by Caleb Barron
Six hours a day, seven days a week, Jessica Porvasnik of Hinckley, Ohio, hits golf balls. Though she claims to be a “natural” at the sport, the rising junior puts plenty of preparation into her game. Her many hours spent on the golf course are paying off. In the past calendar year, Porvasnik has claimed five top-5 tournament finishes, verbally committed to play golf at Ohio State University and won the Cleveland Junior Open. Twice.
She first scored victory at Cleveland on her 16th birthday in just her second official AJGA tournament. This time around, Porvasnik returned to Red Tail Golf Club as a seasoned veteran, narrowly missing out on a win the previous week at the Hudson Junior Invitational. There would be no chance of flying under the radar.
Though she is a two-time AJGA champion, Jessica Porvasnik only started playing golf less than five years ago. She says the game came easy to her.
But Porvasnik says she wasn’t worried. She had put in the work, her swing was good and she wanted her head to stay out of the way. Holding a three-shot final-round lead over her competitors, Porvasnik twice bounced back from bogeys to notch birdies on the next hole. She says moving past mistakes is a personal strength.
“A lot of people keep bad scores with them, but you have to move on and think, ‘Hey, I can get this back,’” Porvasnik said.
Porvasnik sealed the victory with steady play on the back nine, finishing five strokes lower than the field. The win gave her the rare AJGA distinction of repeating as an Open champion. But she won’t rest on her laurels; Porvasnik is competing in the Rolex Tournament of Champions next week. Taking a break from the golf course wouldn’t feel right.
“I like to play all day,” Porvasnik said. “I’m not one to just sit back and relax. Relaxing is playing golf.”
If her calm golf-course demeanor is any indication, Porvasnik is telling nothing but the truth.
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