After taking break, Bailey shoots 71, wins at Sandy Pines for 4th time
- Val T.
- Aug 5
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 6
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
DEMOTTE — Golf can be a frustrating sport, even for an accomplished player like Rochester senior Olivia Bailey.
Especially for an accomplished player like Olivia Bailey.
Bailey reworked her stance during the offseason to try and get more distance off the tee, but the results were not showing in her scores during summer events.
So she took two weeks off and did not touch a golf club.
Bailey returned to the course with better results in her final summer events, and she began the school season with a 71 to earn medalist honors at Sandy Pines Golf Club in DeMotte to help Rochester shoot a 367 and finish fourth out of 15 complete teams at the Kankakee Valley Invitational.
Bailey’s win continued her dominance at Sandy Pines. She won medalist at the Kankakee Valley Invitational for the second straight year – she shot 77 at last year’s tournament – and she is also the two-time reigning regional medalist at Sandy Pines.
Bailey was declared the medalist over Valparaiso’s Kennedy Gutierrez, who also shot a 71, based on the tiebreaker criteria. The first criteria was score on hole No. 11, which is the highest handicap on the course, and Bailey had the lower score.
Winamac was the other area school in the field, and they shot a 497 to finish 13th.
Hunter Hines led Winamac with a 106, Brianna Patton had a 122, Cady Jones had a 132, Marissa Iverson had a 137, and Kandace Kroft had a 142.
Hines is the only returning player from last year’s sectional team.
Munster won the team title with a 343. Lake Central was second with a 351, and LaPorte was third with a 366.
Other Rochester scores included Molly Moore’s 77, Lexi Haughs’ 98, Lily Chipps’ 121 and Chloe Winn’s 124.
Moore, a sophomore, finished fifth among individuals. Chipps and Winn were making their varsity debuts.
Rochester won this tournament with a 339 last year. This was their first match after the graduation of Ava Thomas, one of the most decorated players in program history who finished 27th among individuals at state last year and who is now playing at Grace College.
Another player from last year’s team that tied for 12th at the IHSAA state finals who did not graduate chose not to play.
“I think it’s tremendous,” Rochester first-year coach Dan Bailey said of the team score. “We talked in our big two days of practice before we came here – zero expectations at this point. I think Lily’s played one 18-hole event, our home invitational. Chloe, I think, played the same invitational. I talk to them a lot. I kind of felt like it was unfair to bring them here and just really encouraged them to stay positive and go play the next shot and how it goes goes. But we set some individual goals for both of them, and they shattered the goals we started with, so that’s a good thing”
Bailey said six girls came out for golf. Audrey Widman did not play Monday, but Bailey said she will rotate with Chipps and Winn for a spot as the season progresses. The tournament operated under double par rules, and coach Bailey noted that Chipps and Winn had far more holes in which they did not have a double par than holes in which they did.
“We have such a dichotomy, where we’ve got really experienced players and players that don’t have any experience,” coach Bailey said. “It’s going to be a unique year, but today was a good start.”
While Bailey’s score was six strokes lower than her score at the same tournament one year ago, Moore’s score was seven strokes lower.
“They’re both way better mentally,” coach Bailey said. “Mental strength, the ability to think through shots on the golf course. I think Olivia hit two drivers all day today, and so to be able to look at a hole, how to dissect it, different ways to play it and then to be able to execute it. So both of them have grown tremendously mentally, and that’s great for Molly because she’s two years younger. So she’s getting there early.”
Coach Bailey described Olivia’s summer as “rough,” saying she changed her swing in order to get greater distance. Asked about it, Olivia said she did not change her swing so much as she changed her stance.
“I’ve not really changed my golf swing as much, more my setup,” Olivia said. “So I’m working on being more stable in my setup, so I can have more momentum going through the ball. … I thought it was difficult. It definitely took a while. We’re playing in foursomes, so I think that makes it a little more difficult.”
But her scores did not decrease, and coach Bailey said she became frustrated, so they decided on the two-week break.
She resumed playing three weeks ago, and in her final tournament of the summer, she shot a 74 with 16 pars and two bogeys in a tournament at Legacy Hills Golf Club in LaPorte.
“So after we had that little reset, and she came back and just gradually got back into it, she and I don’t walk about score goals or anything like that,” coach Bailey said. “But I was pretty confident that she was going to play well because she was in a good mental space. She had overcome the huge summer hurdle and got through it, and fortunately, in the three weeks before today, started to see some results.”
Olivia said she was feeling “overwhelmed” prior to the break.
“I felt like I wasn't playing very well, and I wasn’t having very much fun, so I just took a two-week break and reflected on my game and why I was playing and tried to get in a better mental state for the next tournaments,” Olivia said. “I think it did work. I’ve been working on my mentality and all the basic fundamental stuff because it can be really hard to have a steady mentality the whole time, so I’ve been working on that.”
Meanwhile, coach Bailey praised Moore for her progress during the summer.
“Consistently, I think she’s getting stronger, older and more mature, mentally strong,” coach Bailey said. “She played great all summer.”
Kankakee Valley Invitational
at Sandy Pines Golf Club, DeMotte, Monday (par 72)
Munster 343, Lake Central 351, LaPorte 366, ROCHESTER 367, Logansport 375, Crown Point 378, Chesterton 380, Valparaiso 385, Illiana Christian 413, Kankakee Valley 435, Rensselaer 460, Hammond Noll 475, WINAMAC 497, Portage 498, Highland 516, Trinity Greenlawn (incomplete team)
MUNSTER (343): Ingersoll 74, Zangrilli 76, Padilla 91, Cipowski 102, (Andriessen 113)
LAKE CENTRAL (351): Huppenthal 78, Urbanski 89, V. Schilling 91, A. Schilling 93, (Parks 98)
LAPORTE (366): Menne 80, McQuarters 94, Buchanan 96, Leniski 96, (Spain 106)
ROCHESTER (367): Olivia Bailey (36-35) 71 (medalist), Molly Moore (39-38) 77, Lexi Haughs (45-53) 98, Lily Chipps (60-61) 121, (Chloe Winn (61-63) 124)
LOGANSPORT (375): Wilburn 83, Lundy 91, Graham 98, Baker 103, (Kranz 105)
CROWN POINT (378): Ziolkowski 90, Franklin 91, Harper 98, C. Zentz 99, (K. Zentz 103)
CHESTERTON (380): McCoy 83, Driscoll 88, Kisic 99, Robison 110, (Bolinger 118)
VALPARAISO (385): Gutierrez 71, Jackson 93, Siatras 103, George 118, (Cochran 125)
ILLIANA CHRISTIAN (413): Kats 84, Dobrijevich 91, Balkema 101, Novina 137, (Ray 142)
KANKAKEE VALLEY (435): Summers 99, Putman 101, Capellari 111, Alicea 124, (DeBoard 133)
RENSSELAER (460): Strange 106, Veldman 114, Render 119, Pickering 121, (Stanley 144)
HAMMOND NOLL (475): Senteno 106, Braviere 112, Espinoza 125, Quiroga 132
WINAMAC (497): Hunter Hines (53-53) 106, Brianna Patton (63-59) 122, Cady Jones (69-63) 132, Marissa Iverson (66-71) 137, (Kadence Kroft (70-72) 142)
PORTAGE (498): Krenkel 99, Arnn 121, Abella 137, Cardenas 141
HIGHLAND (516): Miranda 126, Arredondo 127, Hughes 128, Owens 135
TRINITY GREENLAWN: Palmer 99, Cory 115, Bush 118
Top 5 individuals: 1. Olivia Bailey (RHS) – 71, 2. Kennedy Gutierrez (VALPO) – 71, 3. Hannah Ingersoll (MUN) – 74, 4. Josephine Zangrilli (MUN) – 76, 5. Molly Moore (RHS) – 77
NOTE: Bailey was declared the medalist over Gutierrez due to lower score on the highest handicap hole. Bailey had a 4 on No. 11 while Gutierrez had a 7.
Comments