ATHENS, Ohio — The Ohio women's golf team is back and ready for a new season.
There are six returners and three freshmen on Ohio's roster. Although the team is young, it does have a wealth of experience from last season.
"You can already see that fire within them and I'm excited to hopefully help them achieve the goals that they want," head coach Kelly Ovington said.
Ohio will start its season at the A-Ga-Ming Invitational hosted by Central Michigan at Sundance Golf Course in Kewadin, Michigan on Sept. 3.
"I'm really excited to get back up to Michigan. It's going to be beautiful. We've never played in this tournament before, " Ovington said. "It's going to be a long drive, but it's always beautiful in North Michigan."
The Bobcats will return to Ohio the following week to attend the Jennifer Duke Invitational at the Losantiville Country Club in Cincinnati. Last season, the Bobcats finished eighth at the invitational with sophomore Mackenzie McRee finishing in 17th individually.
Ohio's Mid-American Conference slate will begin on Sept. 18 with the Brittany Kelly Classic hosted by Ball State. It will continue with the Shirley Spork EMU Invitational, hosted by Eastern Michigan, the following weekend. Ohio's last invitational of the fall season will be the Rocket Classic Invitational hosted by Toledo at the Catawba Island Club. Ohio finished in the top 10 at all of those invitationals last season.
This season, the Bobcats are focused on preparation. They're putting an emphasis on getting their work done at home so that they are able to enjoy the little things at invitationals.
"Last year, we went into a couple situations that we weren't at all totally prepared for. We're trying to do more prep work and a lot of course management, looking at courses, and putting in the hard work before we leave," Ovington said. "That includes in the classroom. We try to get all of our classroom work done before we leave."
Ohio had four student-athletes named to the 2022-23 WGCA All-American Scholar Team at the conclusion of last season. Sophomore Mackenzie McRee, junior Thanya Arasu, junior Sydney Longstreth and now-graduated Avery Ovens all earned recognition for their contributions on the course and in the classroom.
Extra preparation will help the Bobcats toward their goal of being more competitive in the fall to put them in a better spot for the spring portion of their season. However, Ovington doesn't want her team to get too caught up in the competition. She still wants them to have fun and remember that golf isn't just about how they place.
Ovington hopes that the relaxed atmosphere from the preseason continues into the Bobcats' first invitational. She's excited to see how the season goes from there.
"Everybody's really excited about competing," Ovington said. "It helps motivate me to want to be better, so we're kind of pushing each other along, which is nice. I'm excited to see what we're going to see from this."
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