Shelly Stouffer (USGA Photo)
With two days and three rounds still to go, it’s becoming clear that Shelly Stouffer is going to take an awful lot to beat. The 2022 champion not only won medalist honors on Sunday, adding a 73 to Saturday’s 71, she has also made fairly light work of her three match play opponents thus far.
In Monday’s Round of 64 match, the Canadian beat California’s Shelly Haywood, 6 and 5, and in Tuesday morning’s Round of 32 encounter, she took down 2004 U.S. Women’s Mid-Am champion, Corey Weworski, 5 and 4. In the afternoon, she did experience a minor glitch when losing the 13th and 15th holes to opponent Stephanie Kiefer of Germany after having gone 4 up through 12, but a par at the 334-yard 16th was enough to win the hole and the match 3 and 2.
“Yeah, I hit a couple of bad tee shots and that cost me, and my chip on 13 went over,” Stouffer said afterwards, “but I had a little bit of a cushion so I wasn’t too worried.”
Ominously for the seven other remaining golfers, the disarmingly laid-back Stouffer says she is feeling great and confident going into the rest of the week.
“I really like the golf course, and I really like how my game is going,” she says. “I’m hitting the ball pretty well.”
She won’t have it all her own way, of course. There’s so much talent, class, and experience left in the bracket; Stouffer won’t be expecting any easy matches. On Wednesday morning, she faces Kathy Hartwiger who beat Debbie Johnson 6 and 5 in the morning and Amy Ellerston 2 and 1 in the afternoon.
Then there’s Australia’s Nadene Gole, who beat Wendy Ohlmeyer and Annik Riff today, Dawn Woodard, Brenda Corrie-Kuehn, defending champion Sarah Gallagher, who had two 3 and 2 victories Tuesday and, like Stouffer, says her game is in excellent shape, local golfer Kim Shek and, of course, the seemingly indefatigable Ellen Port.
A four-time US Women’s Mid-Am and three-time U.S. Senior Women’s champion, Port held off Judith Kyrinis in a closely-fought Round of 32 match and then had a much easier time after lunch, defeating Kim Eaton 5 and 4.
“Judith [Kyrinis] has probably been the most successful and consistent senior player out there the past two years, so it was tough to meet her in the second round,” Port said. “We know each other’s games and there’s a lot of mutual respect. I would have been happy with either outcome, and I think that helped me pull through.”
Port knows Eaton didn’t play her best in the afternoon but was careful not to get complacent. “You have to be careful in those situations,” she said, “because no lead is big enough when you’re playing match play.”
She alluded to it earlier in the week, but Port feels she is finally seeing the light at the end of a multi-year tunnel in which she hasn’t been swinging it as well as she’d like to.
“I feel so good about my swing and where I’m at now,” she says “I’m very happy. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say I feel confident.”
Port will play Shek in the morning with the eight-time women’s club champion at Sahalee hopefully being able to count on more support from friends and fellow members, including her caddie, Adithi Anand, who plays on the women’s golf team at the University of Washington.
What's Next
The Quarterfinals will begin at 8 a.m. (PST) on Wednesday morning, followed immediately by the Semifinals approximately at 1:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Notable
- Despite healthy victories by Kathy Hartwiger and Shelly Stouffer, the most impressive performance in the morning matches came from France’s Annick Riff who overcame an ugly seven at the first hole to beat Alabama’s Susan West, 7 and 5. Riff, who won the European Senior Ladies’ Championship in Luxembourg earlier this year, won nine of the next 12 holes to seal her place in the afternoon’s Round of 16.
- The further we go in the championship, the more notable the matches become. The most significant clash of the afternoon, pitted three-time champion Lara Tennant against last year’s runner-up Brenda Corrie-Kuehn who had tied for second place in stroke play.
- At 120th in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings (USGA/R&A), Nadene Gole is the highest-ranked senior woman in the field this week. The next highest is Shelly Stouffer at 921st.
- All quarterfinalists are exempt into the 2025 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, which will be held at The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va.
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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