The long overdue inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open
Championship will be staged July 12 to 15 at
Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Ill. and 22 senior golfers teed it up last
Monday at Northampton Country Club for a chance to be part of history.
Debby Murphy, a teaching pro at Trump National Golf Club in
Bedminster, N.J., site of last year’s U.S. Women’s Open, and Marie-Theresa
Torti of Canada shared medalist honors as each carded a 5-over 77 in sweltering
heat over the 5,950-yard, par-72 Northampton layout.
Holly Vaughn of Naples, Fla. grabbed the third and final
ticket to Chicago Golf Club as she prevailed in a playoff with Jamie Simons of
Old Spring Harbour, N.Y. after each posted a 7-over 79.
The 57-year-old Murphy hadn’t played 18 holes since December,
but she flirted with a pair of aces on her way to sharing medalist honors.
Murphy’s 5-hybrid at the 153-yard 13th came up a roll or two short
of a hole-in-one and she tapped it in for birdie and then she knocked an 8-iron
to three feet and converted the birdie try at the 121-yard 16th
hole.
“One of my students said, ‘Are you kidding me? You need to
go out and try to qualify,’ so I gave it a try,” Murphy told the website for
the Golf Association of Philadelphia, which administered the qualifier. “I hadn’t
been playing, but now I’m glad I did.”
The 55-year-old Torti had her only birdie at the short,
par-3 16th as she fired a 9-iron to two feet and made the putt.
Vaughn parred the second hole of the playoff to claim the
final berth out of the qualifier. Simons is the first alternate.
Heather Cameron of Canada and Jane Fitzgerald of Kensington,
Md. each posted an 82 to finish tied for fifth and are the other two
alternates.
Laura Tyler of Northumberland was a shot behind Cameron and
Fitzgerald with an 83.
Five players, led by Bethlehem’s Noreen Mohler, who has been
one of the top senior amateur players in Pennsylvania for a while, were among
the group at 85. Also at that figure were Lisa Diprospero-Day of Coatesville, Karen
Siegel of Maple Glen, Angiewhitley Coleman of New Castle, Del. and Karen Noble
of Chatham, N.J.
Linda Nevatt of Warminster carded an 86 and Diane Rama of
Harleysville posted an 87.
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