Lake’s Feather rebounds on back 9 for top honors

Lake senior golfer Olivia Feather picked up the sport for fun, but now it has become a passion. This year, she was the Northern Buckeye Conference Co-Player of the Year.

“I started out my first year as a sophomore playing golf and I ended up taking lessons with one of my friends, (professional) Dave (Sanford) at Crosswinds and it went well,” Feather said.

“Then, the summer before this past summer, my sister and I and a few of our church friends just went out and played throughout the summer just for fun. It ended up bettering me and my game because we went out so often. We played at Sugar Creek almost every weekend.”

Feather and Otsego golfer Elizabeth Jackson were named NBC Co-Players of the Year as the Knights won the league championship.

The two golfers scored 232 points each in league shootouts and Jackson averaged 44 strokes per nine holes, Feather averaged 48.9 strokes. 

Feather never saw the POY award coming. She had some rough rounds in non-league shootouts, good rounds in league shootouts, but it took  a good round at the 18-hole league tournament at Green Hills Golf Course in Clyde to make that happen.

“It’s pretty great. I honestly was not even expecting it because I had a few lost matches, but then I took into consideration that they were not the NBC shootouts,” Feather said.

“They were dual matches or whatever. For the most part, I had pretty decent shootout scores. They were OK, I guess, and I ended up getting a 93 at Green Hills to win medalist.”

Feather shot 52 on the front, but then rebounded to shoot 12 strokes better on the back nine in windy weather..

“I had a 41 (on the back nine), because I started out really bad because we started on the front, hole No. 1. The wind would pick up and it would slow down a little bit,” Feather said.

Lake second-year coach Alexis Schultz has seen Feather improve over the last two years.

“I think she improved a lot. Last year she came into the season kind of unsure of how good she was and the potential that she had as a golfer. I think that once somebody was telling her that she can do this and she can be a very good athlete, she kind of took that and ran with it,” Schultz said.

 “She definitely improved over the season, and last year’s season she improved as well. With this season, she just got better and better in every match, so she has improved greatly.”

Schultz is driving the ball 200 yards, but more importantly, Schultz says she is accurate.

“Personally, I think her best aspect of her game is her long shot — her drives and her woods,” Schultz said. “She has always been very accurate with her distance and her accuracy with direction when it comes to her driver and her approach shots. She has always been very good with those.”

The Knights scored 48 points from shootouts and the final tournament, followed by runner-up Lake (42), Elmwood (33), Eastwood (29), Woodmore (26), Rossford (17), and Genoa (15).

Joining Feather and Jackson on the All-NBC first team are Summer Berry (Otsego), 47.6, Sarah Patrick (Lake), 48.7, Macy Perry (Woodmore), 51.9, and Evelyn Hartman (Otsego), 52.3.

Second team selections are Lily Schwalbe (Genoa), 54.7, Sydney Doughten (Rossford), 53.4, Mariah Hahn (Eastwood), 55.6, Evie Hall (Eastwood), 54.5, Jewell Collins (Lake), 53.9, and Maddie Milligan (Elmwood), 56.1

Honorable mention picks include Sydnie Piper (Elmwood), 55.2, Sophie Repka (Woodmore), 56.2, Libby Welly (Fostoria), 55.6, Shannon Benner (Woodmore), 55.8, Ella Speck (Eastwood), 56.4, and Haley Hogan (Rossford), 55.1

Lake was second at the league tournament at Green Hills Golf Course in Clyde, scoring 411 to trail Otsego (407). Schultz was pleased about the finish, but even more pleased for her team’s future.

Other than we have a very new team and we are excited for the future and what it has in store for us. We have a lot of new talent coming in as freshmen. Sarah Patrick is a freshman this year and she is going to be very good over the next couple years. She was outstanding this season as well.”

Schultz says that part of the reason Patrick’s game is flourishing is because of Feather.

“Sarah and Olivia are actually close friends, so that helps them motivate each other to want to be better and compete against each other,” Schultz said.

Lake scores at the NBC meet included Patrick (48-47-95), Collins (57-52-109), Morgan Feather (59-55-114), Jade Rose (57-58-115), and Abby Loving (57-60-117), Rose is the only other senior and Loving is a junior.

The Lake golfers season ended at the Division II sectionals at Ironwood near Wauseon. The Flyers shot 418 to finish fourth behind champion Gibsonburg (380), Archbold (394) and Wauseon (395). If the Flyers had finished third, they would have advanced.

Patrick shot 49-48-97, Feather shot 50-52-102, Collins scored a 54-52-106, Loving shot 56-57-113 and Rose scored 68-60-128.