Alfredsson Leads Lindley by 1, Sorenstam by 3 in Women's Open

View full size image

KETTERING, Ohio -- Helen Alfredsson says that she might not have played 10 rounds since last year's U.S. Senior Women's Open (where she tied for seventh). But anyone who saw her play the second round of this year's Senior Women's Open on Friday would probably have a hard time believing that. The 57-year-old Swede, who now splits her time between the U.S. (Orlando) and Sweden, hit 12 of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens at the NCR Country Club's South Course while shooting a 3-under-par 70 for the second day in a row. As a result, she's at the top of a star-studded leaderboard with her 36-hole total of  6-under 140.

Alfredsson turned professional in 1989, a year after graduating from United States International University in San Diego with a degree in International Business and Marketing. Then she went to Paris and tried to start a modeling career, but gave up on that after six months. She started her professional career as a golfer in Europe and won 11 times on the Ladies European Tour. In the fall of 1991, she made in through the Final Stage of LPGA Tour Q-School, and she was the LPGA Rookie of the Year in '92. She won seven times on the American Tour, and her list of victories includes one major, the 1993 Nabisco Dinah Shore. But she also won two majors before they became majors -- the 1990 British Women's Open and the 2008 Evian Masters.

In 2019, she won what is known as "The Senior Slam," which refers to the U.S. Senior Women's Open and the British Senior Women's Open. 
 
The long-hitting, 5-foot-10-inch Alfredsson made seven pars on the front side of the South Course on Friday and birdied two of the three par 5s on the outward nine -- the 437-yard first and the 474-yard sixth. After the birdie at the sixth, she made eight pars in a row, before birdying the par-3 15th (153 yards) and bogeying the par-5 16th (460). She capped off her round by hitting a wedge to within a foot of the cup at the 380-yard, par-4 18th.   

"Yeah, it's gotten a little better," she said afterward. "Yesterday was not great. Today was a little better, which I need. I think the key is to keep it in play off the tee. I have an advantage in that I'm fairly long still; so, you know, if I can just keep it in the fairway, I don't have that far in like some of the other girls."

Right behind Alfredsson are former University of Arizona roommates Leta Lindley and Annika Sorenstam, the defending champion. Lindley is the only player besides Alfredsson to have posted two sub-par rounds. She followed a first-round 69 with a 72 and is in second place, one behind Alfredsson at 141. She could be one ahead, but she bogeyed two of the last three holes she played, the 357-yard, par-4 seventh and the 384-yard, par-4 ninth. 

She has only 56 putts through 36 holes. 

"I did a lot of good things," Lindley said. "A little disappointment with my finish. Hit a couple of squirelly shots, but otherwise played really solid, and continued to roll my putts nicely."

Sorenstam, who hit only seven of 14 fairways in a first-round 73, spent more time in the fairway on Friday while shooting 70. So she's third, three behind Alfredsson. 

Starting on the back nine, the 10-time major champion (not counting the senior major she won last year when she beat the field by eight strokes in this tournament) birdied the 12th (351 yards, par 4), the 17th (320, par 4), the par-5 first (437) and the fourth (280, par 4), before she made her only bogey of the day at the 474-yard, par-5 sixth.

"I drove the ball better," she noted. "Missed a few short putts, but I would say overall I was in a much better mood. I had the rhythm, had some momentum. It was fun out there."

In fourth place, one behind Sorenstam at 144, is the first-round leader, Tammie Green, who followed her opening 68 with a 76. She got to 6 under for the tournament with a birdie on the par-5 first hole. But that was her last birdie of the day, and she spread four bogeys through her last 17 holes on Friday.

Sorenstam, who is 51, won 72 LPGA tournaments before retiring at the conclusion of the 2008 U.S. Open at Interlachen -- where her last shot was a 6-iron that she holed for a double eagle on the par-5 ninth hole -- and she casts the longest shadow of those who will be in pursuit of Alfredsson over the weekend. But there are other big names in the top 10, most notably Laura Davies and Juli Inkster.

They are both at 147, tied for eighth. 

Davies, who has 87 professional victories on her resume, including 20 on the LPGA Tour, won this tournament in 2018 (and the British Senior Women's Open that year, as well). She toured the South Course in 71 on Thursday, but got off to a rocky start on Friday, with a bogey on the third hole and a double on the fourth. Another bogey at the eighth didn't help, and she finished the front nine with a 41. But she birdied the 11th and parred out from there to salvage a 76. 

Inkster, 62, won 31 LPGA Tour events, and she was the runner-up in the first two U.S. Senior Women's Opens, in 2018 and '19. She's had a fairly strange tournament so far. On Thursday, she played as well as anyone tee to green, but needed 37 putts in a 76 (3 over). On Friday, she began her round on the back nine and slipped to 4 over for the tournament when she bogeyed the 14th hole -- but she then birdied the next five holes in a row, starting with the 153-yard, par-3 15th and ending with the par-5 first.

She got to 2 under for the tournament with a birdie at the 517-yard, par-5 fifth -- and followed it with a triple-bogey 8 at the par-5 sixth. Nevertheless, she still managed to finish with a 71. 

Michele Redman, the former University of Minnesota women's golf coach who played on the LPGA Tour for two decades and won twice out there, had eight pars, six bogeys and four birdies on her score card Thursday. On Friday, she had 15 pars, one birdie and two bogeys, which added up to 74. That put her at 149 and moved her up from a for 20th into a five-way tie for 13th. 

Also among the five who are tied for 13th is Lisa Grimes. She won most of what there was to win as an amateur in Minnesota -- the 1978 state high school championship (while leading Alexandria to the team title), the 1980 State Women's Match Play, the 1982 Women's State Amateur, plus three Women's Four-Ball titles, as well as three college tournaments while she was at Arizona State. What's more, she made it to the semifinals of the 1982 U.S. Women's Amateur before losing to Inkster, who went on to win the Women's Am for the third consecutive year.

When she turned pro, she didn't exactly have a lot to play in. There was no such thing as a Women's State Open in Minnesota until 2001. Since then, Grimes has won that crown a record four times. The Director of Instruction at Alexandria Golf Club also won the PGA Women's Stroke Play Championship, a national tournament, twice, in 2018 and 2020.

She opened this tournament with a 76 and was another 2 over (plus 5) after six holes on Friday, but she offset two bogeys in the next five holes with two birdies -- and then ticked off three consecutive birdies at the 12th, 13th and 14th. Having made five birdies in the round, she made her fifth bogey at the 18th, for an even-par 73.


U.S. Senior Women's Open

At NCR Country Club

South Course

6,053 yards, par 73

Kettering, Ohio

Second-round results

1. Helen Alfredson                      70-70--140 (-6)

2. Leta Lindley                            69-72--141

3. Annika Sorenstam                  73-70--143

4. Tammie Green                        68-76--144 

T5. Catril Nilsmark                      69-76--145

T5. Jill McGill                              74-71--145

7. Trish Johnson                         73-73--146

T8. Jacqueline Gallagher-Smith 74-73--147

T8. Juli Inkster                             76-71--147

T8. Laura Davies                          71-76--147

T11. Pat Hurst                               70-78--148

T11. Catriona Matthew                  72-76--148

T13. Michele Redman                 75-74--149

T13. Lisa Grimes                         76-73--149

T34. Barbara Moxness               78-77--155

Missed cut -- 158

Kris Tschetter                               86-76--162

Karen Weiss                                 84-79--163

Kelley Brooke                               83-82--165

Kristal Parker                                85-81--166