It has been an extraordinary past several weeks for Iowa golfer Amy Ihm — she was selected as a member of this season’s All-Big Ten Championship team and was named second-team All-Big Ten .
“If you were to tell me that I would be All-Big Ten my senior year, I probably would have told you that you were crazy,” Ihm in a release. “It’s really just a huge honor, and I’m pretty excited. I don’t know if it’s really sunk in yet.”
Ihm is coming off a Big Ten Tournament in which she posted a career low three-round total of 211 (5-under); breaking the Iowa women’s record of 212 for an individual 54-hole performance.
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“It has been so exciting for her to finish last week by being named to the All-Championship team and then get second-team All-Big Ten,” Hawkeye women’s golf head coach Megan Menzel said in a release. “We have just kept things rolling and have had some great momentum. I hope she has a great finish to her career and that it sparks the rest of our team. This says a lot about where our program is heading, and I am very excited.”
The senior from Peosta, Iowa, turned heads in Indianapolis, but no one should be surprised Ihm has hit her stride this season. Ihm had impressed people before she became a Hawkeye.
In Ihm’s sophomore and juniors years at Dubuque Wahlert High, she led her team to third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively, in the Iowa State Tournament for amateur golfers.
Along with team performance, she was no stranger to individual accolades; earning two first team all-state selections and being named the Mississippi Valley Athlete of the year before she earned her driver’s license.
Despite her early success, Ihm had a to take the road less traveled to reach the point she is now.
“I came into this program as a walk-on, so I was really far behind, and I knew that,” Ihm said in a release. “I knew that it was going to take a lot of hard work, but I think I’ve just put in enough hours to get me to where I am today.”
While Iowa may regret not giving her a scholarship coming out of high school, the Hawkeyes have to be thrilled she decided to stick with the Hawks to live out her dream of being a college golfer.
Ihm has done nothing but progress in her four years at Iowa.
She has decreased her 18-hole stroke average from 79.47 in her first year of competing to a 72.8 stroke average this season.
Ihm is preparing to face the NCAA’s best in the NCAA Regional in Bryan, Texas, on May 5-7.
While the bright stage may scare off some, Ihm is hardly breaking a sweat.
“I think I just have to stay confident,” she said. “I am hitting the ball really well, so just working on some putting and cleaning some stuff up, but I’m excited about getting going.”
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