By Bud Denega
Annika Neumann was, quite literally, born into the game of golf. Instead of a bouquet of congratulatory flowers or a smiling stuffed animal, Neumann's grandfather gifted her a set of plastic golf clubs on the day she was born.
"Golf is kind of like a family thing," Neumann said. "… I don't know what my life be like without golf."
So it's not a stretch to say golf has been there every step of the way for Neumann, a junior golfer for Ohio Northern University.
Aside from direct family members, one of the first people Neumann knew was her swing coach. The two were introduced to one another when Neumann was at age three, and just a few years later, the two worked together on various golf drills.
And while Neumann enjoyed playing the sport, she didn't have the same passion for it as say her older sister or father or grandfather.
"I was your average stubborn 12-year old," Neumann said. "Dad would say, 'Go to the golf course and practice,' and I would say, 'No, I don't want to do that.'"
The tenuous relationship with golf festered to a point where Neumann seriously considered dropping the sport in lieu of high school soccer.
"I was playing soccer, and I was looking around at all these girls, and I'm pretty average compared to all the rest of the girls on the field," Neumann said. "I knew I'd make difference on the golf team.
"I'm a rational person. I was better at one thing than the other."
But still, Neumann didn't truly love the game. It wasn't until midway through her high school career that Neumann took to golf, and she can thank an injury for that.
Neumann dislocated a major tendon in her arm that stretches from one's hand to their elbow. What started as a simple annoyance during her sophomore year grew in discomfort and actually restricted her range of motion.
Neumann needed surgery after her junior season of basketball. That required her to set the golf clubs aside for five months, and, for the first time in her life, Neumann began to long for the game.
"I realized, I actually missed it," Neumann said. "When I got back into it, I started putting more effort into practicing, and that's when I made the bump up to the next level."
That next level being collegiate golf aspirations. Neumann's father made a list of all the colleges in Ohio and within shouting distance of the Buckeye state that had a mechanical engineering major and a women's golf team.
From that list, Neumann whittled it down to two, Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Saginaw Valley State University in Saginaw County, Michigan. Just a couple days prior to early signing day, Neumann was convinced she'd go to Gannon.
"I said, 'Dad, I'm going to Gannon, and he was like, 'OK, sleep on it, and we'll call the coach tomorrow,'" Neumann said. "I drove my half an hour to school, and I got there, and I had a mini panic attack in the car, and thought, 'Nope. I'm going to Saginaw.'"
Neumann organized all the proper paperwork and committed to the Cardinals. She spent two years in Michigan, was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Golfer of the Week as a sophomore and held a stroke average of 83.4 in her two years as a Cardinal.
And while the athletic endeavors were going splendidly, the other end of being a student-athlete wasn't. Neumann chose SVSU because of golf and mechanical engineering, but when the school was going to make it difficult for her to graduate in four years — and force her to go a fifth — she looked for alternatives.
And thus, ONU head coach Chad Bucci and Neumann got in touch.
"Annika was one I was trying to recruit her freshman year," Bucci said. "… We talked about the program, and how much of an impact of a player she'd be."
That was proven early, as Northern won its first tournament this season — the ONU Fall Invitational. During that tournament, one in which Neumann placed second overall, Bucci saw something in his newly-added junior that delighted him.
Following a poor shot, Neumann slammed her club into the ground in frustration, knowing she could do better. Instead of getting upset, Bucci thought about the potential.
"I want to know she cares how she's performing," Bucci said. "My first thought is, 'OK, her stock just went up.' It sent me a signal that she cares, and she knows she can get better."
Neumann currently owns the Polar Bears' second-best scoring average at 82.4. She has helped Northern finish first three times this fall — the ONU Fall Invitational, the Columbus Cup Match Play and the Ohio Athletic Conference Fall Championships.
And while those accomplishments are applaud-worthy, Neumann has her sights set on more for Northern come the springtime.
"I'd like to help the team get to nationals, and we are on the right track, so far," Neumann said.
In the meantime, Neumann will continue to strive for improvement in the sport that has been there since the beginning and doesn't plan to leave any time soon.
