Kristin Jamieson ties for 26th at Division I State Golf Tournament; verbally commits to Ohio State
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
COLUMBUS — For two days in Columbus — at The Ohio State University Gray Course— Hillsboro junior Kristin Jamieson took on the best girls golfers in the state, placing in the Top 30 at the completion of the 2017 Division I State Girls Golf Tournament.
During the two-day event on Friday and Saturday, Jamieson finished with a total 36-hole score of 158, having a score of 78 on Friday and Saturday finishing with a score of 80. After regrouping on the front nine in the afternoon by shooting 2-under-par, Jamieson figured all the excitement was finished for the day.
After talking with family and coaches, she had a conversation with Ohio State women’s golf head coach Therese Hession, and the excitement was far from over for Jamieson on Saturday afternoon. Seeing how Jamieson reacted to not having her best round of golf in the morning stages of the state tournament, and how the Hillsboro junior played on the front nine holes in the afternoon, Coach Hession offered Jamieson a spot on the Ohio State women’s golf team to play Division I golf. By Sunday night, Jamieson verbally accepted the offer.
“When Coach Hession started watching on the second day, I was at the 15th hole and they watched through the 18th hole … they saw the bad part,” Jamieson told The Highland County Press. “It was drastically the worst nine holes of high school golf of my career. By the 17th hole, pieces were coming together.”
Following her score of 78 on Friday, the second day didn’t start off as well as Jamieson would have liked. She shot a 47 on her first nine holes (holes 10 through 18) Saturday morning but began the day with par on the 10th hole, and from there she completed the remainder of the back nine holes on the Gray Course at OSU.
During the afternoon, Jamieson had a good streak of golf, shooting 2-under-par on the first through ninth holes for a score of 33 on the par 35 round. In her afternoon portion of the state tournament on Saturday, Jamieson began the first hole with a par on a par 4, followed with par again on a par 3.
For the third straight hole – this time on the third hole – the Hillsboro junior shot par on a par 4, then birdied on the fourth hole, taking just two shots on a par 3.
The round continued with another two consecutive pars on the fifth and sixth holes. Followed by a bogey on a par 4 at the seventh hole, Jamieson wrapped up her state tournament with a birdie on a par 5 at the eighth hole and then her third birdie on the ninth hole for the score of 33 on the front nine.
“After the first tee shot on hole 1 on the front nine (the afternoon session), I forgot about what happened in the morning, forgot about the bad play and just wanted to keep my composure,” Jamieson said.
Hillsboro girls golf coach David Hilliard spoke about the moment on the first hole when following the tee shot, Jamieson just wanted to laugh.
“After she played nine holes and she had hit her tee shot on the first hole — her 10th hole of the day — Kristin said, ‘Coach, can we just laugh for a minute that I three-putted six times on the front nine?’ As we walked down the fairway, she and I did laugh about it, and I think she really relaxed at that point and went out and played her best nine holes of the year, 2-under-par at the state tourney.
“(Coach Hession) said she wanted kids on her team that wouldn't give up when things were going bad – amazing how something great can happen from something bad. That being said, obviously KJ wanted to score and play better, but she was still 26th in the state in Division I — a great accomplishment. It’s an honor to be there and represent your school.”
Following her aforementioned play on the front nine and for the entire two-day event in Columbus, Jamieson said she was in contact with Coach Hession the day before and had planned to meet with the head coach and OSU assistant coach Stacy Snider following the state tournament. That is when a dream became a reality.
“After my round, I wasn’t happy with how I played and I was talking with my family and coaches,” Jamieson explained. “When I went to talk with Coach Hession, it wasn’t even on my mind to receive an offer that day. She said she saw me struggle, but also saw how I came back from it on the front nine … and ‘that’s why we want you on our team.’
“We were all excited and shocked …. I didn’t think the offer would come that day. When Coach Hession told me those were the reasons they wanted me, they told me they knew I was a fighter, and that was a quality they enjoyed in me. When they made the offer, I just looked at my family and didn’t know what to do. It was an overload of emotion.
“I didn’t give an answer then. On Sunday, I talked with coaches and family and verbally accepted the offer. It was a dream come true. Three years ago, I said I wanted to be a Buckeye after golfing in an event. To have it come true is absolutely breathtaking.”
This was the second time in consecutive seasons in which Jamieson has golfed on the Gray Course at Ohio State. Last year due to inclement weather (freezing rain and 32 degrees temperatures), the event was cut to just 18 holes and one day of competition. That year (2016), Jamieson finished 34th with a score of 84.
This past weekend was a different story for the Hillsboro junior as her +18 score of 158 left her tied for 26th with Alexis Savage of Springboro, who had scores of 77 and 81 for the two days of golf. In all, there were 72 golfers in the event.
“I remembered I told my mom earlier in the day that I can’t give up on a round because it just gets worse,” Jamieson said of her Saturday morning score. “It was so bad that I lost count of how bad it was. I didn’t know where I stood. I just turned it around (on the front nine) and told myself if I was in a national championship and my team was relying on me, I couldn’t give up then, either. Then on the front nine, I just started playing golf.”
Jamieson isn’t going to Ohio State just for the athletics, as she also said their strong academics are another reason she wants to attend the school, as she is undecided on a major at this time.
“They have strong academic programs, and that is important to me,” she said. “I’m narrowing down what I want to study, but I haven’t made a decision on that yet.”
For the entire season, Jamieson was a part of the Hillsboro Lady Indians Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC) and sectional championship teams, as she was also the individual champion of the FAC, not losing a single match in conference play.
Jamieson was also selected to the coaches All-SE District first-team.
The Division I girls state champion was Katie Hallinan of Cincinnati Walnut Hills with a total score of 137, shooting three-under-par for the two-day event. The team state champion was Lewis Center Olentangy Orange, winning by 10 strokes (602) over second-place Centerville (612).
Jamieson wanted to thank those all who have supported her.
“I want to just say thank you to everyone who has supported me,” she said. “I want to thank my family, coaches, teammates and friends. It has been an amazing experience.”
During the two-day event on Friday and Saturday, Jamieson finished with a total 36-hole score of 158, having a score of 78 on Friday and Saturday finishing with a score of 80. After regrouping on the front nine in the afternoon by shooting 2-under-par, Jamieson figured all the excitement was finished for the day.
After talking with family and coaches, she had a conversation with Ohio State women’s golf head coach Therese Hession, and the excitement was far from over for Jamieson on Saturday afternoon. Seeing how Jamieson reacted to not having her best round of golf in the morning stages of the state tournament, and how the Hillsboro junior played on the front nine holes in the afternoon, Coach Hession offered Jamieson a spot on the Ohio State women’s golf team to play Division I golf. By Sunday night, Jamieson verbally accepted the offer.
“When Coach Hession started watching on the second day, I was at the 15th hole and they watched through the 18th hole … they saw the bad part,” Jamieson told The Highland County Press. “It was drastically the worst nine holes of high school golf of my career. By the 17th hole, pieces were coming together.”
Following her score of 78 on Friday, the second day didn’t start off as well as Jamieson would have liked. She shot a 47 on her first nine holes (holes 10 through 18) Saturday morning but began the day with par on the 10th hole, and from there she completed the remainder of the back nine holes on the Gray Course at OSU.
During the afternoon, Jamieson had a good streak of golf, shooting 2-under-par on the first through ninth holes for a score of 33 on the par 35 round. In her afternoon portion of the state tournament on Saturday, Jamieson began the first hole with a par on a par 4, followed with par again on a par 3.
For the third straight hole – this time on the third hole – the Hillsboro junior shot par on a par 4, then birdied on the fourth hole, taking just two shots on a par 3.
The round continued with another two consecutive pars on the fifth and sixth holes. Followed by a bogey on a par 4 at the seventh hole, Jamieson wrapped up her state tournament with a birdie on a par 5 at the eighth hole and then her third birdie on the ninth hole for the score of 33 on the front nine.
“After the first tee shot on hole 1 on the front nine (the afternoon session), I forgot about what happened in the morning, forgot about the bad play and just wanted to keep my composure,” Jamieson said.
Hillsboro girls golf coach David Hilliard spoke about the moment on the first hole when following the tee shot, Jamieson just wanted to laugh.
“After she played nine holes and she had hit her tee shot on the first hole — her 10th hole of the day — Kristin said, ‘Coach, can we just laugh for a minute that I three-putted six times on the front nine?’ As we walked down the fairway, she and I did laugh about it, and I think she really relaxed at that point and went out and played her best nine holes of the year, 2-under-par at the state tourney.
“(Coach Hession) said she wanted kids on her team that wouldn't give up when things were going bad – amazing how something great can happen from something bad. That being said, obviously KJ wanted to score and play better, but she was still 26th in the state in Division I — a great accomplishment. It’s an honor to be there and represent your school.”
Following her aforementioned play on the front nine and for the entire two-day event in Columbus, Jamieson said she was in contact with Coach Hession the day before and had planned to meet with the head coach and OSU assistant coach Stacy Snider following the state tournament. That is when a dream became a reality.
“After my round, I wasn’t happy with how I played and I was talking with my family and coaches,” Jamieson explained. “When I went to talk with Coach Hession, it wasn’t even on my mind to receive an offer that day. She said she saw me struggle, but also saw how I came back from it on the front nine … and ‘that’s why we want you on our team.’
“We were all excited and shocked …. I didn’t think the offer would come that day. When Coach Hession told me those were the reasons they wanted me, they told me they knew I was a fighter, and that was a quality they enjoyed in me. When they made the offer, I just looked at my family and didn’t know what to do. It was an overload of emotion.
“I didn’t give an answer then. On Sunday, I talked with coaches and family and verbally accepted the offer. It was a dream come true. Three years ago, I said I wanted to be a Buckeye after golfing in an event. To have it come true is absolutely breathtaking.”
This was the second time in consecutive seasons in which Jamieson has golfed on the Gray Course at Ohio State. Last year due to inclement weather (freezing rain and 32 degrees temperatures), the event was cut to just 18 holes and one day of competition. That year (2016), Jamieson finished 34th with a score of 84.
This past weekend was a different story for the Hillsboro junior as her +18 score of 158 left her tied for 26th with Alexis Savage of Springboro, who had scores of 77 and 81 for the two days of golf. In all, there were 72 golfers in the event.
“I remembered I told my mom earlier in the day that I can’t give up on a round because it just gets worse,” Jamieson said of her Saturday morning score. “It was so bad that I lost count of how bad it was. I didn’t know where I stood. I just turned it around (on the front nine) and told myself if I was in a national championship and my team was relying on me, I couldn’t give up then, either. Then on the front nine, I just started playing golf.”
Jamieson isn’t going to Ohio State just for the athletics, as she also said their strong academics are another reason she wants to attend the school, as she is undecided on a major at this time.
“They have strong academic programs, and that is important to me,” she said. “I’m narrowing down what I want to study, but I haven’t made a decision on that yet.”
For the entire season, Jamieson was a part of the Hillsboro Lady Indians Frontier Athletic Conference (FAC) and sectional championship teams, as she was also the individual champion of the FAC, not losing a single match in conference play.
Jamieson was also selected to the coaches All-SE District first-team.
The Division I girls state champion was Katie Hallinan of Cincinnati Walnut Hills with a total score of 137, shooting three-under-par for the two-day event. The team state champion was Lewis Center Olentangy Orange, winning by 10 strokes (602) over second-place Centerville (612).
Jamieson wanted to thank those all who have supported her.
“I want to just say thank you to everyone who has supported me,” she said. “I want to thank my family, coaches, teammates and friends. It has been an amazing experience.”