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Shelly Stouffer wins U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in first USGA event held in Alaska

Canadian Shelly Stouffer and Australian Sue Wooster squared off in the first-ever USGA championship in Alaska.

Sue Wooster and Shelly Stouffer squared off in the final Thursday in the first-ever U.S. Golf Association championship held in the state of Alaska.

The 18-hole final of the 60th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Anchorage Golf Course pitted an Australian, Wooster, against a Canadian, Stouffer. Wooster was making her third appearance in the final in the last four years but still seeking her first title.

On Wednesday, each golfer eliminated an American in the semifinals, with Wooster rallying from 3 down to take out Christie Blasi of Missouri, 3 and 2. Stouffer defeated Kathy Hartwiger of Alabama, 4 and 3.

In Thursday’s final, Stouffer took a 5-up lead through nine holes before ultimately winning 4 and 3. Wooster, 60, won her only hole, the 14th, late in the round, but it was too little, too late. Through all six matches, Stouffer, 52, never saw the 17th or 18th hole.

She is the fourth Canadian to win this senior event—eighth in all to win a USGA title—and she did so with her 15-year-old son Brett working as her caddie all week.

“He knows my game because we play a lot together,” said Stouffer. “He was helping with reading the greens. He knows my clubs. He was awesome. He kept me calm.”

Alaska is 50th state to host

In 2012, the Golf Club of New England in Stratham, New Hampshire, held the U.S. Junior Amateur, giving the USGA championships in 49 of the 50 states. With Anchorage Golf Course hosting this week, Alaska makes it complete, fulfilling former USGA CEO Mike Davis’ long-held vision.

The course delivers the views you might expect in scenic Alaska. It’s a public golf course designed by Bill Newcomb that sits on a hillside overlooking the city of Anchorage. The fairways are rolling and tree-lined, and the views of surrounding mountain ranges – including Denali, the highest peak in North America – are stunning.

Anchorage Golf Club is No. 1 on the list of Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play, state by state, for Alaska.

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Take a look at the iconic venues hosting USGA events in 2022

Here are all the events and corresponding venues the USGA will put on in 2022.

In 2022, the USGA is holding championships at some of the most historic venues in the world, highlighted by the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. The U.S. Mid-Amateur is headed to the Midwest, where Erin Hills will pose an enormous challenge for the men who qualify.

On the women’s side, the USGA will welcome players to Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, for the U.S. Women’s Open. And for the U.S. Women’s Amateur, qualifiers will head to Chambers Bay, University Place, Washington, home of Jordan Spieth’s 2015 U.S. Open victory.

Listed below are all the events the USGA will put on in 2022, accompanied by the corresponding venue.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020: Alaska

Anchorage Golf Course tops the list for Best Courses You Can Play in Alaska 2020.

We get it: Alaska isn’t really a golf state. With fewer than 30 courses and a snow-shortened season, the Land of the Midnight Sun doesn’t stack up with Scottsdale or South Florida when it comes to miles and miles of flowing, warm fairways.

That doesn’t mean the state should be discounted altogether. For adventurous traveling golfers looking for new bucket-list opportunities, there are several courses in Alaska worth checking out.

Even the U.S. Golf Association decided to soak in the state’s golf scene with a national championship. The game’s governing body has announced it will hold the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Anchorage Golf Course, giving the USGA a clean sweep of every state having hosted a championship.

“It’s a monumental occasion for us to bring a championship to Alaska, something that has been a long time coming,” Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA, said in a media release. “Players from all over the country dream of becoming USGA champions, so it is important we bring our events to all corners of the United States to expose golfers and golf fans to the inspiration and competitiveness of our championships.”

The ninth green at Anchorage Golf Club. (Photo courtesy Anchorage Golf Club.)

Anchorage Golf Course, designed by Bill Newcomb and opened in 1987, is the top-ranked track in the state on the 2020 Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list. The 6,601-yard layout offers views of the Anchorage skyline and Denali, the tallest peak in North America that was formerly known as Mount McKinley.

Golfweek ranks courses using the input of more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses. The Best Courses You Can Play list includes courses that allow non-member tee times – generally defined as courses accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.

As could be expected and including Anchorage Golf Course, four of Alaska’s top five public-access courses are scattered about the state’s largest city.

No. 12 on the Creek Course at Moose Run Golf Course at Elmendorf-Richardson Base in the Anchorage area. The most expensive rate for civilians is $49. (Photo courtesy Moose Run Golf Course)

Moose Run at Fort Richardson operates two of them, the third-ranked Creek Course and the fifth-ranked Hill Course. Moose Run, the northernmost 36-hole golf operation in the U.S., is run by the military and is open to civilian play. Settler’s Bay, No. 4 on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list for Alaska, is about an hour’s drive north of Anchorage in Wasilla.

Chena Bend in Fairbanks, another military facility that normally accepts public play, is No. 2 on the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list, making it the top-ranked track in the state away from Anchorage.

The golf season in Alaska typically runs from May through early October.

Each year, we publish the three lists that are the foundation of our course-ratings program: Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 200 Classic Courses, Golfweek’s Best 2020: Top 200 Modern Courses and Golfweek’s Best 2020: Best Courses You Can Play.

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020 in Alaska

No. 17 on the Hill Course at Moose Run Golf Course at Elmendorf-Richardson Base in the Anchorage area.

Anchorage GC, Anchorage (m)
Chena Bend, Fairbanks (m)
Moose Run (Creek), Fort Richardson (m)
Settler’s Bay, Wasilla (m)
Moose Run (Hill), Fort Richardson (m)

(m): modern
(c): classic

Anchorage Open 2016 — Anchorage Golf Club in Alaska will host the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur in 2022.

* New or returning to the list; c: Classic, built before 1960. m: Modern, built in 1960 or after

Golfweek’s Best 2020

How we rate them

The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.