Tag: Jill McGill

Jill McGill, 50, claims third USGA title at 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open for first victory since 1994

With her U.S. Senior Women’s Open title, Jill McGill joins rarified air by winning with three different USGA titles.

KETTERING, Ohio – Jill McGill stepped up to tap in her bogey putt on the 18th green at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open when Annika Sorenstam said, “No, no, no, mark.” A confused McGill turned and asked why.

“She goes, ‘You’re going to win,’” said McGill. “I was like, what? I really had no idea.”

McGill hadn’t won a trophy of any kind since 1994, and it was somewhat fitting that the winningest player in modern LPGA history was there to make sure McGill had her moment.

“I wanted to give her a hug,” said Sorenstam, “and say, ‘This is yours, so enjoy the moment, soak it in and let me finish.’”

McGill, 50, entered rarified air with her Senior Women’s Open triumph, joining Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, JoAnne Carner and Carol Semple Thompson as the only players with three different USGA titles. McGill won the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links while a student at USC.

“It’s been a really, really long time,” said McGill, who never won as a professional. “I’d always been a little bit disappointed that I couldn’t figure out how to get it done. I was a different person out there this week, truly, in terms of just acceptance of hey, you’re making the best decision you can. You’re trying to execute the best you can. That’s all you can do.”

On a day when nobody broke par at NCR Country Club, McGill shot even-par 73 to finish at 3-under 289 for the tournament. Leta Lindley, another Senior Women’s Open rookie who won once on the LPGA, in 2008, finished one stroke back.

Lindley, who like McGill now works as a teaching pro, had husband Matt Plagmann back on the bag, just like old times.

“I felt like we picked up right where we left off,” she said, “and it was like putting on really your favorite comfy sweater.”

While the rookies finished 1-2, it was three past champions—Laura Davies (2018), Helen Alfredsson (2019) and Annika Sorenstam (2021)—who entered the final round as the favorites. Together they boast 15 LPGA major titles.

For a while there, it looked like the sun might be Davies’ biggest threat. The 58-year-old felt wobbly after bending over on the sixth hole, and took out a sun umbrella to try to beat the heat.

As Annika Sorenstam—perhaps the most consistent player in the history of the women’s game—put up a shocking 40 on the front nine and Helen Alfredsson shot 39, Davies took a two-stroke lead into the back nine.

Jill McGill plays her tee shot at the 17th hole during the final round at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio. (Photo: Jeff Haynes/USGA)

McGill shot even on the front and was within striking distance until Davies blew up the leaderboard with a devastating quadruple-bogey eight on the par-4 12th. After hitting her drive left into the trees, Davies’ second shot ricocheted off a tree out of bounds and she never recovered.

She looked shattered when she walked in to meet with the press after a closing 78 that dropped her to a share of sixth.

“About as tough as I’ve ever known it, I think,” said Davies, who has battled a bruised Achilles since the AIG Women’s British Open.

Sorenstam birdied the first hole to draw into a tie with Davies and Alfredsson and looked primed to put on a show. Instead, she put on the brakes. Sorenstam said she didn’t drive the ball well enough this week, but really can’t pinpoint the why. She hit only four fairways in the final round.

When asked what her schedule might look like next year, Sorenstam said it’s too early to tell, but that she won’t play as much as did this year.

“It’s been hard to put this effort in and not get the results,” she said, “and I’m at a point in my life where I have some other fun things going, so I don’t really feel the excitement to come back and play.”

Six amateurs made the cut this week in Kettering. Patricia Ehrhart earned low-amateur honors after finishing 10 over. The 56-year-old Hawaiian is the travel and event manager for the Margaritaville Surf Team. Her three daughters, Scarlett, Lola and Mason, are all members of the team, which is captained by Jimmy Buffett.

Ehrhart has now earned a spot in next year’s field at Waverly Country Club.

McGill joined the LPGA in 1996 and compiled 24 career top 10s. She twice finished runner-up and earned over $2 million, last competing in 2013. McGill promised her two kids, Bella (10) and Blaze (6) that if she was in the top 10 after the first two rounds, they could come up from Dallas with their father to watch on the weekend.

Bella, who is eager to follow in mom’s footsteps, carried the trophy into the media tent after the round and even asked mom a question.

McGill had older sister Shelley O’Keefe, a former mogul skier turned teaching pro, on the bag this week. O’Keefe was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year and had to pull out of her own Senior Women’s Open local qualifier this year with back pain.

While McGill had no idea where things stood down the stretch, O’Keefe was well aware and fought off her emotions on the closing holes.

“Shelley has always been an amazing supportive force for me in my career,” said McGill. “I just love her.

The statuesque McGill credited the work she put in playing competitive tennis – “We think we’re playing Wimbledon” – as an important edge this week.

“The guy that I work with that coaches our team, his name is Jason Warren,” said McGill, “and I was working on my serves, and he’s like, ‘You’ve already done the hard work, so when you go like this you’ve just got to relax and let it flow and really loose arms and really loose shoulders,’ and I really drew from that today about just being loose and being relaxed.”

She also did her best to forget everything she’d felt as an LPGA pro when it counted most. The former Trojan remembers feeling sick to her stomach she was so tense down the stretch as a young pro more than 15 years ago.

Not this time.

McGill became the first American to win this championship and receives a spot in the field at next year’s historic U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. She’s also now exempt into this championship for the next 10 years, which means she’ll be back at San Diego Country Club, site of her U.S. Women’s Amateur victory, for the 2025 Senior Women’s Open.

“I love Pebble Beach,” said McGill, “it’s heaven on earth.”

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Two-time USGA champion Jill McGill and sister caddie Shelley O’Keefe, who recently beat ovarian cancer, trail by one at U.S. Senior Women’s Open

Shelley O’Keefe gets emotional talking about what last year’s qualifier did for her mentally.

KETTERING, Ohio – Shelley O’Keefe signed up for a local qualifier for this year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Open, but her back went out on the morning she was supposed to tee it up at Sierra View Country Club in Roseville, California. She tried to qualify last year, too, the day before her last round of chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. That time was less about qualifying and more about seeing whether she could walk five miles.

O’Keefe gets emotional talking about what last year’s qualifier did for her mentally.

“It’s amazing,” she said, “when you have a goal, or you have something that gets you out of bed every day.”

This time around, O’Keefe wasn’t going to miss the chance to spend the week at NCR Country Club caddying for younger sister Jill McGill, as they often did in the summer when McGill competed on the LPGA. It was Shelley who told Jill that she was exempt into this week’s event as the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion. McGill also won the 1994 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links.

Now, heading into the final round at NCR, 50-year-old McGill finds herself one stroke behind past champions Laura Davies and Helen Alfredsson and tied with Annika Sorenstam and fellow senior rookie Leta Lindley.

“I don’t know if this makes me more nervous or going in for childbirth,” said McGill of being in contention over the weekend, “one of the two.”

McGill’s told her children Bella (10) and Blaze (6) that they could fly out from Dallas with their dad if she was in the top 10 over the weekend. They got out of school on Friday and rushed to the airport, arriving in time to watch mom shoot 2-under 71 in the third round.

This is the first time McGill’s children have watched her compete on a stage like this, and her friends warned her not to let them be a distraction.

“In my opinion, I said, it’s not very often you get an opportunity for your kids to see you do something like this,” said McGill, “especially having them later in life, so that’s the number one thing for me.”

Bella recently watched her cousin shoot 70 in a U.S. Kids event and is eager to do the same. She stood in the back of the room on Saturday after walking 18 and watched mom’s evening press conference.

Jill McGill watches her shot during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)

About 15 months ago, McGill walked over to Tenison Park Golf Club near her home in Dallas and talked to the director of golf about getting involved as an instructor. Half the job, she said, is getting them to feel comfortable on the golf course. She hopes her play this week will be an encouragement to them.

“I’m trying to inspire my ladies,” said McGill, “so that’s always a motivator. And, you know, I’ve prepared as much as I could in between driving to swim team practice and teaching and school drop-off and pick-up and wouldn’t have it any other way.”

O’Keefe hopes that her story will inspire, too. Maybe even save a life.

Left to right: Shelley O’Keefe, Jill McGill, Bella, husband Patrick Byerly and Blaze (Golfweek photo)

A former college soccer player and member of the U.S. Ski Team, O’Keefe now runs junior tours for U.S. Kids in Northern California.

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer on Feb. 2, 2021, O’Keefe said she was told not to look up survival rates on the internet while going through surgery and chemo treatment. While doing recent work for the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, however, O’Keefe learned the numbers. According to ORCA, for all types of ovarian cancer taken together, roughly 72 percent of women live for at least one year after diagnosis and 46 percent are still alive at least five years after diagnosis.

“Because a lot of people don’t realize, I think this is what’s so important,” said O’Keefe, “there is not a screen test for ovarian cancer, and everyone thinks the Pap smear takes care of cancers down there. It’s only cervical.”

O’Keefe, a wife and mom, had just been to see her obstetrician six weeks before being diagnosed. She went back to the doctor at the insistence of her husband, who wanted her to get checked out again after O’Keefe began experiencing pain during intercourse.

“I don’t mind giving details,” said O’Keefe, “because I think it’s really important.”

On the first hole Saturday at NCR, McGill and her sister talked about nerves. They talked about embracing the moment, knowing better than most how quickly life can change.

For O’Keefe, the emotions of beating cancer are still fresh. The gratitude runs high. She wasn’t going to miss this.

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