Lara Tennant (USGA Photo)
Two 18-hole qualifying rounds of stroke play weren’t enough at the 62nd U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur as eight players competed for the final six spots to advance to the Round of 64 on Monday, the first round of match play at Seattle’s Broadmoor Golf Club.
After just one playoff hole, the bracket was set for a first round of matches that featured a handful of bouts that could’ve easily come in the quarterfinals or later, few more notable than three-time Senior Women’s Amateur champion Lara Tennant pitted against three-time Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Sarah LeBrun Ingram.
Tennant became the first player since Carol Semple Thompson (1999-2002) to win at least three consecutive Senior Women's Amateur championships in 2021 and continued her quest for a fourth title on Monday with a tightly contested 1 up win over Ingram, a two-time victorious Curtis Cup captain (2021, 2022).
“I thought ‘well, that’s a tough first round pairing’!” Tennant said when she saw the draw. “I know Sarah is a great competitor and she certainly was today. Kudos to her."
The match never got more than 1 up through the opening seven holes before Tennant won four consecutive holes around the turn to go 4 up with eight holes to play. Ingram locked in and fought back with wins on Nos. 12, 13, 15 and 17 to send the match to 18th green. With nearly identical 60-footers from the front portion of the green, Ingram went first and turned up the pressure after she knocked her attempt within gimme range. Tennant then followed suit with a decent lag putt inside 5 feet before she rolled in the winning stroke.
“I am more than pleased with my two-putt. Her putt was excellent, but my putt was on a slightly different angle and had a bit more break,” Tennant said of the final hole. “I’m very proud of myself for two-putting that to win the match.”
The largest margin of victory came unsurprisingly from stroke-play medalist and 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Shelly Stouffer, who defeated Shelly Haywood, 6 and 5. Playing in her ninth USGA championship and sixth U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, Haywood had previously reached the Rounds of 32 the past three years.
On the flipside, the closest match featured the 32nd and 33rd seeds, Jackie Foster and Corey Weworski. The lone match to need extra holes, Weworski won on the 21st hole (par-3 No. 3) with a par.
One of the matches featured a reunion 28 years in the making. Ellen Port defeated Kerry Postillion in the 1996 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur final, and the pair met for a second time on Monday. Playing in her 76th USGA championship and 12th Senior Women’s Amateur, Port got the better of Postillion once again, this time with a 5-and-3 victory.
“I had to stay patient because she was playing tough. I hit my irons very well today, which is what was missing during stroke play, my yardages were a bit off,” said Port, who was 3-up at the turn. “I lost holes 10 and 11 and back to just 1-up and it really just happens quick. So I just assessed what I was doing and rectified as quickly as I could and then won the next three holes.”
“I didn’t try to hit great shots, I just tried to get the ball on the green in decent spots. I didn’t leave myself any long putts either, although I sank a really long bomb on No. 6 from about 60 feet,” she added. “I hit a decent iron into the green, but it came down the frontside of the green and made about a 60-footer back up the hill. I jokingly said I hadn’t made a long putt in years. She laughed, but I was serious!”
Sarah Gallagher’s title defense will continue at least one more match after she dispatched Lin Culver, 4 and 2.
“I really tried to focus. Didn’t hit the ball very well today, so it was tough out there. I felt like I grinded it out though, so I’m pleased,” said Gallagher, who also noted she would hit a few balls to try to gain some confidence after her opening match. “When you don’t have your best stuff, you have to focus on shot by shot or hole by hole, and finally, I started to hit it better after about the 8th hole.”
Gallagher won the par-4 9th hole with a birdie and never looked back. She claimed the par-3 11th to go 3 up and sealed the deal with a winning par on No. 16.
What's Next
The Round of 32 will begin at 7:45 a.m. (PST) on Tuesday morning, followed immediately by the Round of 16 approximately at 1:45 p.m. Admission is free.
Notable
- Bellevue’s Kim Shek, the only Washington native to advance to match play, moved on to the Round of 32 with a 3-and-2 victory against Kristyl Sunderman.
- The Round of 32 will feature a pair of matches pitting former USGA champions against one another: Corey Weworski vs. Shelly Stouffer and Judith Kyrinis vs. Ellen Port.
Medalists are 24-4 in the first round since the format switched from 54 holes of stroke play to match play in 1997. But only two medalists have gone on to win the championship: Carol Semple Thompson in 2002 at Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., and Lara Tennant, who was co-medalist in 2021, at The Lakewood Club (Dogwood Course)
- The Round of 64 saw 24 of the higher seeds advance in the 32 opening matches.
- Only one match went to extra holes on Monday, as Corey Weworski outlasted Jackie Foster on the 21st hole. The longest match in Senior Women’s Amateur history took place in 2021 when Patricia Ehrhart defeated Jayne Pardus in 26 holes during the Round of 32 at The Lakewood Club (Dogwood Course) in Point Clear, Ala.
View results for U.S. Senior Women's Amateur
ABOUT THE
U.S. Senior Women's Amateur
The USGA Senior Women's Amateur is open
to female golfers with a USGA Handicap
Index not exceeding 14.4, who will have
reached their 50th birthday on or before the
first day of the championship. It is one of 14
national championships conducted annually
by the USGA, 10 of which are strictly for
amateurs.
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