MOUNT VERNON – There was a time, two years ago, when Maggie Williams thought about walking away from golf.
It was her sophomore year at Mount Vernon High School and her team was getting ready to play its second Ohio Cardinal Conference match at Wooster Country Club. Williams, the only girl on the team, was Mount Vernon’s best golfer.
As her team walked onto the putting green that day, she heard the comments.
Oh, there’s a girl on their team, one opposing player crowed. They’re going to be easy to beat.
Williams played that day. She competed with some of the conference’s best. But hearing those words nearly broke her.
“Sometimes I feel bad when my teammates, they go into tournaments and I’m a girl, I’m playing No. 1,” Williams said last week. “There’s always going to be that overshadowing, ‘There’s a girl on their team, they can’t be very good.’”
But it was Williams’ teammates who picked her up that day. They had her back, Williams recalled, and even though Mount Vernon didn’t win the match, the program won something much bigger: Williams, a budding star, decided to stick around.
It’s a good thing she did.
Now a senior, Williams is representing Mount Vernon this weekend at the Div. I girls state tournament. She’s the Yellow Jackets’ first state qualifier since Robert Williams, her brother, made it his senior year in 2014.
“I’ve been working towards this since my freshman year. I watched my brother go… and I’ve always wanted to kind of beat him out I guess,” Williams said with a smirk. “So not making state until this year was kind of – I think it was good for me, just so that I knew I needed to work harder and earn my spot at state, instead of just kind of having it handed to me.”
Williams made it to state by placing third at sectionals (the top three teams and individuals advance) and third at districts (she ranked first among individual finishers, as the top two golfers had already qualified with their respective teams). Williams shot a six-over-par 76 on Friday in the first day of the state tournament, putting her seven strokes back heading into day two.
While Williams will be facing off against girls this weekend, she’s spent the majority of her career competing against boys. Ever since seventh grade, she’s been the only girl on the team, Williams said. Through the adversity, she’s become stronger.
“It’s been difficult – it’s really been difficult at times – just playing some golf courses where I can’t even hit it over hazards on my first shot,” Williams said. The demeaning comments from opponents don’t help, either.
“But I’ve just kind of taken everything that has happened these four years and just tried to make it the best I can, and just try to make me better as a person and a player. I’m really thankful for my teammates and my coaches. They’ve supported me through everything, and I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
MAGGIE’S JOURNEY TO STATE: Back when Maggie Williams first started playing golf, it wasn’t about state titles or proving doubters wrong.
It was about keeping up with Robert.
“I started going to the golf course just following in my brother’s footsteps, doing whatever he did,” Williams said. “So if he was playing golf, I was out on the golf course; if he was swimming, I was in the swimming pool.”
Williams’ first set of clubs were hand-me-downs from her brother. She got her own set in fifth grade, and she’s played competitively ever since. She’s spent countless hours at Apple Valley Golf Course over the years, sharpening her skills in an attempt to follow in her brother’s footsteps.
Robert golfed at Kenyon College the last four years. When he was home for the summer, however, he and Maggie would hit the course. He’d give her pointers and she’d follow his lead. Maggie improved steadily over her four years at Mount Vernon, going from varsity starling to respected contender.
But according to Maggie, it wasn’t until this summer – when Robert graduated from college and moved away to Texas – that she took her game to the next level.
When Robert and Maggie would train together, “he would just tell me to do something and I would do it,” she said. This summer, without Robert there, Maggie had to push herself to get better. This allowed her to make serious strides heading into her senior year.
“Without him being here, I had to be a lot more self-motivated to get better and to go out to the golf course and practice, and I think that really helped me,” Williams said. “I mean, obviously him moving that far away was really difficult for me, but I think it was a blessing in disguise for me to get better at golf and to get better on my own.”
The results this season have spoken for themselves. Mount Vernon head coach Anthony Savage said Williams has improved in all aspects of her game.
“Her short game has improved, her greens and regulation has improved, so she’s done everything,” Savage said. “She drives the ball a little bit better. She hits her irons a little bit better.”
Williams said she was fueled this offseason by the fact that she missed districts last year. She felt determined to not only reach districts – a tough task in the competitive central district – but also make it to state in her final high school season.
“It’s my last year,” she said, “so I think I just started to do everything that was in my power to get better.”
Williams went five-over through her first 12 holes at districts – having missed the cut last year, she blamed it on nerves – but her confidence never wavered. Williams proceeded to shoot an impeccable three-under on her last six holes, finishing with a 74. Savage called it “the best six-hole stretch of her career.”
“Every shot was hit exactly where she wanted to…” Savage recalled. “It was just perfect golf.”
45 minutes later, after the tournament’s final group had finished, Williams’ fate was announced: she would be heading to state in less than two weeks.
“It was pretty surreal,” Williams said the day after. “I still can’t really put words to how it feels.”
A ROLE MODEL TO ALL: The postseason represents a unique challenge for Williams: she goes from playing against boys all year to playing against girls.
The transition has its upsides and its downsides. While Williams must quickly adjust to playing on girls tees, which are shorter and require different clubs, she can also use her strength to her advantage on longer holes. What may be billed as a girls’ par five could feel like a par four to Williams, giving her a mental edge as she approaches the tee box.
Williams is one of only a few girls locally to deal with this transition. Mallory Graham, the district qualifier from Mount Gilead, is the lone female golfer on an all-male team. So is Leila Raines, the Michigan State commit from Olentangy Berlin. But for the most part, golfers like Williams, Graham and Raines are few and far in between. Girls typically either play for an all-girls team or not at all.
Mount Vernon does not have a girls team (this is due to a lack of interest, Savage said). Williams says she got lucky.
“Mount Vernon gives me the opportunity to play on the boys’ team,” she said. “But some schools, they don’t even give that chance to other girls.”
When asked why Mount Vernon allowed Williams to compete on the boys team, Savage said the decision was simple.
“It doesn’t matter – big, small, male, female – golf is one of those sports where, essentially, your score and your collection of scores dictates whether or not you’re in the lineup,” Savage said. “Over the course of four years, [Williams’] scores clearly have dictated that she deserves to play. And not only that, she’s able to compete at a high level against great competition.”
Williams was terrified walking into tryouts her freshman year – “it was probably one of the scariest times,” she said – but she has emerged as one of the most respected golfers on the team. Boys of all ages look up to her and try to learn from her, Savage said.
“Our younger players have come in knowing her capabilities. Our juniors that have been with us for now three years have tried to raise their level of play and have just, from a distance, watched to see what Maggie does – how she practices, how she prepares, how she shows up to everything,” Savage said. “Her being a part of our program, she’s kind of been the model of where I want our other players to get to.
“She doesn’t require me to tell her everything that should be done. She takes ownership of what she’s trying to do and what she’s trying to accomplish and she runs with it.”
Opposing coaches praise Williams for her ability to compete with – and beat – the boys. They also praise her mentality. Over the years, Savage said, Williams has mastered the art of focusing on the task at hand. Even during tough rounds, she trusts that her work ethic and preparation will eventually put her in a position to succeed.
“She’s extremely poised; she’s confident; she’s sure of herself; she really has a good understanding of golf; and she has the ability to just get in her zone and worry about herself and not be distracted and worry or care about really what’s going on around her,” Savage said.
“So when we’re going to boys tournaments and we’re playing with some of the best teams in the state, and she’s playing in our No. 1 position with other teams’ No. 1 positions, she’s not worried about how far they’re hitting it or if they’re a couple under par or whatever. She’s just trying to go out there and be the best version of Maggie that she can be, and that takes a ton of maturity, to be able to do that.”
Williams said she’s been inspired over the years by Rains, who carries a similar mindset. Both players are the same age, and both have overcome similar struggles to dominate on boys tees.
“I think having her play on the boys team really helped me out tremendously…” Williams said. “She helped everyone else see that girls can do it, too.”
Williams’ high school golf experience has given her confidence on and off the course. She’s done what others said she couldn’t, and it’s transformed the way she thinks about adversity.
“I have friends that just can’t believe that I’m playing on a boys team, and I think it’s just helped me become a stronger person,” Williams said. “I face a lot of adversity every single day, and I have figured out how to react to it, how to turn it into a good thing, and I think a lot of people haven’t had those kind of opportunities.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Williams is looking to play golf in college, but she isn’t sure where yet. She wants to play for a national contender, potentially at the Div. III level.
Eventually, she wants to work in the golf industry. She’d love to be a club pro or a swing coach. There’s something about the game – the routine, the opportunity to improve each day – that she doesn’t want to give up.
But for now, Williams is focused on the task at hand: state. Both she and Savage were hesitant last week to attach expectations to the trip – “the more expectations you put on yourself in golf, the more difficult it seems to become,” Savage said – but Williams does want to return with some hardware.
“I know there’s a lot of talent at state, obviously, so I’m just going in with the mindset that I’m going to have fun and enjoy everything that’s there,” Williams said. “But also, I hope to at least make third- or second- or first-team all-state.”
Williams will compete on Ohio State University’s Gray Course for the first time this weekend. She’ll be the first girl golfer to represent Mount Vernon at the state level. They key to a strong performance, Savage said, will be mastering the mental game.
Williams will need to play with a chip on her shoulder, Savage said, and understand what’s on the line. On the state’s biggest stage, she’ll need to stay true to herself.
Maggie Williams has no problem with that.
“My message to all of our players is, ‘Let’s just control what we can control and let’s take care of what we can take care of, and try to just be the best version of yourself,’” Savage said. “So if we go out and she’s just the best version of Maggie on those given days – the grittiness, the trying hard every shot, staying detailed – then regardless of what happens, it’s gonna be a solid weekend.”
Williams will tee off at 11:50 a.m. Saturday. Those unable to make it to Columbus can follow her progress here.
