Ramstein's Elizabeth Ward follows the flight of the ball after teeing off Woodlawn's 11th hole last week in Ramstein. Ward won the match, the last before Thursday's DODDS-Europe championships, and a meeting with defending champ Hollie Salvo of Wiesbaden. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein's Elizabeth Ward follows the flight of the ball after teeing off Woodlawn's 11th hole last week in Ramstein. Ward won the match, the last before Thursday's DODDS-Europe championships, and a meeting with defending champ Hollie Salvo of Wiesbaden. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Wiesbaden's Hollie Salvo hits out of a bunker at Woodlawn Golf Course on Ramstein Air Base during last week's match in Ramstein. Salvo will be trying to defend her DODDS-Europe title when this year's championships get under way on her home course on Thursday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Hollie Salvo follows her tee shot during last week's match in Ramstein. This week the Wiesbaden junior will be trying to defend her 2009 DODDS-Europe golf title when action gets under way in Wiesbaden on Thursday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Hollie Salvo watches her chip from the edge of the green sail toward the pin during last week's match in Ramstein. This week the Wiesbaden junior will be trying to defend her 2009 DODDS-Europe golf title when action gets under way in Wiesbaden on Thursday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
When Hollie Salvo tees off Thursday at the DODDS-Europe golf championships on Wiesbaden’s Rheinblick Golf Course, the defending champion is out to prove that she isn’t ready to give up the throne quite yet.
The competition won’t be easy. The Wiesbaden High School junior will face rival Elizabeth Ward, a Ramstein senior, for the final time in what has become one of the most-anticipated DODDS golf duals each year.
Ward outgunned Salvo in the 2008 championships after overcoming a first-round deficit. Salvo notched the victory last year hammering out a decisive 62-50 victory.
“If I wouldn’t have won last year, I probably wouldn’t have been as happy with the game or played as much this year,” Salvo said.
What separates Salvo, 16, from the rest of the competition is her determination and focus, according to Jim Campbell, her coach at Wiesbaden.
“Golfers like Hollie don’t come around that often … it’s odd that a 15- or 16-year-old can stay that focused on the golf course,” said Campbell.
He said she spent a lot of time this most recent off-season working on improving her iron play.
“As the DODDS golf season is so short, you don’t improve just during the season,” Campbell pointed out. “If you want to be a top-notch golfer in DODDS, you have to work on your game all year, and she’s done that.”
Salvo cites professional golfers such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Lorena Ochoa as influences on the golf course, but perhaps no one plays a bigger part in her golf success than her father, Army Col. Chuck Salvo.
It was with her father on a golf course at Fort Benning, Ga., that the then-12-year-old spontaneously picked up a club and started swinging. What began as a young girl’s whim turned into a dream and a way of life.
“I have a lot of fun playing golf, I hope to play it for the rest of my life,” said Salvo.
Practicing up to 15 hours a week is something Salvo hopes will earn her a college golf scholarship en route to a career of playing professional golf. Salvo even converted part of her backyard into a mini driving range.
“A lot of times we take the bus back to the school at the end of practice and she stays on the course,” Campbell said. “She’s a great role model to the other golfers, because they see how good she is and they realize if they want to get that good they need to put that time and effort in.”
Even Salvo’s competition strives for improvement by watching her on the course.
“Last year, I noticed Hollie was well-rounded, that made me realize I needed to focus on my short game,” said Ward.
In addition to Campbell, Salvo credits her improvement to a German golf coach she sometimes works with as well as a couple of regulars at Wiesbaden’s Rheinblick Golf Course, who play rounds with her and give her advice.
A slim, 5-foot-7-inch teenager, Salvo often draws attention from the fact that she can outdrive many men on the course. Salvo said if she is playing with a group of guys, spectators will sometimes make sarcastic remarks such as “Ahhh, I bet she’s the best out of the group.” When they notice that she really is, they are embarrassed.
With Salvo likely moving stateside this summer, she looks forward to putting a second-place finish to Ward in a regular-season match last week out of her mind and focusing on repeating as champ.
“I would feel really accomplished and happy to win it two years in a row,” she said. “If I lose, I’d be sad, but it wouldn’t demoralize me.”
