St. Mary's Kay Lynn Hoo Advances to OFSAA
By Larry Moko
Who, you ask, ranks as one of the top young female players in Hamilton high school golf? It's Kay Lynn Hoo of the St. Mary Crusaders.
The Grade 9 student finished first in the girls' division of the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference championships at Piper's Heath Golf Club Tuesday.
She shot a 2-over-par 74 on the Milton course's 5,033-yard layout. And by leading the pack in the open category, Hoo qualifies for the Ontario School Athletic Associations Festival tournament, Oct. 15-17, at Lionhead GC in Brampton.
"I'm really happy with the win and how I played," Hoo said. "It's an accomplishment, especially as a freshman on the golf team."
Hoo stepped into the spotlight recently by taking top individual honours on the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic high school tour. It was comprised of four tournaments.
"Overall, my game today was pretty good," she said. "My driver and especially my short game was helping me.
"There's still room for improvement."
During the summer, Hoo also excelled as overall champion on the Hamilton-Halton Junior Golf Tour. Playing up a division against older girls, she won four of the seven tour stops.
In addition, she tied for seventh at the Golf Ontario Provincial U-15 championship.
Her personal-best score is a 5-under-par round of 67.
Seventeen girls and 24 boys took part in GHAC 2025. Hoo, however, was the lone HWCDSB entrant to punch her ticket for OFSAA.
The King's Christian Collegiate boys' team from Oakville will advance to provincials along with Will Hindemit and Quentin Ryan of Georgetown's Christ the King in the high school and open individual categories.
Jett Metaxas of the Bishop Ryan Celtics, an OFSAA veteran, placed third overall with a 5-over par 77. Boys' yardage was 6,621.
Other Hamilton-Wentworth scores were as follows: Max Campbell, BR, 83; Cameron Schweitzer, BR, 89; Jack Paiano, St. Mary, 82; Marco DiFrancesco, More, 89; Emily Haldenby, BR, WTD; Madi Rilett, BR, 128; Jada Perger, BR, 116; Hunter Birch, More, 104.
"As always, Piper's Heath is in incredible condition," BR coach and Hamilton Catholic golf convenor Giuseppe Pontillo said. "It's a challenging course. The greens are tough, there is water in play for numerous holes, the fairways are quite narrow and the rough can be deadly. Therefore, it is vital to keep the ball on the fairway in order to score well."
As for Hoo, she was a promising figure skater at regional competitions until three years ago when she gave up the sport in favour of golf.
She began playing golf recreationally with her family at a small 9-hole course.
"Kay Lynn was doing well," her father, Anthony, said of her skating prowess. "She could do several jumps like double axels. She was advancing pretty quickly.
"But she preferred golf over figure skating even though she was a more accomplished figure skater at the time."
St. Mary's coach Ashley Ovcjak says Kay Lynn is an impressive athlete whose dedication, focus and composure are well beyond her years. She's also someone who has the rare ability to tune out various distractions and remain completely locked into her game.
"Despite having only played golf for three years Kay Lynn has already reached an outstanding level of skill and confidence," Ovcjak said. "Her rapid development and consistent performance are truly remarkable. With her drive, discipline and natural talent, Kay Lynn has an incredibly bright future in golf. It will be exciting to see how far she goes."
Said Kay Lynn: "At this stage, my goal is to get a D1 golf scholarship."
Colton Cheeseman of St. Thomas More and Sierra Kowalyshyn of Bishop Ryan both passed up GHAC this year in order to participate in the Golf Ontario Invitational Super Camp.
The OFSAA boys' championship is scheduled for Oct. 15-16 at the Lindsay Golf and Country Club.
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