For all the success Mia Hammond has enjoyed at Highland Meadows Golf Club in recent years, this trip up the 18th fairway was different.
The 17-year-old from New Albany was on the cusp of her first victory in a professional tournament July 27, and a close eye saw that reality manifesting in somewhat predictable fashion.
“She was visibly shaking knowing she had to make birdie to win and par to tie,” said Mia’s father and caddie, Tom. “All I tried to do, really the whole tournament, was remind her of things she’s done on that golf course. There were a lot of positives to pull from.”
Two rounds of 66 staked Hammond to a three-shot lead, and she overcame a late surge from the pack to birdie No. 18 and win the Epson Tour’s Greater Toledo Classic by one shot.
It was the latest step in a journey that, within the past two years, has seen Hammond win the Division I state championship as a sophomore at New Albany, opt to forgo her final two high school seasons when she signed with a sports management company to pursue name, image and likeness opportunities, and earn a spot on the USGA’s inaugural U.S. National Junior Team.
Two years ago, Hammond – who committed to Duke in November 2024 and remains an amateur – made her LPGA debut in the Dana Open at Highland Meadows and tied for 26th place. The Dana Open, once known as the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, was the predecessor to the Greater Toledo Classic.
“My goal going in (to the weekend) was just to make the cut, to be honest, and enjoy the week,” she said. “I was just going to do it for the experience. That’s all I really cared about at first.”
The Epson Tour is the official qualifying tour of the LPGA.
Hammond was consistent in the first two rounds July 25 and 26, shooting 32 on Nos. 1-9 and 34 on 10-18 each day and recording 13 pars and five birdies in both rounds to get to 10-under par.
Hammond had her only two bogeys of the weekend in her final round 69, but rounds of 66 from Florida State product Amanda Doherty and China’s Yue Ren eventually pulled them into a first-place tie at 11 under.
Ren tied Hammond while Hammond was on No. 17, and Hammond heard the cheers from afar when Doherty birdied No. 18 in the group ahead of her.
So all Hammond did on 18 was hit her drive more than 270 yards down the center of the fairway and nail her approach shot about 240 yards to the front of the green. A 50-foot putt put Hammond within 18 inches of the cup.
“I’ve had short pressure putts before so a foot-and-a-half is not that bad in that scenario,” she said. “I was more nervous over getting that 50-foot putt closer. Still, in the back of my mind, I was just like ‘don’t miss it.’ ”
She did not, and the tears began to flow.
“She’s achieving what she has worked so hard to do,” Tom Hammond said. “There is only one more level to win at. It’s a cool thing to say at 17 that she has achieved this.”
Next up is the Four Winds Invitational from Aug. 1-3 in South Bend, Indiana. As with the Greater Toledo Classic, Mia Hammond received an exemption for the tournament.
She then will take more than a month off, coinciding with the first several weeks of the school year, before playing in the World Junior Girls Golf Championship in mid-September in Ontario.
“My biggest goal (in pursuing professional tournaments), it was about a year before college recruitment opened up,” Hammond said. “I wanted to make sure I was leaving a good impression on coaches and making sure I ended up in the best place for me.”
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
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