- July 8, 2026
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A dizzying number of women’s golf programs exist at the NCAA Division I level alone.
There are 249 Division I programs across the country, while Division II and Division III feature 478 combined.
The list extends even farther when considering the NAIA and junior colleges.
Those are great opportunities considering only 2.8% of high school girls golfers reach Division I, according to Next College Student Athlete College Recruiting.
The odds of Lakewood Ranch's Avery Banfill and Phoenix Scanlan ending up at the same college were not in their favor. They beat the odds.
The pair of rising seniors at Parrish Community High are both bound for the University of Memphis. They announced their commitments Feb. 13 and will be just the second and third golfers in program history to play at the Division I level.
Before they embrace blue and white stripes, though, they’re headed to Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina to compete with their fellow Bulls in the PGA High School Golf National Invitational from July 11-13. They will represent Florida as the state’s only girls golf team selected to the field.
To put itself in the running for such an opportunity, Parrish Community won the 2025 FHSAA Class 3A state championship — a first for the program. Parrish was chosen over 2A champion American Heritage of Broward and 1A champion Circle Christian of Winter Springs.
“I couldn't be more excited for them. I was just blown away that we were accepted,” said Parrish High Coach Erin Lisch. “I knew they definitely deserved it, and then it was recognized.”
Banfill and Scanlan are entering only their second season as teammates. Their days of high school golf are numbered, but their paths will converge once more at Memphis.
In years past, those paths have overlapped on more than one occasion.
A fateful first intersection occurred at a drive, chip and putt tournament hosted by Bobby Jones Golf Club in Sarasota. They were each 9 years old.
It was Banfill’s first tournament and Scanlan just happened to be on the course that day, too, trying to climb her own way up the leaderboard.
“That was the first time I knew of her name,” Banfill said. “I did pretty bad, but I enjoyed it as a little kid. I told my dad, ‘I want to play a real golf tournament, like the ones on TV.’”
Scanlan wasn’t so eager to put herself out there as a junior. Her first tournaments were in team formats with First Tee and PGA Jr. League — not individual settings.
Much like Banfill, though, she eventually felt a desire to compete in bigger events. She became busy on the Manatee Junior Golf Tour and Florida Junior Tour, starting to play for herself.
“It became a thing I did every weekend — twice a weekend,” Scanlan said. “It was a bit of a high for me, for sure. I loved every single part of it.”
The two kept running into each other at tees, fairways and greens. That was just a byproduct of growing up on the Sarasota-Bradenton junior golf scene.
Banfill joined Parrish Community as a freshman in the team’s fifth year of existence following the school’s opening in August 2019. The Bulls reached the 2A state championship in Banfill's first season and finished in ninth place as she tied for 15th individually.
Scanlan’s high school career began elsewhere. She represented Lakewood Ranch High in her freshman and sophomore seasons, and in the 3A state championship in 2024, competed against Banfill.
Their results were nearly identical. Scanlan tied for 20th place by carding a 149 (76-73) and Banfill tied for 23rd at 150 (76-74).
The team results weren’t so similar, as Parrish Community placed third while Lakewood Ranch failed to crack the top 15. Scanlan said she thought Parrish Community had a great team dynamic and she decided to transfer.
It became a championship move.
“(We gave) ourselves the best culture off the course in order to be successful on the course,” Banfill said. “We grew our friendship. Not only us two, but with everybody else on the team.”
In June 2025, college coaches could contact them for the first time. Memphis Women’s Golf Coach Jennifer Jordan reached out to Banfill that August and sold her on what the Tigers offered.
Banfill raved to Scanlan about the school — the coach, the facilities, the team culture — all of it. It was enough to convince her friend-turned-teammate to seriously look into Memphis, and eventually, Scanlan reached out to Jordan, who had mutual interest.
There was no master plan for the duo to end up at the same school. They didn’t enter last summer with any sort of pact or promise to one another.
The Tigers simply checked all of their respective boxes, allowing them to confidently make their own, separate decisions which will send them to the same place.
“When the whole Memphis recruitment happened, it was almost written in the stars,” Scanlan said. “We’ve always had this thing where we’re able to push each other. We’re not easy on each other. It’s like, ‘No, no, no. Let’s keep going. Thirty more minutes.’”
Senior year is on the near horizon for Banfill and Scanlan. Once all is said and done at the PGA High School Golf National Invitational, their focus can formally shift to the fall.
There will come a time, too, when college chatter picks up. Rooming together at Memphis seems a surefire thing for these friends-turned-teammates.
“It’s already a given,” Lisch said. “I already know that they're going to be inseparable.”
