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If Alyssa Shimel is on top of her game, she just may find herself playing alongside a
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Alyssa Shimel
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pair of professional golfers she admires at the 26th Annual Jamie Farr LPGA Owens Corning Classic July 1-4 at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania.
“I like Suzann Pettersen and Brittany Lincicome,” said Shimel, a 2010 graduate of Eastwood High School. “I just like their swings and how far they can hit it, around 270 or 280 yards. I hit around 260.”
Shimel, 18, has been attending the Jamie Farr Classic with her father, Jeff, since she was 5 or 6 years old. Later this month she will have an opportunity to qualify for the Classic pending her performance in a tourney qualifier June 28 at Sylvania Country Club.
“It definitely would be a great experience,” Shimel said. “I played in the Ohio Open last August in Kettering, and that was open to professionals and amateurs, but not the big-name pros. People with their (pro) cards were there, which was kind of neat because you get to compare your game with professionals. I finished 10th and I was the low amateur for the tournament.
“Playing in the Jamie Farr has been one of my goals since I started going to the tournament. It means a lot to play in it. I've been working on my game a lot so I can qualify. I've been hitting the ball pretty well lately, and my short game is starting to come around.”
Judd Silverman, tournament director for the Jamie Farr Classic, gave Shimel one of the two amateur exemptions to play in the June 28 qualifier. The top two scorers in the qualifier will play in the Jamie Farr Classic, which this year has a $1 million purse.
Shimel, who captured the Division II individual state championship last fall at Ohio State University's Gray Course, said she is familiar with the Sylvania Country Club layout.
“I played it once outside of high school tournaments,” she said. “The greens are pretty fast. There are a couple of tight holes where you have to hit the ball pretty good to play well.”
Shimel is no stranger to playing against top competition. A three-time state qualifier at Eastwood, she is the No. 1-ranked girl in Ohio for girls under 18 or non-collegiate players by Junior Golf Scoreboard.
“That shows that my hard work has paid off,” Shimel said. “It makes me want to work that much harder to keep getting better.”
Shimel was the player of the year in the Northwest Ohio Girls Golf League as a sophomore, junior and senior, and she was that league's rookie of the year as a freshman.
On June 1, she shot 75 to finish in a three-way tie for second place at a USGA Women's Public Links qualifier at Eagle Crest Golf Club in Ypsilanti, Mich. Her score enabled her to advance to the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championships June 21-26 in South Bend, Ind.
Previous Women's Public Links champions include LPGA players Michelle Wie and Danielle Ammaccapane.
Shimel has also qualified for the Big Eye Junior Golf Tournament July 25-30 in New Jersey, and she will play in the Women's Ohio Amateur in St. Clairsville, Ohio, July 18-23.
A month later, she will begin attending the University of Michigan, where she received a full golf scholarship.
“I'm super excited to go,” said Shimel, who plans to study accounting.
Shimel began golfing with her father at age 2
“She beat me when she was 13,” Jeff Shimel said.
Alyssa has a goal of one day competing on the LPGA Tour.
“After college I would like to pursue a pro career,” she said. “If I don't go professional, I'll be involved with golf somehow, whether it's teaching or running a pro shop. I'll always be involved in golf in some way.”
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