Bailey ‘scrambles’ to 75, is in 9th going into final round at state

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Olivia Bailey

CARMEL — Scrambling around the course on a day in which she said her ball striking was not in peak form, Rochester’s Olivia Bailey shot a 3-over-par 75 at the first round of the IHSAA state finals at Prairie View Golf Club Friday.

Bailey, participating at state for the third consecutive year, sits in ninth place in the field of 108 golfers. She is seven shots behind Carmel freshman Maya Fujisawa Keuling, who shot a 4-under-par 68 and leads by two strokes.

Bailey’s round included two birdies, 11 pars and five bogeys. Her birdies came on the par-5 13th hole and the par-4 17th hole. Her only three-putt came on the par-5 18th hole and led to a bogey.

“It definitely wasn’t as good as I would have liked it to be,” Bailey said of her ball striking. “I missed a lot of shots, and I didn’t have very many consistent misses, but I just had to scramble and try to make par wherever I could. … I had a lot of up-and-downs and some good bunker shots and stuff like that. I was happy with how I was able to come back after a bad shot.”

Bailey said she hit her driver less often than she would during a normal round. She described herself as a “conservative” player and said she has grown comfortable hitting a 5-wood off the tee.

“I didn’t hit my driver very well today, so I hit a 5-wood a lot off the tee instead because it was safer and I felt more comfortable with it,” Bailey said.

Rochester coach Dan Bailey said Olivia’s work trying to add length to her game since last year paid off Friday.

“It really has more to do with the fact that she is really comfortable with a 5-wood,” coach Bailey said. “That’s probably her favorite club in the bag. Anytime she gets to a hole where she could hit a driver and be at 60 or 70 yards out versus hitting a 5-wood and being 100 yards out, she’ll choose the 5-wood every time. She hits her driver well, but her misses are worse with her driver, and today, she hooked a couple of them off the tee, so she was really comfortable with her 5-wood, and she hits it far enough now.

“She worked a lot this winter on speed training and trying to hit it further, and it shows. Because she was able to hit 5-wood off a lot of the tees, and it didn’t cost her anything.”

Her putting was also an asset, especially given the greens baked in the unusually warm mid-80s temperatures for October. Coach Bailey called the greens “unbelievably fast and really firm.”

“So the first couple holes, Olivia hit really good approach shots, and they were landing pin-high or really close to the pin, and they’d bounce off the back of the green, so she had to make an adjustment in the middle of playing. She had to take a few yards off her approach shots and try and land them on the front of the green because even wedges that usually spin and stop were bouncing forward.”

Coach Bailey also complimented Olivia on her mental game and body language, saying she looked “comfortable.” That helped her stay in the top 10 despite her ball striking being “just a little bit off.”

She tied for 26th at state in 2023 and tied for 20th in 2024.

“I don’t know what eased the nerves, but she was very different today than she has been the last two years,” coach Bailey said. “Much calmer. Still didn’t have quite enough self-belief… but I think she’s in a really good spot as far as being happy with where she is and how she’s playing. … I don’t know what caused it. I know I’ve been pushing it for three years.”

Olivia received a sendoff from the student body at school Thursday before leaving for Carmel.

“It was fun,” Olivia said. “I was kind of nervous about it, but everybody was super supportive. … Just because I was the only one walking, and I had to walk through the school, and like the whole band, and I don’t love attention.”

Bailey will tee off at 9:50 a.m. today on the front nine for her second round. She said she needs to “play my own game.”

“I’m hoping to be in the top 15, but goals for tomorrow are just focus on one shot at a time and not letting the competition get to my head,” Olivia said. “My best placement has been 20th so far, so I’m hoping to get inside of that.”