Johnson Gets over the Hump, Wins Senior Women's Open

View full size image

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Trish Johnson had been down this road before -- in contention to win a U.S. Senior Women's Open.

The first Senior Women's Open was played in 2018, and Johnson tied for third. Laura Davies lapped the field that year, and even though Johnson got a share of third place, she was only a speck in Davies' rear view mirror, finishing 12 shots behind the winner. So that wasn't exactly a missed opportunity to claim the title. 

But the next year was a different story. Johnson led her pal Helen Alfredsson by two after Alfredsson made a double bogey on the fifth hole of the final round at Southern Pines Golf Club in North Carolina. But Alfredsson made 13 consecutive pars on her way to a valedictory 72 and a first-place finish, with a 72-hole total of 285. Johnson made one birdie and four bogeys over the last 13 holes, signed for a 74, and a 287. She tied for second with Juli Inkster, who closed with a 70.

Then there was last year. Going into the final round, Johnson was four behind Alfredsson and three behind Jill McGill -- and she shot 79. That relegated her to 12th, nine behnid McGill's winning total of 298. The scores were high that day. No one did better than 73. But Johnson took hersefl totally out of contention by making six bogeys during a disastrous front-nine 43.

On Sunday, Johnson entered the final round of the 2023 Senior Women's Open at Waverley Country Club with a one-stroke lead.  She got off to a good start, with two pars and a birdie on the first three holes. But she bogeyed three of the next four holes, and the 57-year-old from Bristol, England, who won 19 times on the Ladies European Tour and three times on the LPGA Tour, couldn't help thinking: "Here we go again."

This Senior Women's Open was different, however, and Johnson got going in the right direction once again with a birdie at the short, par-3 ninth hole, and went on from there to claim the championship -- not to mention $180,000. 

Things got a little iffy on the back nine, but Johnson came home in even-par 72, and posted a winning 72-hole aggregate of 284 (minus 4).

Leta Lindlley, 51, was eligible for this tournament for the first time last year, and she finished second, one stroke behind the winner, McGill. On Sunday, Lindley played very much the way Alfredsson did in her 2018 victory. She birdied the first hole, bogeyed the third and then made 14 pars in a row, before birdying the par-5 18th. The result was a 71 and a second-place finish for the second year in a row, one behind Johnson at 285.

Catriona Matthew, who led the tournament for the first two days and reclaimed the lead on the front nine Sunday, was the main threat to Johson for most of the back nine, as well. But Lindley performed a reversal on Matthew at the 18th, with her birdie to Matthew's bogey, and Matthew had to settle for third with a 286.   

Annika Sorenstam, who won 97 tournaments during her Hall of Fame career playing against the Under-50 set, turned 50 in October of 2020 and won the Senior Women's Open two years ago, on her first try. Last year, she tied for fifth, along with two other Hall of Famers -- Davies and Inkster. Davies and Inkster both missed the cut this year. Sorenstam shot 74 on Thursday in the first round and was sort of in the shadows for the rest of the tournament, a potential threat to the leaders but just out of sight.

She never quite got into serious contention for the title on Sunday. Instead, she spent the round five or six behind, and was even seven shots back at one point. But she birdied the last two holes, both par 5s, shot 71, and ended up at even-par 288, tied for fourth with Moira Dunn-Bohls. Bohls shot 74.

Matthew, who turned 54 on Friday, was the only player to break 70 in either of the first two rounds, opening with a 69 and following that with a 71, which gave her a three-stroke lead at 140. Johnson made her way to the front of the pack on Saturday with a 67, the low round of the tournament. But her bad patch from the fourth hole through the seventh on Sunday, gave Matthew, who started the day one behind, an opening. Her birdie at the 471-yard, par-5 fifth, combined with Johnson's bogeys at the par-4 fourth and par-3 sixth gave her the lead at minus 4 through 60 holes. 

Johnson and Matthew both bogeyed the seventh, but Matthew pulled even with Johnson when she birdied the par-3 ninth. Matthew went birdie-bogey at the ninth and 10th. So they were still tied when they got to the 15th hole, a348-yard, par 4. That was where Johnson took the initiative, hitting a wedge to within a foot for a tap-in birdie. She made what proved to be the birdie that won the tournament for her at the 164-yard, par-3 16th.

That got her to 5 under and increased her lead to two over Matthew and three over Lindley. She needed all three of those strokes she was leading Lindley by, because she made something of a mess out of the par-5 17th. The 17th is only 441 yards, but Johnson made a bogey there. Matthew struggled on the hole, too, and needed to make a 6-foot putt for par.

At about the same time, Lindley was making a 15-footer for birdie up ahead on the 18th green, the putt that, as it turned out, earned second place -- and $108,000 -- for her.

Lindley is only 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and in the five years the Senior Women's Open trophy has been around, it has spent most of its time in the possession of tall players. In fact, Sorenstam, at 5-6, is four inches shorter than any of the other champions. Johnson is 5-10, and so are Davies and Alfredsson. Jill McGill is 6 feet even. Of course, taller players tend to have bigger arcs to their swings and generally hit the ball farther than shorter players. According to the Senior Women's Open stats, Johnson was the fourth longest hitter in the field. Lindley was 44th out of the 51 players who made the cut. But she was No. 1 in fairways hit (47 of (52), and she tied for second in the Greens in Regulation category (58 of 72), which helps to explaiin the success she's had in the two Women's Opens that she's played in.

After her bogey at the 17th, Johnson played the 18th knowing that she needed a par to finish ahead of Lindley, but she made it look easy. Drive in the fairway, and a lay-up to wedge range, followed by a wedge shot to 14 feet, for an easy two-putt par.

Matthew could have tied Johnson and forced a playoff with a birdie at the 18th, but that possibility pretty much disappeared when she tugged her metal wood second shot 30 yards left of the green. That's exactly where you don't want to hit it on that hole, and she failed to get her pitch shot from an ugly downhill, sidehill lie onto the green, resulting in the bogey that dropped her from second place to third.

A player who close behind Lindley as far as greens in regulation were concerned was. Michele Redman, the former University of Minnesota women's golf coach. She tied for fifth in the GIR stats (56/72). That enabled her to come back from an opening round of 77, which had her tied for 53rd, and move up during the next two rounds into the top 25. She shot 76 on Sunday and ended up in a six-way tie for 22nd at 298.



U.S. Senior Women's Open Championship

At Waverley Country Club

Par 72, 5,883 yards

Portland, Ore. 

Final results 

1. Trish Johnson                  $180,000        73-72-67-72--284

2. Leta Lindley                      $108,000        72-74-68-71--285

3. Catriona Matthew               $69,648         69-71-73-73--286

T4. Annika Sorenstam            $44,396        74-71-72-71--288

T4. Moira Dunn-Bohls             $44,396        74-71-69-74--288

T6. Patricia Meunier-Lebouc   $35,680        74-75-69-72--290

T6. Judith Krynis (A)                   --                74-73-72-71--290

8. Tammie Green                     $32,316        70-75-71-75--291

T9. Jean Bartholomew            $28,952         74-75-75-69--293

T9. Terrill Samuel (A)                                    73-75-73-72--293                                      

T22. Michele Redman            $11,474        77-73-72-76--298 

Missed cut -- 152 

Barb Moxness                         $2,000           78-77--155

Lisa Grimes                             $2,000           77-80--157

Becky Iverson                          $2,000          79-78--157

Kris Tschetter                           $2,000          82-75--157

Brenda Williams (A)                                      85-88--173