Bailey shoots 67, wins regional medalist for 3rd straight year
- Val T.
- Sep 30, 2025
- 7 min read
Lady Zs claim 7th place; Pioneer’s McKaig shoots 86 in final prep round
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
DEMOTTE — Rochester senior Olivia Bailey pulled off a disappearing trick on hole No. 17 at the Lake Central girls golf regional at Sandy Pines Golf Club Saturday.
It also doubled as the greatest shot she has ever hit in a lifetime full of them.
Bailey shot a 5-under-par 67 to win regional medalist honors for the third consecutive year and also advance to state for the third straight year.
Only Bailey advanced from Rochester. As a team, the Lady Zs shot a 367 and finished seventh in the field of 15 complete teams, ending their season.
Other Rochester scores included Molly Moore’s 89, Lexi Haughs’ 96, Lily Chipps’ 115 and Audrey Widman’s 155.
Lake Central won the regional with a 332. South Bend St. Joe (341) and Penn (347) also advanced to state.
In addition to Bailey, Valparaiso’s Kennedy Gutierrez (70) and Munster’s Hannah Ingersoll (76) were the other individuals on non-advancing teams.
But the showstopper was Bailey’s hole-in-one on No. 17. There is a large reservoir and a long fairway bunker on the right and another bunker just in front of the green.
Bailey chose an 8-iron from approximately 133 yards and went right at the flagstick. The ball hit the stick on the fly and slammed right in the jar. There was a delayed reaction because witnesses thought the ball had deflected off the flagstick.
But in fact, the ball had disappeared.
Bailey took the ball out of the cup and posed briefly for photos. In addition to her blue ribbon after the round, she also received a plaque from Sandy Pines
Director of Golf Andy Simpson acknowledging the ace.
“I started it right at the flag, and it just landed in the hole, and it didn’t bounce at all,” Olivia said. “I was a little confused at first, but that was my first hole-in-one ever, so I was really happy about that.”
Coach Bailey was not witness to her daughter’s accomplishment. He was elsewhere on the course.
“I got a text from her mother (Emily),” coach Bailey said. “And it was about four texts back and forth before I believed it was true. ‘Don’t mess with me. Are you serious?’”
Rochester started on the back nine, and Bailey started with a double bogey on No. 10 but came right back with a birdie on No. 11, a 456-yard par-5.
“I was really emotional,” Olivia said. “Because I knew it would be my last time playing at regional, so I was kind of upset on that hole, but I knew I had to turn it around. So I was able to birdie the next hole, which I was happy with.”
Then came three straight pars, and then she got hotter than Phoenix in July.
She birdied Nos. 15 and 16. Then came the hole-in-one on No. 17. Then she stuck her approach shot on the par-4 18th within two feet to set up another birdie. She parred No. 1 and put her second shot on No. 2, a par-5, in the bunker but played the downhill slope on her bunker shot within three feet and sunk the birdie putt.
After a par at No. 3, she made another birdie at No. 4. Her approach on the par-4 fifth hole was just off the green to the right. She took out her wedge, put it back in the bag and took out her putter. Then she changed her mind again and reached for the wedge and chipped in for yet another birdie.
She had played a 13-hole span in 9-under-par.
“I felt really good with my putting,” Olivia said. “And I just felt like I was able to be aggressive today, and this is a course that I really like. I shoot well here normally, so yeah, I felt like I could be aggressive. … That’s the most birdies I’ve ever had in a round.”
Bailey’s approach shot at No. 6, a diabolical dogleg to the right with another large reservoir along the right and an elevated green surrounded by bunkers, got plugged in the bunker. Bailey needed two shots to get out and two more putts for her second double bogey of the round. She finished with three straight pars.
She shot a 72 to beat then-teammate Ava Thomas by four strokes at the 2023 regional. She shot a 71 and beat Lake Central’s Allie Huppenthal by five strokes and Penn’s Scarlett Biever by eight at last year’s regional. Coincidentally, Huppenthal and Biever were Bailey’s playing partners Saturday.
In addition to the three regionals, Olivia also won the Kankakee Valley Invitational in August each of the last two years at Sandy Pines.
“Actually the pins out there today were in spots where if you felt like you were in control of your golf ball, you could go at some of them,” coach Bailey said. “Her iron play was tremendous. Just every one was super close or within a 10-foot circle. But she feels really comfortable here. … I don’t know what it is. This is a hard golf course, but she feels really comfortable here. That’s probably the most important thing for a golfer.”
Like Bailey, Moore also birdied No. 15.
“Up and down,” coach Bailey said. “I actually think she hit it really well. She had trouble on the greens, and that’s one thing where it gets frustrating really fast if you’re hitting it really well and just can’t get much to drop.”
Haughs has improved from a 117 at the 2023 regional and a 108 at the 2024 regional.
“The holes I saw her, she hit some really good tee shots,” coach Bailey said. “I don’t know that she had any major penalties off the tee. She just didn’t get it into a position where she could score. She was scrambling around the green a lot. She was another one I feel like she hit it better than her score shows.”
This was also the first tournament without double-par rules for the team. That especially impacted players with less experience like Chipps and Widman.
“I think both Lily and Audrey, I’m really happy with them,” coach Bailey said. “That’s a tough situation because neither of them have played in a tournament where they had to hole out on every hole. They’ve always had that double-par max. … Up until today, if you have a bad hole, you can pick it up and reset in your mind how to play the next one. Today, it was you’ve got to get that thing in the hole. So that’s a really tough mental thing, and you can’t practice for it, and I think they both did a really good job of managing it.”
Logansport, who beat Rochester on the fifth player’s score tiebreaker at the sectional Monday, finished in 11th place and 36 strokes behind the Lady Zs Saturday. Kankakee Valley, who was third at the sectional, was 10th at the regional with a 400.
State tee time
Bailey will tee off at 8:50 a.m. Friday from the front nine at Prairie View Golf Club in Carmel for the state finals.
Tippecanoe Valley’s Savana Miller will tee off at 8:40 a.m. from the back nine.
Tee times for Saturday’s final round will be determined after Friday’s round.
“I’ve played with her several times, and I was happy she got to state also,” Olivia said of Miller.
Mia McKaig
McKaig, a senior, from Pioneer did not advance after shooting an 86. That score was six strokes higher than her regional score last year, when she qualified for state. McKaig birdied the par-4 fourth hole but followed with a triple-bogey on No. 5. She also had double bogeys on Nos. 1, 9 and 17.
In addition to becoming the first Pioneer golfer to qualify for state in 2024, McKaig finishes her career with the nine-hole and 18-hole school records. She was also a regional qualifier in 2023 and conference medalist in 2024 and 2025.
LAKE CENTRAL REGIONAL
at Sandy Pines Golf Club, DeMotte (par 72)
Lake Central 332, South Bend St. Joe 341, Penn 347, Munster 358, Crown Point 363, Chesterton 366, ROCHESTER 367, Valparaiso 396, Mishawaka Marian 398, Kankakee Valley 400, Logansport 403, LaPorte 428, Marquette Catholic 440, North Judson 463, Hammond Noll 499
LAKE CENTRAL (332): Huppenthal 75, Urbanski 83, Parks 87, A. Schilling 87, (V. Schilling 96)
SOUTH BEND ST. JOE (341): M. Dunham 82, L. Dunham 82, Hull 86, Jeffrey 91, (Schmeltz 102)
PENN (347): Tobin 82, Biever 84, Norris 88, Bauer 93, (Lee 96)
MUNSTER (358): Ingersoll 76, Zangrilli 82, Cipowski 99, Glombicki 101, (Padilla 102)
CROWN POINT (363): K. Zentz 89, C. Zentz 90, Harper 92, Ziolkowski 92, (Franklin 96)
CHESTERTON (366): McCoy 83, Kisic 83, Driscoll 96, Dodds 104, (Robison 105)
ROCHESTER (367): OLIVIA BAILEY (35-32) 67, MOLLY MOORE (47-42) 89, LEXI HAUGHS (48-48) 96, LILY CHIPPS (59-56) 115, (AUDREY WIDMAN (78-77) 155)
VALPARAISO (396): Gutierrez 70, Jackson 105, Siatras 106, Cochran 115, (George 117)
MISHAWAKA MARIAN (398): Florkowski 79, Syer 105, Fleming 107, Brough 107, (Snider 123)
KANKAKEE VALLEY (400): Capellari 92, Summers 95, Norwine 101, Putman 112, (DeBoard 132)
LOGANSPORT (403): Lundy 91, Wilburn 94, Kranz 108, Graham 110, (Baker 119)
LAPORTE (428): Spain 99, Leniski 107, McQuarters 109, Kirk 113, (Menne 115)
MARQUETTE CATHOLIC (440): Pleasant 96, Bonez 107, Acosta 114, Schultz 123, (Meyer 157)
NORTH JUDSON (463): S. Chaffins 109, Sievers 114, Box 115, A. Chaffins 125, (Wright 139)
HAMMOND NOLL (499): Braviere 115, Senteno 120, Stibich 126, Quiroga 138, (Espinoza 146)
Individuals: MIA MCKAIG (PIONEER) (45-41) 86, Krenkel (Portage) 88, Balkema (Illiana Christian) 93, Geleott (Rensselaer) 94, Kats (Illiana Christian) 95, Dobrijevich (Illiana Christian) 100, Wojtas (John Glenn) 102, Schroeder (New Prairie) 107, Smith (Elkhart) 109, Palmer (Trinity Greenlawn) 109, Tyler (Tri-County) 123, Norem (Knox) 127, Napierala (Boone Grove) 138, Johnston (Hobart) 140, Maddox (SB Adams) WD
Top three individuals on non-advancing teams: 1. OLIVIA BAILEY (ROCHESTER) – 67, 2. Kennedy Gutierrez (Valparaiso) – 70, 3. Hannah Ingersoll (Munster) – 76
MEDALIST: OLIVIA BAILEY (ROCHESTER) – 67
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