Tennant repeats as U.S. Senior Women's Amateur champion; Royak claims U.S. Senior Amateur crown

   When Lara Tennant had completed back-to-back victories in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship with a 3 and 2 victory over Sue Wooster in Thursday’s final at Cedar Rapids Country Club in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, it wasn’t so much the historic nature of the win that struck her as much as just how tough it is to win a USGA championship.

   By winning the 58th U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, the 52-year-old Tennant became the ninth player to capture the title in consecutive years and the first to accomplish the feat since Ellen Port of St. Louis did it in 2012 and 2013.

   But in Tennant’s way of remembering, she will always think of the player she conquered in the final both times, the 57-year-old Australian Wooster, who fell by the same score to Tennant as she did in October of last year at the Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club in Vero Beach, Fla.

   Only Wooster can relate to how tough it was just to get to the title match and only Wooster felt the same kind of pressure Tennant was feeling on every shot as they vied for the top prize in women’s senior amateur golf for the second time in less than a year.

   “You know what? Sue is a tough competitor and a fabulous golfer,” Tennant told the USGA website. “Last year I honestly apologized to Sue for beating her because at this point in the game, when you’ve played 10 rounds in eight days, you’re both exhausted, you both worked hard, you both played well.

   “I really had to not be distracted and just focus on my game. You don’t get many opportunities to be in the finals of a USGA championship.”

   That, in a nutshell, is the kind of approach you have to bring in order to win a USGA match-play event. The challenge, as both Tennant and Wooster know, is as much mental as it is physical.

   Wooster actually drew first blood in the match, winning the second hole with a par. But Tennant quickly answered by getting even with a par at the fourth hole.

   Tennant then grabbed a hold of the match by winning the eighth, 10^th and 11^th holes with pars to take a suddenly commanding 3-up advantage.

   Wooster cut into her deficit by winning the 13^th hole with a par and it looked like she might get even closer when Tennant was 45 feet away from the hole on the 14^th hole. A three-putt on a typically tricky Donald Ross green complex was a real possibility.

   Tennant’s putt steamed toward the hole and looked like it was going to go by when it struck the flagstick and stopped inches from the cup, leaving Tennant with a tap-in for par and a half. She was still 2-up.

   Two holes later, Wooster drove it poorly and faced an eight-footer for par while Tennant was on in regulation and two-putted for a par. When Wooster’s par putt refused to fall, it was over.

   Tennant again got to enjoy the victory with her dad, 79-year-old George Mack Sr., on the bag.

   Two years ago, Tennant made her U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur debut on her home course at Waverley Country Club. After comfortably qualifying for match play, Tennant promptly lost her opening-round match. She hasn’t lost a U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur match since.

   Tennant and Wooster are both exempt into next summer’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn.

   Both will, of course, be exempt into next year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in September at Lakewood Golf Club in Port Clear, Ala. They couldn’t possibly meet for the title for a third in a row, could they? You just can never tell what those golf gods will serve up next, do you?

   Meanwhile, at the 65^th U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C., Bob Royak, playing in his fourth U.S. Senior Amateur and 16^th USGA championship, pulled out a 1-up victory over Roger Newsom to hoist the Frederick L. Dold Trophy.

   And the enormity of capturing the title was not lost on the 57-year-old Royak of Alpharetta, Ga. and a native of the Albany area in upstate New York.

   “To be a USGA champion, to think that your name is going up on that wall (in the Hall of Champions) in Far Hills (N.J., at the USGA Museum) with the other champions for 2019, that’s kind of beyond belief,” Royak, who didn’t make a birdie in the final, told the USGA website. “I don’t know when they put (the plaque) up, but I’ll go up there sometime next year, maybe I am in New York and get over there and see it.”

   The 55-year-old Newsom, an ophthalmologist from Virginia Beach, Va., certainly didn’t go down without a fight.

   Newsom won the ninth and 10^th holes with birdies to take a 1-up lead before Royak answered by winning the 12^th and 13^th holes with pars to take a 1-up lead. When Royak three-putted the 17^th hole for a bogey, Newsom took advantage to win the hole with a par and even the match heading to the Old Chatham’s 18^th hole.

   Royak fired his 19-degree hybrid from 226 yards away just to the left of the green at the downhill 470-yard, par-4 finishing hole. Newson, however, caught his 5-iron a little heavy and was short and left of the green in some gnarly Bermuda rough.

   Newsom just got his chip on the green, 34 feet from the hole, while Royak used his 50-degree wedge for a masterful chip-and-run to five feet. After Newsome missed his long try for par, Royak calmly rolled in his par putt and the celebration was under way.

   Royak is one of those guys who likes to map out his season of golf around the various USGA qualifiers. But he doesn’t have to worry about the qualifiers in 2020 for the U.S. Senior Open at Newport Country Club in Newport, R.I. or the U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes.

   Royak lost in a playoff in a local qualifier for next month’s U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo. But he made up for that little mis-step this week at Old Chatham because he’s now exempt into this year’s U.S. Mid-Am, too.

   And the U.S. Senior Amateur? He’s good for that for the next 10 years. Royak will defend his title next summer at the Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.