By Tom Lang
Each golf season there are certain players that the coaches and competitors think are odds on favorites to win the state title, and even better, the Miss Golf award recognizing the best overall effort.
This year, the winner came out of left field as the saying goes. And she agreed.
Portage Central senior Olivia Griwsold is the new 2026 Miss Golf.
She also won the Division 1 state title in record form, never finishing higher than 19th in prior tries.
“I wasn’t even thinking about Miss Golf this year,” she told me. “So, it just feels really good because I worked so hard on my game this year… it feels like my work paid off.
“Winning states this year, all I could think was oh my gosh I never came close to that. And the same thing with this (award). I never got on the Super Team before. And never thought I’d get close to Miss Golf. So, it took me by surprise, but it feels so awesome.”
Olivia’s full body of work stood out among a strong field of wonderful Michigan prep golfers. She won the state final at Bedford Valley Golf Course by shooting 5-under 67 in round one to tie an MHSAA Div. 1 record – then added a 74 on Day 2 to finish at 3-under par, 7 strokes ahead of the runners up.
Regarding the team’s third-place showing at states, Griswold added: “We’ve been in sixth place the last couple of years, and that’s about where we were projected to be this year, so I’m so proud of everyone for staying in it and playing some of their best golf of the year. We didn’t expect to be top three, so super proud of everyone.”
Olivia averaged 72.7, winning eight of 13 events and finishing no worse than third in any event. She won medalist honors in the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference for the second consecutive season, leading her team to a third consecutive league championship. At an August invitational at Cedar Creek Golf Course in Battle Creek, Olivia set a course-record 9-under-63.
She was in it for the long haul, however. Throughout high school she played in 46 of 47 events, missing just one due to freshman orientation.
“First of all, it is an absolute honor to be the golf coach of this young lady,” said coach Tony Ely. “In my opinion, Olivia represents the exact ideology of what it means to be Miss Golf. She is an amazing student (4,7 GPA), a great friend, a Teammate to die for and then throw in the fact that she has worked her tail off to be the best golfer in the state! This was just the most amazing way to end the exciting high school golf career chapter.”
Off the course, the 6-foot-1 athlete is a four-year varsity basketball player at Portage Central, earning all-conference three times and is a returning team captain heading into the winter. Olivia has accepted an athletic scholarship to play on the women’s golf team at Western Michigan University next year.
Olivia focused on soccer most of her schooldays, but got more serious about golf near the end of sophomore year.
“When I think about this award I think of Alena Li (Okemos), who won it two years ago,” she told me. “I played with her several times my sophomore year, and I looked up to her like you wouldn’t believe. I thought she was the coolest person ever, and she was so good at golf and told myself I’d never be as good as her. I always thought how amazing she was when we played. And I thought I wish I could be like her.
“To know that’s me now is so cool and so crazy.”
