Ohio Amateur Championship
In 2017, the Ohio Amateur held six qualifiers around the state to identify the state’s best amateur golfers.
Kyle Richardson from Medina carded a one-over-par 72 to win medalist honors in the Canton Sectional held at Brookside Country Club. Samuel Meek from Cincinnati fired a three-under-par 68 to best the field by four strokes at Moraine Country Club.
In Elyria, Rocky River’s Kevin Duncan carded a one-under-par 71 to advance to the state championship. Camden Soloman’s four-under-par 67 was the best score posted at Mound Builders Country Club.
Paul Huber and Dominec Maricocchi tied for low medalist, with a pair of one-under-par 71’s at Coldstream Country Club. Stephen Watts from Toledo, fired the best score, a three-under-par 69, at Red Hawk Run in Findlay.
The Ohio Amateur was held at Springfield Country Club July 11-14. Austin Sipe, from Centerville, a former member of the Wright State Golf Team, fired rounds of 67-68-67-74 for a total of four-under-par to take the top spot over Alex Weiss from Pickerington and Delaware’s Grant Godfrey, who both posted even-par for the tournament.
Ohio Junior Amateur
Jack Kozlowski, from Columbus, won the Ohio Junior Amateur with rounds of 70-72 for a two-round total of two-under-par at Ashland Golf Club.
Runner-up honors went to Akron’s Cade Breitenstine. After carding a disappointing 75 in the first round, Cade came back to fire the low round of the tournament, a four-under-par 68 to finish one stroke shy of the winner.
Ohio Mid-Amateur Championship
The Ohio Mid-Am was held at Miami Valley Country Club in June. Matt Buse, from Dayton, improved every day with rounds of 73-70-68, to win by two shots over the pair of Michael Cress and Kevin Graberman, both from Columbus.
Ohio Senior Championship
The Ohio Senior Amateur was held at Dayton Country Club in August, with Derek Gustafson from Cincinnati hoisting the trophy. He carded 72-70 to finish at one-under-par and hold off a trio of competitors, Douglas Lockwood, Tim Murphy and Tim Hickman for the win.
Women’s State Amateur Invitational
Ashley Au, a junior at Olentangy Orange High School, won five matches to capture the 2017 Women’s State Amateur Invitational. She beat Alyssa Burritt 3 & 2 in the final match held at Belmont Country Club in Perrysburg in July.
Women’s Senior and Mid-Am Championships
Suzi Spotleson won the Women’s Senior State Amateur Championship in her first attempt on her home course, Brookside Country Club. Just a couple weeks later, Spotleson was medalist and champion of the Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship held at Belmont Country Club near Toledo.
She is no stranger to athletic competition. She was a four-year letter winner in softball at Northwestern University and played in the Collegiate World Series.
Previously she was medalist in the 2008 Women’s Amateur Invitational and finished runner-up in match play the same year.
Ohio Junior Girls
Sarah Willis, a high school junior from Eaton, won the Ohio Junior Girl’s Championship at Marion Country Club. She competes on the Eaton High Boys Golf Team and has been named Boys First Team SWBL all three years.
She won both the 2016 and 2017 Girls Division II Ohio State High School Golf Championships and holds the Ohio High School record for scoring at 68-68 = 136.
Willis is just as talented off the golf course. Currently ranked first in her class, she maintains a 4.0 GPA and has verbally committed to play golf at Penn State in the fall of 2018.
