Dayton, OH – The captain for the first ever Team Ohio has been selected. Therese Hession, longtime women’s golf coach at The Ohio State University, has accepted the role as Team Captain for Team Ohio in 2025. After her time as the Head Coach of women’s golf, Therese served as the Director of Golf for both the men’s and women’s golf programs at Ohio State.
In 27 seasons at the helm of the Ohio State women’s team, Coach Hession led the Buckeyes to 11 Big Ten Championships as well as 17 appearances in the NCAA Championship. She was a two-time NCAA Coach of the Year to go along with seven Big Ten Coach of the Year awards. She was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015. After 30 years as a part of the Buckeye Golf programs, Coach Hession retired in January of 2022.
“I am honored to serve Team Ohio as a part of the USGA National Development Program. It gives me great pleasure to give back to the game I love while helping develop the game in Ohio.” noted Coach Hession, “ I am excited to share my knowledge with our up and coming players and get the program started in a competitive direction.”
In 2023, Ohio State renamed their spring women’s golf tournament after Coach Hession. The Therese Hession Regional Challenge brings together the top women’s golf programs in the country to Palos Verdes Golf Club in California, a tournament that jumpstarts the spring college golf season.
Hession coached a number of outstanding players in her time at Ohio State including six Big Ten Players of the Year, eight Big Ten Freshmen of the Year, 13 All-Americans, and 68 All-Big Ten Honorees. Hession was an outstanding collegiate player and a professional on the LPGA as well. She won a National Championship in 1979 as a member of Southern Methodist University’s golf team.
Ohio was selected as a pilot state for the United States National Development Program. This program is aimed to identify the top junior golf talent in the state and provide players with a pathway to progress to the national level without having to travel outside of their home state. To learn more about how this program operates within Ohio, click here to view the Ohio Junior Series website.