McGill finds her stride in run to quarterfinals in U.S. Senior Women's Amateur

   Lisa McGill, a longtime Sunnybrook Golf Club member, led a solid showing for the Philadelphia area contingent at this week’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at Waverley Country Club in Portland, Ore. with a run to the quarterfinals before finally falling to eventual champion Judith Kyrinis of Canada.

   The 58-year-old McGill had rounds of 76 and 79 in qualifying over the 5,836-yard, par-72 Waverley layout to finish tied for 17^th place and easily earn a spot in match play.

   McGill was joined in the match-play bracket by 63-years-young Noreen Mohler, the Bethlehem resident who has been a good player forever. Mohler was the captain of a winning U.S. side that included a 15-year-old Lexi Thompson and Jessica Korda in the 2010 Curtis Cup Match at Essex Country Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.

   Mohler was the first alternate out of the local qualifier at LedgeRock Golf Club in Mohnton, Berks County, but got the call to go to Waverly.  She had rounds of 78 and 83 to finish tied for 48^th place.

   The medalist in that qualifier at LedgeRock, Merion Golf Club’s Liz Haines, failed to make match play with rounds of 83 and 85. Haines, who has teed it up in more than 30 USGA championships, was the runnerup to Carolyn Creekmore in the 2004 U.S. Women’s Senior final.

   The 69-year-old Haines was the subject of a wonderful story on the USGA website authored by Tom Mackin. Her late husband George Haines Jr. played in the 1970 U.S. Amateur at Waverley and finished tied for 18^th, 11 shots behind the winner, Lanny Wadkins.

   His strong sense of history prompted Haines to save his yardages and course notes from Waverley and his wife delivered those notes to the membership at Waverley, a course which embraces its history and was thrilled to have that little bit of oral history from nearly a half a century ago. Mackin’s story comes highly recommended from this golf blogger, particularly for anybody who remembers George Haines.

   Mohler dropped a 6 and 5 decision to Kathy Kurata of Pasadena, Calif. in the first round of match play Monday.

   McGill claimed a 2 and 1 victory in Monday’s opening round over 2007 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Anna Schultz of Dallas and McGill was on her way.

   McGill rallied from 2-down with six holes to play to get past Jane Fitzgerald of Kensington, Md. on the 19^th hole in the second round Tuesday morning and then played 3-under-par golf for 14 holes to cruise to a 5 and 4 victory over Lynne Cowan of Rocklin, Calif. Tuesday afternoon to reach the quarterfinals.

   McGill gave Kyrinis all she wanted in Wednesday’s quarterfinals before falling, 2 and 1. The match was all square through 14 when Kyrinis pulled ahead with back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16.

   McGill’s deepest run in a USGA event was her semifinal appearance in the 2007 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship in a Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia showdown in which she lost to eight-time Philadelphia Women’s Amateur champion Meghan Bolger (now Stasi), who lives in the Fort Lauderdale, Fla. area these days,  went on to claim the second of her four U.S. Mid-Am titles that year.

   McGill was joined in the field at Waverley by her mountain-climbing buddy LeeAnn Lewis of West Gilgo Beach, N.Y. Lewis also reached match play in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, but had the misfortune of running into Ellen Port of St. Louis, the three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion who ousted Lewis, 2 and 1, in the opening round.

   Mountain-climbing? Mountain hiking might be more accurate, but no matter what you call it, these two have been at or near the top of most of the world’s most famous peaks. It’s worth a Google search for the feature the USGA website did on McGill and Lewis at last year’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Am.

   Have to give USGA freelancer Mackin another shout-out for his neat story about McGill’s local caddy, 19-year-old Jonah Pemberton, whom she picked up after qualifying for match play.

   As a guy who’s been a “local caddy” in the 1981 U.S. Open at Merion and last summer’s U.S. Mid-Am at Stonewall, I’m always puzzled why you wouldn’t want a local caddy in a USGA event. Sounds like McGill was getting some great reads from Pemberton on the tricky Waverley greens.

   For the first time in the history of the USGA, two Canadians met in a match-play final as the 53-year-old Kyrinis, a registered nurse, took on the 56-year-old Terrill Samuel, a school teacher. They live 20 minutes apart in suburban Toronto and are frequent playing partners.

   Kyrinis fell in the 2014 final, 1-up, to Joan Higgins at the Hollywood Golf Club in Deal, N.J. She wasn’t going to let this second chance get away.

   Kyrinis grabbed a 1-up advantage with a birdie at the seventh hole and never let Samuel get back in the match. Kyrinis won the 12^th with a birdie and the 13^th with a par before closing out the 4 and 3 victory by winning the 15^th with a birdie.