SYLVANIA, Ohio — Each year, the community welcomes the LPGA to northwest Ohio with open arms. Behind the scenes are local residents who extend that warm welcome a step further, opening their homes to some of the best golfers in the world.
"This is where we had the big after party when Gaby won," said Stephanie Kuhlman, referring to Gaby Lopez, who took home the crystal trophy at last year's Dana Open.
"They were all taking turns drinking champagne out of it," Kuhlman said.
She and her husband, Doug Howard, began hosting athletes and their caddies a few years back.
"We were having dinner at Mancy's Italian down the street and sitting next to us was one of the LPGA golfers, Emily Patterson, and her boyfriend, Ollie, who is a caddy on the LPGA tour," Kuhlman said. "We struck up a conversation and by the end of it, Ollie invited himself to come back the next year to stay with us."
Over the years, the couple has hosted a number of caddies and golfers. This year, Lopez is back and she brought her mom. It's a full house.
"It's actually more fun when there's more of them," Kuhlman said. "It just becomes a big party."
The house guests arrive a few days before the first round and stay until the day after the tournament wraps up.
"They love when they get to stay with host families that maybe feed them, help entertain them, just provide a few of the comforts of home that they don't get while they're on the road for so long," Kuhlman said.
It's a personal connection beyond what a hotel or Airbnb would offer.
"Gaby, last year when she won," Howard said. "She was so excited to come home and have Bolognese that Stephanie had been cooking all day."
The couple said that playing host has allowed them to get to know the golfers and caddies and they've formed true friendships through the experience.
"We've tended to host the girls and the caddies who are somewhere between late 20s and early 30s, so they're our kids' age and they become kind of like your kids," Kuhlman said. "Gaby, we were one of the first to know when she got engaged over the winter and she sent us texts of her getting engaged in the pictures."
Of course, when they're in town the golfers and caddies have a job to do and it's been great for Kuhlman and Howard to see just how hard they work.
"They don't take it lightly. Obviously, it's their livelihood," Howard said. "They're professionals. They leave sometimes it's 5 in the morning and they get back at 6 at night or sometimes they leave at 11 if they have a late tee time, and get back at 9."
When they do get home, they have a comfortable place to unwind.
"Depending on if their day went well or did not go well, they'll come home and they'll just instantly want to engage and talk about it. Another one may just want to have some time alone," Kuhlman said. "Gaby last year, she'd come home and her routine was to get on the phone, on Zoom with her coach and then she'd get on Zoom with her life coach and then her physio would come over and make sure she the massages she needed. So it's fun to see how different they are in their preparation and how they handle the day they just had."
It's not all work and no play. Kuhlman and Howard have collected some fun memories over the years.
"They like to play ping pong. A lot of ping pong," Howard said.
"They're unbelievably competitive at ping pong. It got a little crazy," Kuhlman said.
Doug witnessed one of the caddies shooting his first hole-in-one. Then, there was the time the athletes took in some "football."
"Last year, I think England was playing in the soccer finals and I came home from work to find like 30 of the players and caddies in my basement just going crazy every time England scored and that was so much fun to watch," Kuhlman said.
Of course, there was the huge party after Lopez won and Kuhlman had a feeling it would happen.
"We had made dinner the night before the tournament round, the championship round and Gaby was actually helping me unload the dishwasher," Kuhlman said. "I had a vase, a cut glass vase in the dishwasher and she held it up and she said, 'this looks just like the one I might win tomorrow' and there was something in my gut that said 'she's gonna win tomorrow.'"
Which, of course, she did.
Kuhlman and Howard encourage others to become host families. There are all types of groups depending on what your space allows.
They said they get more out of it than they give and they've learned so much about other cultures through this experience.
If you're interested in hosting an athlete during the Dana Open, contact tournament staff at this link.