Hillsboro High School graduate Kristin Jamieson won the Women’s Ohio State Golf Association (WOSGA) Ohio Women’s Amateur last week with her father, David Jamieson, serving as her caddie for all six rounds. She went had to play extra holes to secure the win.
This week she will be playing at the Golfweek Midwest Collegiate at Purdue’s Kampen Course.
Jamieson shot 75 in the first round, which seeded her sixth out of 32 players in the championship flight.
The WOSGA Ohio Women’s Amateur was the first match play tournament she ever played in.
Last year she won the WOSGA Junior Girls event and set the 36-hole scoring record with six under par. This win gave her back-to-back WOSGA titles.
In the extra round Jamieson was matched against Katlyn Shutt, a fifth-year senior at Youngstown State University. They started the match both parring the first hole. Shutt birdied the par five second hole. Jamieson answered on the next hole with a tap-in-birdie, squaring the match.
“I proceeded to lose the next five holes. Things just didn’t fall my way in that stretch and Shutt didn’t miss one shot. She was three under par and lights out through eight holes, making me five down on the ninth tee,” Jamieson said. “I was mixed with emotions. I was slightly sad because I knew how hard it would be to come back from being five down in 10 holes. I was partially angry because my dad and I had worked so hard and played so well all week to be playing in a blow-out championship match. Mostly I was determined that this was nowhere close to the end of the match and she was still going to have to play really well to win. It was then my dad looked me in the eye and said, ‘Let’s take her to 18.’ We were both ready to put up a fight.
The fun part came next, Jamieson said.
“I two-putt birdied the par 5 ninth and hit a wedge to a foot on 10. I had gotten two holes back, now I was three down,” she said. “We halved 11 and 13 with a par, and 12 with a birdie. On 14 (I was still three down) came Shutt’s first and only mistake of the day where she hit her tee shot in the woods. I won 14 and 15 and was one down with three to play. On 16, my dad gave me a perfect read and I buried my birdie putt. We were all square with two to play. I lipped out my birdie putt on 17 and barely missed on 18. We were on to extra holes. We halved number one with pars and were back to the second hole. Shutt was in jail off the tee behind a tree, but I could go for the green. I hit my ball about 20 yards short of the green and chipped up to about 3 feet. I proceeded to make my birdie putt and win the match one up.”
Jamieson shot five under par on the last 12 holes and hit 19 of 20 greens in regulation.
“I was in disbelief then of what I did and I still am even days later. It was such a surreal feeling knowing that I overcame the odds and fought my way back into the match. This win and that day was probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing golf. It was one that I will never forget,” she said. “This week was so cool and redeeming for my dad and I. Growing up my dad wasn’t able to caddy for me in any junior events, though he had always wanted to. It was special for him to be right by my side all week and see the work that I’ve put in over the years to pay off.
Jamieson said the win meant more than any other she has ever recorded.
“During my freshman year at Ohio State I faced more adversity in this sport than I ever had. I sustained a severe sprain to my ankle — nearly breaking it — the day I moved into Ohio State, which affected my fall golf season and then a wrist injury in February, just before the spring season started,” she said. “I recovered and played in two tournaments in the fall, but I still wasn’t myself. This win is so heartfelt because I was at my lowest point with golf I had ever experienced during my freshman year. It seemed that I couldn’t get a break, just like it was during the first eight holes of the championship match. While I hadn’t gotten to the upside in real life, that match showed me that you can always fight back through adversity and come out on the high side.”
