Sunnybrook Golf Club’s Lisa McGill didn’t quite reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at The Omni Homestead Resort’s Cascades Course in Hot Springs, Va. Tuesday, but she certainly made some noise.
McGill splits her time between Philadelphia and Rhode Island and has always been a good player, seeming to get better with age. This is not the first time McGill has made a deep run in the U.S. Senior Women’s Am, but now in her mid-60s, maybe this one was a little unexpected and maybe even more gratifying.
McGill began her day by stunning the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur medalist in qualifying, Judith Kyrinis, the Canadian who won this championship in 2017, 3 and 2.
McGill avenged a loss to Kyrinis in the quarterfinals in 2017 at Waverley Country Club in Portland, Ore. when Kyrinis was on her way to the title.
The following year at the Orchid Island Golf & Beach Resort in Vero Beach, Fla., McGill reached the round of 16. Pretty sure this year at The Homestead was McGill’s deepest U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur run since then.
Watched Kyrinis knock off Isabella DiLisio, who starred scholastically at Mount St. Joseph and collegiately at Notre Dame, two years ago in the round of 16 in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Stonewall’s North Course.
DiLisio drove the ball past her older opponent all day long. Didn’t matter. Kyrinis took the lead early in the match and just never let DiLisio back into it in claiming a 1-up victory. It was a match-play clinic by the veteran Kyrinis.
Kyrinis entered the week at The Homestead on a roll, having won the Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur crown for the fourth time earlier this summer.
She proceeded to open qualifying Saturday with a 3-over 75 before surging past the rest of the field with the only sub-par round of the two days of qualifying with a 2-under 70 in Sunday’s second round to capture medalist honors with a 1-over 145 total.
McGill, meanwhile, added a 5-over 77 in Sunday’s second round to her opening-round 79 to finish among the group tied for 30th place with a 12-over 156 total.
McGill pulled out a 2 and 1 decision over Cissye Gallagher of Greenwood, Miss. in the opening round of match play Monday while Kyrinis edged upset-minded Amber Marsh Elliott of Greensboro, N.C., 1-up.
McGill got the jump on Kyrinis by winning the first two holes with pars, but Kyrinis, as you would expect, battled back, taking wins at three with birdie and six with par to get the match back to even and taking a 1-up advantage by winning at eight with birdie.
McGill grabbed the lead right back with wins at the 10th and 11th holes with pars, but Kyrinis again got the match tied by taking 12 with a birdie.
McGill, however, came on strong down the stretch, earning wins at the 13th hole with a birdie and at 15 and 16 with pars to close out Kyrinis.
That gave McGill a round-of-16 meeting with another Canadian, Stefani Markovich, a senior “rookie” at age 50.
It looked like McGill was on her way to the quarterfinals when she earned wins at the 10th hole with a birdie and at 11 with a par to take a commanding 4-up lead.
But Markovich came roaring back, winning the 12th hole with a birdie, the 14th with par and the 15th with birdie before finally getting back to even by taking the 18th with a par to force extra holes.
Markovich finally pulled out the victory on the 21st hole of the match with a birdie – looks like it was the 153-yard, par-3 11th -- to advance to the quarterfinals.
In an afternoon that featured a pair of matches pitting former champions – defending champion Nadene Cole of Australia held off three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Ellen Port of St. Louis, Mo., 2-up, and Sara Gallagher, the 2023 champion from Canton, Ga., edged another three-time U.S. Senior Women’s Am winner in Lara Tennant of Portland, Ore., 1-up – McGill certainly brought the drama.
As I finish up this post, another player with Philadelphia ties, Suzi Spotleson, is taking on Gallagher in a quarterfinal match.
Spotleson is listing Scottsdale, Ariz. as her home these days, but she always returns to the Philadelphia area for the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship.
Playing out of the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, Spotelson claimed the Senior division in the WGAP Match Play Championship for the third year in a row last month at Trenton Country Club.
Spotleson rolled into the quarterfinals with a 6 and 4 victory over Kim Shek of Bellevue, Wash. in a round-of-16 match Tuesday afternoon.
Spotleson was solid in qualifying for match play as she opened with a 2-over 74 and added a 5-over 77 in Sunday’s second round to finish in a tie for 10th place with a 7-over 151 total.
Spotleson cruised to a 5 and 4 victory over Leigh Klasse of Surprise, Ariz. in Monday’s opening round of match play and reached the round of 16 by edging Adrienne MacLean of Tequesta, Fla., 1-up, in Tuesday morning’s second round.
Couldn’t help but root for Tara Joy-Connelly of Middleborough, Mass., whose bag I carried – and pushed when the weather got a little iffy and we had to load up on wet-weather gear – in the U.S. Women’s Mid-Am at Stonewall’s North Course two years ago.
Joy-Connelly’s run came to an end in Tuesday morning’s second round when she suffered a 2 and 1 loss to Port.
No shame there. In addition to her three U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur crowns, Port has won four U.S. Women’s Mid-Am titles, her seven USGA championships putting her in a tie for fifth place among some of the giants of the game for the most USGA victories. Port is tied for second place among the women on the list, one behind the great JoAnne Carner.
Joy-Connelly finished alone in 13th place in qualifying for match play at 8-over 152 as she opened with a 2-over 74 before adding a 78 in Sunday’s second round.
Joy-Connelly advanced to the second round with a 3 and 2 victory over another Pennsylvanian, Jame Wymer of Butler, in the opening round of match play.
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