Ohio is becoming more experienced.
Kelly Ovington has been assembling talent for years and it’s finally starting to come together.
The women’s golf coach, who is in her seventh year at Ohio, has been leading the Bobcats to the same tournaments, annually, and during four of the five tournaments Ohio has competed in this spring, it’s posted its best finish during Ovington’s tenure.
The Bobcats also have posted six top-five finishes during the fall and spring seasons — another program best since Ovington took the helm in 2008.
“When they’re out there competing, anybody can go low, where in the past, it was ‘you knew you might have a couple that could do it or would be there,’ and then you’re hoping you get some other good scores in,” she said. “Now, it can be any of them, and if they all have a great day, it can be a career low for the team.”
The Bobcats experienced some early success by finishing near the top of the leaderboards during two of the first three tournaments, which helped establish a confidence that has remained throughout the season.
Ohio won the fourth tournament of the season, the Golden Grizzly Invitational, which was its first tournament win under Ovington and the program’s first since 2004.
Much of the success is a credit to the Bobcats talent becoming more experienced.
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Sophomore Hailey Hyrnewich won the Lady Colonel Classic on April 4, the first win of her college career. Although she’s still an underclassman, she’s been pacing Ohio throughout the season.
“Over the past few years, the talent has been on the younger classmen,” Ovington said. “They step into a competitive role right away, they see their value, and they learn and pay attention.”
Three of the Bobcats’ top six leaders in average strokes are freshmen and sophomores, and only one is a senior.
Ovington said the current leaders on the team had great leaders to look up to when they were underclassmen, but her coaching staff has helped with the turnover when athletes graduate.
“Hopefully, if we as a coaching staff have been grooming our student-athletes into leadership roles, it shouldn’t be too much of a transition for them,” she said.
This season has been Ovington’s best with the Bobcats and five of the top six golfers expected to return next year.
Ovington has been successful in accumulating Ohio’s current talent and hopes the progress continues to establish it as a top program.
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