Three area golfers to compete in national event

Ariel Witmer of North Lima, Mark Olbrych of Boardman and Mark Passarello of Poland are in the Optimist.

By JOHN KOVACH

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

NORTH LIMA — This could be the year that Ariel Witmer of North Lima barges into the national limelight to stake her claim as one of the top young up-and-coming female golfers in America.

After tying for 19th place last year in the 2008 Optimist International Junior Golf Championships held at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Witmer is ready to show what she is made of when she competes in the 2009 national Optimist tournament July 25 to Aug. 2 at the same golf course.

That’s because the recent South Range High graduate has continued to improve and perfect her game this past spring and summer after winning the 2008 Division II girls state championship by eight strokes with a final-round 69, and is very familiar with the PGA National Resort and Spa course.

“This will be my fourth or fifth national optimist tournament. I tied for 19th last year which was my best finish,” said Witmer, 18, who will be competing in the girls 16-18 division from July 30 through Aug. 2 over three rounds.

“I feel like that since it is my last year and I played that course so many times in previous years, and that it is an easy course, I think that this is my year to turn it on.”

Named the Huntington Bank/Ohio High Magazine player of the year last fall after winning the state title with a 1-under-par 139, Witmer always has done well in the national Optimist competition.

“We play two days of 18 holes to determine who makes the cut for the final 18. Only the top 35 players make the cut. I always made the cut in every meet I was there,” said Witmer, who also is preparing to enter Longwood University in Farmville, Va., on a full golf scholarship next month.

To get ready for her coming new challenges, she has been getting in a lot of practice lately in between her summer job.

“I have been playing golf all over the area this summer,” said Witmer, who was a member of the South Range boys team under coach Bob Ferranti, because the school doesn’t offer girls golf.

The daughter of Tammy and Terry Witmer, Ariel plans to major in biology at Longwood. She is eyeing a career either in veterinary medicine or marine biology.

Witmer will be one of three area players in the national Optimist tourney, being joined by Mark Olbrych, 18, of Boardman and Mark Passarello, 13, of Poland. All three qualified at the Ohio Optimist International Junior Golf Championship Tom Frazier Memorial held June 14 at the Weatherwax Course in Middletown, after passing pre-qualifying tests at Deer Creek course in Hubbard May 9.

Olbrych will compete in the boys 16-18 division play also set for July 30 through Aug. 2, while Passarello will vie in the boys 12-13 division from July 25-27.

Olbrych, a recent Boardman High graduate who plans to attend Youngstown State this year and play golf for the Penguins, will be playing in his first national Optimist tourney after winning the District 16-18 title. He shot a two-under par 70 to best a field of about 80 golfers.

This has been a watershed golf season for Olbrych, who was a two-year member of the Boardman High golf team and has been golfing for only about three years.

“I got a lot better than last year,” said Olbrych, who combines a busy golf schedule with his job as a bagboy at The Lake Club. “I played in a lot of tournaments this summer.”

Two of his other highlights this year were his strong showings in both the U.S. Open and Ohio Open qualifiers. He shot a 75 in a U.S. Open qualifier to miss the cut by three strokes, and a 74 in the Ohio Open qualifier to miss the cut by one shot to earn an alternate’s spot.

“This is the first time I ever tried [in the U.S. Amateur qualifier]. That was a confidence booster for me. There were a lot of good professional and college players,” said Olbrych, who won three tournaments in all this year. “This has been a season that I really progressed as a golfer.”

He also had a good finish in the Mid-Ohio Invitational against a mostly Ohio collegiate field, firing a one-under 143 to tie for 19th place.

“Most of the players in the field are college players and attend colleges like Kent State, Akron, Bowling Green, Ohio State, Malone and Youngstown State,” he pointed out.

The national is expected to attract players from more than 35 states, five Canadian provinces and 30 nations.

Optimist International is one of the world’s largest service club organizations with more than 110,000 adult and youth members in 3,600 clubs worldwide.

Carrying the motto “Bringing Out the Best in Kids,” Optimists conduct positive service projects that reach more than 6 million young people each year.

The Optimist Junior Golf program is one of the organization’s most prominent projects.

kovach@vindy.com