Lisa McGill won the Pennsylvania Senior Women’s Amateur Championship by seven shots on her home course at Sunnybrook Golf Club last month.
Turned out to be the perfect tuneup for the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. McGill carded a second straight 7-over-par 79 at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala. Saturday for a 14-over 158 total that earned her a spot in the match-play bracket for the third time in the last five years.
McGill headed a solid showing by the contingent from the Philadelphia area as Merion Golf Club’s Loraine Jones and Angie Whitley Coleman of Wilmington, Del. will also have tee times when the opening round of match play tees off Sunday. McGill, Jones and Whitley Coleman all emerged from last month’s GAP-administered local qualifier at Radnor Valley Country Club.
Suzi Spotleson, who lists Canton, Ohio as her home, but uses RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve as her home away from home, is still in with a shot to make it into the match-play bracket. She is one of three players who will return to The Lakewood Club Sunday morning in a playoff for the last spot in the match-play bracket.
Whitley Coleman and Spotleson were among the five players vying in the playoff for the last three spots in the match-play bracket after they landed in a tie for 62nd place at 19-over 163. Whitley Coleman made a par on the first hole of the playoff, the par-3 17th, to punch her ticket into the match-play bracket before darkness halted the playoff.
McGill had reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur in 2017 at Waverly Country Club in Portland, Ore. and advanced to the round of 16 in 2018 at the Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club.
McGill started her second round Saturday on the 10th tee and was steady on the Lakewood Club’s incoming nine. After opening with a bogey on the 10th hole, McGill birdied the 12th hole and made a bogey at 15.
The front nine was a struggle as McGill made a triple bogey at the first hole. She got a shot back with a birdie at the third hole, but finished up her round with bogeys at four, six, eight and nine. Still, her 158 total left her in the group tied for 38th place as she made it into match play pretty comfortably.
Jones, a “rookie” at age 50 in the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur, got off to a great start with a solid 4-over 76 in Friday’s opening round. She struggled a little in Saturday’s second round with an 83, but had given herself plenty of cushion. Jones’ 15-over 159 total left her among the group tied for 43rd place.
Whitley Coleman, like McGill, started off the 10th tee. She struggled at times in Saturday’s second round, but made pars on her last three holes at seven, eight and nine, to complete an 80, which, combined with her opening-round 83, got her into the playoff at 19-over.
Spotleson, winner of the 2015 Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship, added an 82 to her opening-round 81 to earn a spot in the playoff for the final three spots in the match-play bracket.
Alexandra Frazier, a North Palm Beach, Fla. resident who has played out of Gulph Mills Golf Club for years, came up just short of a spot in the match-play bracket as she added an 86 Saturday to her opening-round 78 for a 164 total. Frazier had been the medalist in the local qualifier at Radnor Valley.
Carol Semple Thompson, owner of seven USGA championships, including four U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur crowns, also struggled a little in Saturday’s second round with an 86 that cost her a spot in the match-play bracket with a 165 total. Semple Thompson, 72 years young, was playing in the U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur for the first time since 2014.
The Sewickley resident, making a remarkable 118th start in a USGA championship, might not have made it into the match-play bracket, but she remains one of the greatest and most important women’s amateur players in the history of the game in this country.
Amy Kennedy of York and Stephenie Harris of Lookaway Golf Club both landed on 168. Kennedy added an 86 to her opening-round 82. Harris, who also punched her ticket to The Lakewood Club out of the qualifier at Radnor Valley, opened with an 86 before rebounding with an 82 in Saturday’s second round.
Lara Tennant of Portland, Ore., winner of the last two U.S. Senior Women Amateurs at Orchid Island in 2018 and at Cedar Rapids Country Club in Cedar Rapids, Ore. in 2019, earned a share of medalist honors with Gigi Higgins of Cape Coral, Fla. as each landed on 1-under 143.
The U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur was not contested in 2020, another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic. The only USGA championships conducted last year were the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women’s Open, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
The 54-year-old Tennant was the medalist in 2017 on her home course at Waverly, but promptly flamed out in the opening round of match play. She hasn’t lost a U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur match since.
After matching par with a 72 in Friday’s opening round, Tennant, starting off the 10th tee, got it going right away with birdies at the 10th and 11th holes Saturday. She made a bogey at the 14th hole and headed for the front nine at 1-under for the round. A birdie at the third hole got Tennant to 2-under, but she finished up with a bogey at the ninth to end up at 1-under for the round and for the 36 holes of qualifying.
The 58-year-old Higgins had opened with a 2-over 74 Friday. It looked like she was going to take medalist honors when she ripped off birdies at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th holes to get it to 5-under for the round and 3-under for the two days of qualifying with Tennant in the clubhouse at 1-under. But Higgins made bogeys at the 15th and 18th holes to fall back into a tie with Tennant.
Ellen Port of St. Louis, like Semple Thompson, the owner of seven USGA championships, matched par Saturday with a 72 after opening with a 73. She will enter match play as the third seed after finishing two shots behind Tennant and Higgins at 1-over 145.
Port is clearly playing some good golf as she tries to add a fourth U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur title to the four U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships she has won.
Susan Cohen of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. finished a shot behind Port in fourth place in qualifying as she added a 75 to her solid opening round of 1-under 71,
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