At the end, only four players broke par for the week, a testament to the quality of the venue and the fact that, in only four editions, the U.S. Senior Women’s Open has become the kind of major the USGA envisioned when it launched this championship at Chicago Golf Club in 2018.
It also speaks volumes to the pressure the competitors felt that the number of under-par scores was cut in half on Sunday. Six players teed off in the final round with red numbers by their names. Among them, they represented 104 LPGA Tour wins, including 16 majors, and three U.S. Senior Women’s Open titles, quite a feat given that this championship has been contested only four times. Laura Davies, who won the first edition, and 2019 champion Helen Alfredsson led the way after three rounds at NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio. Annika Sorenstam, who won last year and came into the week as confident as she has been since her retirement more than a dozen years ago, began Sunday a shot behind.
So, it says even more about the quality of senior women’s golf that a player who never won on the LPGA Tour made this championship her first victory.
“I knew at the turn I was a couple back, and from that point on, I really had no idea. I knew that I was close when I made a couple of birdies, but I tried not to focus on it.
Jill McGill
Jill McGill, who turned 50 in January, came from a shot behind to catch and pass a plethora of legends, including Catriona Matthew, Juli Inkster and Liselotte Neumann.
McGill, a two-time USGA champion having won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1993 and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in 1994, fired an even-par round on Sunday, bogeying her final two holes to finish the week 3-under par, one stroke in front of Leta Lindley, two clear of Matthew and Alfredsson and three ahead of Inkster, Sorenstam and Davies.
“I knew at the turn I was a couple back, and from that point on, I really had no idea,” McGill said. “I knew that I was close when I made a couple of birdies, but I tried not to focus on it. All I could do was what I could do, and whatever everybody else was doing was what they were doing.”
In fact, she had no idea that her tap-in for bogey at 18 (a three-putt) was for the win. Her playing competitor, Sorenstam, had to tell her. “I was going to tap in and (Annika) goes, ‘No, no, no, mark.’ I'm like, ‘Why? I'm this far.’ She goes, ‘You're going to win.’ I was like, ‘What?’ I really had no idea.”
What she does know is that the USGA continues to hit a home run with this championship, one every contestant is thankful for the opportunity to play.
In this edition, Hollis Stacy made another cut (her fourth, having played the weekend in every U.S. Senior Women’s Open), and the golf world bid adieu to a legend. JoAnne Carner played in all four U.S. Senior Women’s Opens with the goal of making at least one cut. While the woman who embraces the nickname “Big Mama” failed to make the weekend each time, she did shoot her age or better more often than not and signed off from the championship game by posting her age, 83, both rounds.
“I keep working on my game,” Carner said. “I think this is finally it. It's just hard work trying to get the whole game going. I let it go too bad.”
No matter how good or bad the golf is, the players have nothing but gratitude for the opportunity.
“The USGA is such an amazing organization,” McGill said. “Everybody that comes here is passionate about golf, and so when you step on the grounds with the USGA, there's such a great feeling. Everybody is excited. They embrace you. They treat us like queens. It's great.”
Staff and Wire Reports