Golfers Ian Asch and Timmy Hollenbeck spoke in hushed tones Thursday morning while hitting practice shots on the driving range at Lassing Pointe Golf Course in Union.
They weren’t just warming up; they were pumping up each other while getting into a winning mindset ahead of the second and final round of the 85th Northern Kentucky Amateur Championship.
Asch, the first-day leader after shooting 3-under-par 68 Wednesday, turned to his 6-foot-7 Wright State University teammate with unwavering confidence.
“One of us is going to win today,” Asch told Hollenbeck, who nodded in agreement.
The words weren’t empty. They were backed by performance. Asch, a former Covington Catholic golfer representing Summit Hills Country Club, knows Lassing Pointe like a second home.
Hollenbeck, from Mason High School in Ohio, entered the final round emboldened by a first-round hole-in-one on No. 14, which helped put him in sixth place Wednesday with a score of 71. Both golfers were solidly in the hunt.
When competition got underway Thursday, the golfers proved their belief wasn’t misplaced. Asch and Hollenbeck schooled the field when it mattered most, securing the top two spots before holding glass trophies presented by the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association.
Asch captured his first Northern Kentucky Amateur title. Hollenbeck was runner-up.
“It was great to see both of us at the top,” said Asch, a rising senior with two years of eligibility at Wright State.
Hollenbeck agreed.
“I think it’s awesome, especially doing it with my teammate,” said Hollenbeck, a Wright State rising junior. “I thought we both played well.”
Asch was unbeatable over the final three holes. He carded three straight birdies on 16, 17 and 18 while storming back from the brink after shooting 40 on the front nine. Asch shot 34 on the back half for a second-day 74. He finished with a two-day score of even-par 142 after slamming the door with his late birdie blitz.
Hollenbeck shot 1-over-par 72 Thursday for a two-day total of 1-over 143. He won a scorecard playoff with defending champion Luke Coyle, a University of Alabama golfer who transferred to Kentucky last week. Coyle also shot 143.
There was a four-way tie for fourth. Chris Harpum, Dhaivat Pandya, Michael Hake and Justin Sui all finished at 144. Harpum, a former Ryle High School standout, golfs at Belmont University. Pandya, a one-time University of Kentucky golfer, won the Northern Kentucky Amateur in 2019. Hake currently golfs at Kentucky.
COLD-BLOODED FINISH
Asch had nearly tumbled out of contention Thursday after six bogeys through his first 15 holes, sitting closer to 10th place than first. With the leaderboard packed, his grip on the tournament was slipping away. But then, he delivered an amazing closing stretch.
A crowded field made his path back even tougher. Five golfers had better scores after 15 holes, and another matched him. Harpum had 130 after 15, while Hollenbeck, Coyle and others hovered just behind. Asch needed something special to even have a chance.
Then he leapfrogged them all, shooting birdie 3, birdie 3, birdie 3 over the final three holes. Nobody else was able to keep pace, and that was that. The tournament’s first-day leader was also a first-time winner.
Asch is the first golfer from Covington Catholic to win the Northern Kentucky Amateur since Paul Huber in 2014. CovCath golfers have won three of the last 19 crowns. Local all-time great Jim Volpenhein won in 2007.
Taking note was CovCath alumni director and one-time Colonels golf coach Alex Ammerman. He had four former players in this week’s Championship Division field. He coached Asch at CovCath. In fact, Ammerman gave Asch a pep talk after his former standout failed to travel with Wright State to April’s Horizon League Tournament.
Ammerman was one of a handful of coaches and mentors who advised Asch to tighten up his game and bounce back as a better golfer. Asch took it all to heart.
“I definitely had a chip on my shoulder after that because I knew I wasn’t golfing good enough, so this is very rewarding after all the hard work I put in over the last couple months,” Asch said. “It’s also good to carry on the CovCath legacy at the tournament.”
Asch also added to Wright State’s growing reputation at the Northern Kentucky Amateur. He’s the second Raider to win the tournament in three years. Adam Horn won it in 2023.
“Adam might have been here if he wasn’t vacationing with his family in California,” Hollenbeck said.
Furthermore, Asch eclipsed his dad at the Northern Kentucky Amateur. Jason Asch, Ian’s caddie this week, once qualified for match play at the tournament but he never won. Nevertheless, the younger Asch said his dad outdid himself by relaying a masterclass of calming advice during their rollercoaster day together at Lassing Pointe.
“As I was going through it, I told my dad if I don’t win, I hope Timmy wins because he’s one of my best friends,” Asch said. “My dad was having none of that.”
Northern Kentucky University golfers are no doubt hoping to up their collective game in response to the Wright State takeover at the Northern Kentucky Amateur. The Raiders outshined their Horizon League peers in NKU’s own back yard after winning the league tournament title last month. The Norse finished eighth at the Horizon event.
NKU sent a handful of golfers from this season’s squad to the Northern Kentucky Amateur. The top finisher for the Norse was Luke Muller, formerly of Highlands High School, who tied for 11th. NKU’s Zack Beard tied for 16th. Three other Norse golfers missed the cut.
For Wright State, rising sophomore Jake Wittenaur tied Muller for 11th. Incoming Raiders freshman CJ Scohy tied for 30th. Rising sophomore Jack Ward missed the cut by a single shot.
“It was a good week for the Raiders,” Asch said. “And it was a good day for CovCath.”
AERNOUTS OUTDUELS RAMAGE
Reagan Ramage, one of the best high school golfers to come down the pike in northern Kentucky, lost in a bid to win her first Northern Kentucky Amateur. University of Arkansas-Little Rock golfer Eleonore Aernouts, originally from France, won the Women’s Division with a final score of 6-over 148.
Ramage, a six-time regional champion at Cooper, shot 153. She followed up Wednesday’s first-round, co-leading score of 73 with 80. Aernouts shot 75 Thursday following her first-day 73.
“I originally didn’t plan on playing because the three days of the tournament are also my last three days of class at Cooper,” Ramage said. “But it’s on my home course and it’s a tournament I can get into pretty easily and I decided at the last minute to jump into it.”
Ryle High School golfer Anika Okuda finished third at 165. She was followed by Allison Gonring, the 2022 GCGA women’s player of the year, and former Cooper player Kendall Brissey, now golfing at Indiana Wesleyan University. Gonring and Brissey both shot 168.
Hebron prodigy Reese Anthony, the youngest golfer in the field at age 12, placed sixth with a score of 172. That was three shots better than Thomas More University golfer Natalie Lovell, who carded 175. Lovell played prep golf at Notre Dame Academy.