The state tournament for the girl’s golf team of Solon High School (SHS) was held on Oct. 23 and 24 at The Ohio State University Golf Club. Kaitlin Kormuth, a sophomore on varsity, was the only individual on her team to move on to states. 

Kormuth has been playing golf since she was nine years old. According to Kormuth, she wanted to try the sport out and ended up really liking it. 

“I like meeting a lot of new people and getting to play on a lot of really nice courses,” Kormuth said. “I like the competitiveness of it too.”

According to Kormuth, this season went really well for her, as she was a medalist in many matches. She has said that she has seen a significant improvement in her skills from more practice and experience, compared to last year. She has also said that she has utilized her free-time during the COVID-19 lock-down to practice a lot.  

The head coach for the girl’s golf team is Damien Kopkas, who has coached junior varsity for two years and varsity for 14 years. When describing Kormuth’s strengths as a player, Kopkas said that Kormuth is an ideal player to coach. 

“Probably the most unique thing… that you see when you watch her play is that she is very good at controlling her emotions on the golf course,” Kopkas said. 

According to Kopkas, players tend to change their body language when they hit a bad shot, but Kormuth is even-tempered. Roma Wankhade, a member of the girl’s junior varsity golf team, has said the same thing about Kormuth’s skills. 

“When it’s a bad match or a bad practice… she doesn’t let it affect the next hit, or the next shot or the next hole,” Wankhade said. 

Kopkas said that he thinks this is because of the amount of hard work that Kormuth constantly puts in to prepare herself as much as possible for her events. 

“She is probably one of the hardest workers I have ever coached,” Kopkas said. 

Wankhade, who has been playing golf for about three years now, started playing with Kormuth in the summer before ninth grade. According to Wankhade, Kormuth is supportive of her teammates and always stays positive and upbeat.

According to Kormuth, the tournaments prior to states went well for her. She shot a 79 during sectionals and was the first individual to qualify for districts, then went on to score a 75 during districts and was the second individual to qualify for states. During the state tournament, Kormuth placed twelfth overall, out of 72 girls. 

“It was a really, really great experience,” Kormuth said. “I loved playing on such an amazing course, and it was really fun to compete at the highest level for girl’s golf.”

In response to Kormuth’s performance, Kopkas has said that she is well-deserving of all the recognition that she is getting. 

“It’s not something that she got lucky or fell into, it’s something that she’s worked hard to achieve,” Kopkas said.

Kopkas has also said that he thinks Kormuth has a successful future of golf ahead of her, even with college golf. 

“I think that she got her feet wet this year, did very well, and got some experience,” Kopkas said. “I could see her…finishing top ten, top five, maybe even as the state champion.” 

As for now, Kormuth is done with her tournaments for the rest of the season. She will continue with private lessons throughout the winter, and then pick up with tournaments in the spring and summer. As said by Coach Kopkas, Kormuth does not take days off.