Cowan Is U.S. Senior Women's Am Medalist, Will Play Klasse in Round of 64

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ANCHROAGE, Alaska -- Lynne Cowan, who has been playing in USGA events for 40 years, shot a 1-over-par 73 at Anchorage Golf  Course on Sunday. That gave her a 36-hole total of 147 -- and with it, medalist honors in the 2022 U.S. Senior Women's Amateur.

Lara Tenant, who hasn't lost a match in this tournament for five years, wasn't all that far behind. The 55-year-old three-time defending champion followed a first-round 74 with a 76 and ended the stroke play portion of the week in a tie for third place at 150, along with Sherry Wright and Kay Daniel.

Finishing stroke play between Cowan and the third-place threesome was Shelly Stouffer, 52, who posted the second-place aggregate of 149. That seemed unlikely after she opened with an 81 on Saturday, but she came back with a 68 on Sunday. That established a new competitive course record, and it was five strokes better than the next-best score of the weekend, from a total of 264 rounds played.

Cowan is a legend in Northern California and has won dozens of titles in the state. But she's never won a USGA championship. She's a long hitter, and she also hits it fairly straight, which is a nice comination, and she used that to her advantage over the weekend. Of the seven birdies she made during qualifying, five came on par 5s. In her first round, she capped off an indifferent front nine with a birdie at the 424-yard, par-5 ninth, and she birdied three of the last five holes on the back nine, two of which are par 5s -- the 495-yard 14th and the 415-yard 17th.

In her second round, she bogeyed the par-4 second hole (325 yards), but birdied the 390-yard, par-4 fourth and both of the front-nine par 5s -- the 455-yard sixth and the ninth, then coasted in with a 39 on the back nine.

Stouffer made five bogeys, two doubles -- and no birdies on Saturday. Sunday was a totally different story. She made four birdies on the front nine and offset one back-nine bogey with a birdie at the 309-yard, par-4 15th. 

Tennant first played in the Senior Women's Am in 2017, when she was 50, and playing on her home course, Waverly Country Club in Eugene, Ore., she was the medalist. But she lost in the first round. She hasn't lost since then, winning 18 consecutive matches. After winning the title in 2018 and '19, she got to keep the trophy for an extra year when the 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. But she came back last year and won again, beating Ellen Port 2&1 in the final.

Over the weekend, Tennant made only five bogeys in her first 27 holes, and was 3 over at that point. So she had her place in match play locked up, and from there she, like Cowan, was on cruise control. She shot 39 for the last nine of qualifying. (Port put together a 154 total (79-75) at the Anchorage GC. She tied for 12th and is seeded No. 12.)  

Not so certain of qualifying for match play was Leigh Klasse, the three-time MGA Women's Player of the Year -- and 10-time MGA Senior Women's Player of the Year.  Playing with Cowan in both of the stroke-play rounds, she came back from an opening 84 with a 79. The resulting total of 163 got her into a 3-for-1 playoff for the 64th -- and last -- spot in match play. 

The playoff started on the 10th hole (329 yards, par 4), and Klasse ended it there by making a 4-foot putt for par. Ulrika Belline and Shelly White, the other two participants in the playoff, both made bogeys. 

"I could hear my heart beating in my ears," Klasse said afterward. "So I was pretty nervous." 

For the effort, she got the No. 64 seed in match play -- and a date with the No. 1 see, Cowan, in her Round of 64 match on Monday morning. 


U.S. Senior Women's Amateur

At Anchorage Golf Course

Par 72, 5,684 yards

Anchorage, Alaska

Stroke play (the top 64 advance to match play Monday morning)

1. Lynne Cowan                        74-73--147

2. Shelly Stouffer                       81-68--149

T3. Lara Tennant                       74-76--150

T3. Sherry Wright                      75-75--150

T3. Kay Daniel                           76-74--150

T6. Corey Weworski                  75-76--151

T6. Martha Leach                       77-74--151

T6. Suzi Spotleson                     78-73--151

9. Sue Wooster                          74-78--152

64. Leigh Klasse                       84-79--163

Did not advance

Andrea Kellar-Luther               80-86--166

Brenda Williams                      86-84--170

Betsy Aldrich                           92-85--177