3-Time Champ Tennant Now a 3-Time Medalist in U.S. Sr. Women's Am; Klasse Is T30

View full size image

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Lara Tennant has been the dominant player in the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur Championship since she became eligible to play in it and claimed medalist honors in 2017. She won tournament for the first time in 2018, won it again the next year, and made it three in a row in 2021, after the tournament was canceled in 2020, a result of the Covid 19 pandemic. Last year, she extended her winning streak in the Senior Women's Am to 20 consecutive matches, before losing 2&1 to Lynn Thompson in the Round of 16. 

This year, Tennant is back, and the 57-year-old three-tiime champion established herself as the favorite to win a fourth Senior Women's Am title by earning medalist honors for the third time over the weekend. She shot 1-over-par 73s in both of the stroke-play qualifying rounds at Troon Country Club, and her 36-hole total of 146 beat the field by three strokes. Ellen Port qualified second with a 77-72--149. Port is also a three-time winner of this tournament, and she lost the 2021 final to Tennant, 2&1. Earlier that year, Tennant and Port were partners in the U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball. (In a field full of college kids and quite a few teenagers, they missed the cut.)

Shelly Stouffer, the defending champion this week, put together a pair of 75s, and the resulting 150 earned her a tie for third, along with Tara Joy-Connelly. Connelly was a co-leader after a first-round 72, but followed it with a 78. Kim Eaton and Kathy Hartwiger both went 74-78 and tied for fifth at 152. Gigi Higgins, the other first-round co-leader, followed her 72 on Saturday with an 81 on Sunday, and she tied Sarah Gallagher(75-78) for seventh at 153. 

Tennant, who won the Oregon Senior Women's Amateur this summer for the seventh time in seven tries, started her second round at Troon on the back nine and was 1 under through five holes, only to bogey three of the next four holes. She was 3 over for the round after she bogeyed the short (284-yard) par-4 fourth, but she birdied the 135-yard, par-3 seventh and the 317-yard, par-4 ninth to post a second straight 73 and secure another USGA medal..

Despite opening with a 77, Port was in a position to tie Tennant for medalist honors after she birdied the par-5 eighth, the par-4 10th and the par-5 11th on Sunday. That put her at 3 under for the day and 2 over for the weekend, but she made a double bogey at the 326-yard, par 4 12th hole and bogeyed the 316--yard, par-4 16th, which accounted for the three-shot difference between Tennant's weekend total and hers.

Leigh Klasse, who has been the MGA Senior Women's Player of the Year 11 times in the 13 full seasons since she turned 50, was the only one of the four Minnesotans in the tournament to advance from the qualifying. The cut came at 166, and there will be a 7-for-2 playoff at that number for the last spots in match play on Monday morning. That will determine who gets the No. 63 and No. 64 seeds, and whoever they are will play Port and Tennant in the first round of matches, the Round of 64.

As for Klasse, she made four bogeys and four doubles on Saturday, and wound up with an 82. She made six bogeys on Sunday, but eliminated the doubles and threw in a birdie. That added up to 77, and her 159 aggregate put her into a tie for 30th. She. got the No. 30 seed, and she will play No. 35 Sylvie Van Molle (81-79--160) in her first-round match. 



U.S. Senior Women's Amateur Championship

At Troon Country Club

Par 72, 5,761 yards

Scottsdale, Ariz. 

Stoke-play qualifying (the top 64 earn spots in match play)

1. Lara Tennant                        73-73--146 (+2)

2. Ellen Port                              77-72--149

T3. Tara Joy Connelly               72-78--150

T3. Shelly Stouffer                    75-75--150

T5. Kim Eaton                           74-78--152

T5. Kathy Hartwiger                   74-78--152

T7. Gigi Higgins                          72-81--153

T7. Sarah Gallager                     75-78--153

T30. Leigh Klasse                     82-77--159

Missed cut -- 166 (7-for-2 playoff will take place Monday morning) 

Lynn Anderson                         86-88--174

Claudia Pilot                              91-86--177

Alissa Super                              94-86--180