Year. Baez finished the season ranked No. 16.
The golf program had a banner year in 2019. The Saints were the first men's and women's team to have captured league titles in the same season. The women won their third title in a row, and fourth overall. Juan Iturra earned medalist honors for the Saints men. Pauline Tainton (first-team), Miranda Greene (first-team), and Kim Jakobs (second-team) were selected to the all-conference teams. Mauro Baez (first-team) and Iturra (second-team) earned all-conference honors on the men's side.
In 2017-18, Cavanagh's women's team captured its third PBC title, and their second in a row. A program record five golfers earned all-conference honors: Lara Ardler (first-team), Natalia Azcue (first-team), Greene (first-team), Jakobs (second-team) and Tainton (second-team). The Saints qualified for the NCAA Division II regional for the ninth consecutive season. The Saints wrapped up the year ranked No. 9 by Golfstat.
During the 2016-17, Cavanagh coached the women's team to its second PBC title and another appearance at the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Regional. The men's team finished in a tie for ninth at the NCAA D2 regionals. The women's team had three golfers named to the all-conference team while the men had two all-conference honors.
In the 2015-16 season, Cavanagh once again coached both teams to NCAA regional berths. The Saints finished second, in both men's and women's, in the PBC Tournament which was held for the first time at the World Golf Village's Slammer & Squire Course. Linn Weber earned medalist honors, as well as all-tournament, while Tucker finished in second place. Sebastian Barnoya and Michael Boss earned all-tournament honors for the men.
The 2014-15 season saw the Cavanagh-led women's team reach a No. 1 ranking, a first in not only the program's history, but for the department as well since joining NCAA Division II.
The men's golf team won its second PBC Tournament championship. Jordan Ebanks earned medalist honors. During the season, the Saints shot a record 31 under par in winning the Bearcat Classic and Barnoya broke the school record for lowest score relative to par (-13) in that same tournament. Ebanks tied a school record for the lowest round (65) in a tournament.
He coached the team to new heights in 2013-14. The women peaked at No. 7 in the national poll, the program's highest ranking ever. The men peaked at No. 13, its highest ranking since moving to Division II in 2008-09. Joanna Yoo became the first Flagler women's player to win the PBC Championship, doing so on the second playoff hole.
Cavanagh guided both programs into the Peach Belt Conference in 2010. In its first year in the conference, the women won the inaugural Peach Belt Championship. Flagler won its first Peach Belt Conference Men's Golf Championship.
In 2010-11, both men's and women's teams were nationally ranked. The women peaked at No. 21 while the men topped out at No. 18 in the final poll of the season.
Prior to Flagler
Cavanagh has served as the head professional at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine and an assistant pro at the Ridgeway Country Club in Memphis, Tenn.
Cavanagh has also played in a pair of PGA events and a Nationwide Tour event. He played at the PODS Championships in early March and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in mid-March. Cavanagh has also had stints on the Hooters and Tarheel tours. He has also won the North Florida section championship, assistant section championship and the Northern Chapter Section championship.
The Coronel Suarez, Argentina native left his homeland to attend Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1998 and played on its men’s golf team. Cavanagh was a two-time All-Gulf South Conference first-team selection (1999, 2002) and also earned a pair of second-team honors (2000-01) for the Railsplitters. He won seven tournaments and was ranked as high a No. 38 in NCAA Division II and 12th in the South Region.
Cavanagh graduated from Lincoln Memorial in 2002 with a degree in business administration.
