JoAnne Carner, 85, shot 80 on Friday, the eighth time she has shot her age or better in the event.
Kaori Yamamoto fired a second straight 4-under 67 on Friday to lead the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Open but two of the winningest golfers in LPGA history are in striking distance.
Juli Inkster posted a 3-under 68 in the second round at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh and is 2 under for the tournament, six back of Yamamoto. Right there with Inkster at 2 under is Annika Sorenstam, the 2021 USSWO champ.
Sorenstam leads the LPGA all-time with 72 wins. Inkster is tied for sixth with 31.
“I’m a bit afraid of Annika Sorenstam and Juli Inkster,” Yamamoto said, adding, “but I’m actually excited to escape from them.”
Yamamoto, 50, earned her spot in this year’s field after winning a qualifier by six shots. Her back-to-back 67s gives her the 36-hole tournament record.
A year ago, she was at the USSWO but as a caddie for her best friend, Eika Otake. Now she’s leading it.
“So far I can’t believe my position,” she said Friday. “But yeah, I’m doing well. I’m proud of my golf today.”
Kaori Yamamoto discusses strategy with her caddie on the 15th hole during the second round of the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Yamamoto is playing in a tournament in the U.S. for the first time.
Lisa Grimes got to 5 under, good for solo second, before play was halted for darkness at 8:22 p.m. ET. Stefania Croce is solo third overnight at 4 under and Mikino Kubo is solo fourth at 4 under.
Sorenstam and Inkster are tied for fifth with Christa Johnson. Catrin Nilsmark is ninth at 1 under. No other golfers are under par through two days.
JoAnne Carner, 85, shot her age Thursday and then posted an 80 in Friday’s round. She has now shot her age or better eight times in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, and has done it in six of her last seven rounds in the championship. But, Carner’s two-day total of of 23 over left her 15 shots off the overnight projected cutline of 8 over.
There’s an event within the event Carner in the field.
Annika Sorenstam is disappointed. She came into the sixth U.S. Senior Women’s Open feeling good about her game, but left Fox Chapel Golf Club Thursday evening hardly satisfied after an opening even-par 71.
“I really didn’t release the club, and it was just very cautious golf,” she said. “As you know, there’s a fine line of being aggressive, but then also being patient and having a strategy, and I just felt I really didn’t have the courage.”
On the other hand, if a round of even par turns out to be her worst round of the week, she said, this start will be OK. The LPGA icon trails Japan’s Kaori Yamamoto by four in Pittsburgh, where bad weather washed out Tuesday’s practice round.
Sorenstam, who won this event in 2021, is one of five past champions in the field. Leta Lindley, who has finished runner-up in her last two appearances, sits alone in fourth after an opening 69.
Though Sorenstam lives in Orlando, she has spent the past two months at the family’s Lake Tahoe home. She planned to take a cold plunge after the round.
The heat was so brutal in Pittsburgh that a woman fainted while Sorenstam’s group was teeing off. Sorenstam’s son Will rushed over to get the woman a chair and offer assistance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C-JJt9mpTYn/?hl=en
While the top of the leaderboard is always of interest, there’s an event within the event at the Senior Women’s with JoAnne Carner in the field. The eight-time USGA champion is the oldest player to ever compete in a USGA championship, and it’s become tradition to see how many times the legendary player can break her age.
Carner, now 85, managed the feat for the seventh time at this championship, carding a 14-over 85. Carner made it clear, however, at the start of the week that her goal was to make the cut.
She notched one birdie on the par-4 seventh hole and stumbled through three double-bogeys on the back nine.
When she got the 18th tee, she needed a par on the closing hole to break her age. After piping her drive, someone in the gallery said, “You hit a nice one!”
“That’s cause I’m headed to the bar,” Carner replied.
Not surprisingly, Carner was not at all pleased with a bumpy round that included a four-putt. It’s a course, she said, that requires more than one practice round, which is all she got with the weather.
JoAnne Carner, making her 50th start in a USGA championship, just teed off at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. The eight-time USGA champion is 85 years young! 🙌🏻
When asked after the round if she was happy to shoot her age, Carner said no, it was terrible.
“I played really bad on the back,” she said. “I didn’t putt well. Then I lost my swing temporarily. I hit a couple shots that I thought were good, but not having played the course but one time, I ended up in trouble, in one of those bunkers, and you just have to hit it out.”
Carner turned professional at age 30 and won 43 times on the LPGA, including two U.S. Women’s Opens in Pennsylvania.
She inspired a young Nancy Lopez, who wanted to be just like her when she grew up.
“She always looked like she was having a good time … never saw her angry,” said Lopez. “She was always very animated.”
Another LPGA Hall of Famer, Beth Daniel, gives Carner credit for improving her wedge play her rookie year.
“When I first came on tour I was a horrible wedge player,” said Daniel. “I’d miss greens with a pitching wedge.”
Carner helped her fix that problem, as she so often came to the aid of fellow players.
Though she’s lost some distance the past couple years, Carner felt she was trending heading into the championship after a recent lesson. She’d like to hit it 220 again, and right now averages between 205 and 210.
Thursday’s test proved to be a tall task.
When asked if an evening of storytelling might lie ahead, Carner said everyone might be too tired.
“At least I am,” she said. “I’ll go back and cool down, take a shower and sit and have a nice cocktail.”
JoAnne Carner, the 84-year-old who won two U.S. Women’s Open titles in her career, shot 80 on Thursday in the opening round of the 2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Waverley Country Club in Portland, Oregon. It is the sixth time in the championship’s five-year history that Carner has shot her age or better.
She already was the oldest to play in a USGA championship. Adding to that Thursday, she just continues to impress.
“I’ve been practicing a lot and really kind of spinning my wheels, and then I started to get the move here and had it on the range this morning, and the first hole, then I fought it,” Carner said.
“Once in a while I’d hit one, but it was just work all day.”
On her final hole of the day, Carner nearly made an ace, but she tapped in for birdie and carded an 8-over 80.
“No, my eyes aren’t that good, but I appreciated the applause,” Carner said on whether she saw how close she hit it. “I knew I could finally maybe make a birdie.”
Carner has won eight USGA titles, more than any woman in history. Yet she acknowledges the challenges of playing at her age.
“I missed a lot of greens,” Carner said. “It plays long for me because I have a 9-degree driver and I’m driving right into those hills, and I can’t adjust it, so I don’t get the carry, and I’m going in with long clubs all day, 3-woods all day long second shots, and then can’t get there.”
She’s happy with her score Thursday, but it’s just off from what she was aiming for.
“Well, yeah, but it’s a little outrageous,” She said when asked if she had a target score. “Sixth-nine sounds wonderful to me.”
Catriona Matthew paces the field after an opening 3-under 69 in the Pacific Northwest.
JoAnne Carner makes it official. Her USGA career is over.
KETTERING, Ohio – Big Mama says this is it. After shooting her age, 83, for a second consecutive day at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, JoAnne Carner declared that her USGA career is over. While the golf world was enamored by her ability to shoot her age or better five times in this championship, Carner only wanted to make the cut.
When asked if she had any fun out there, Carner replied, “No, but I’m going to very shortly.”
Translation: Bring on the vodka tonic.
Carner said she won’t compete at Waverly Country Club next year because it took too much work to get her game in shape this year. Though she added that she has no plans to let it “go that bad” again. She quickly dismissed the idea of coming back as an honorary starter, though the job would surely be hers if she wanted it.
No woman has won more USGA titles than Carner, who has eight and collected her first in 1956. She turned professional at age 30 and won 43 times on the LPGA, her last coming in 1985.
A good round at NCR Country Club, she said, would be a couple over par, but she never got it going like she wanted this week.
“I get a lot of people talking to me as I play, even the players all congratulate me,” she said. “I’m not very enthusiastic about it because I shot 83. But it’s nice to hear from them.”
JoAnne Carner, 83, shoots her age for a second straight day. She has now shot her age or better five times in this championship. pic.twitter.com/gIUoFqf1wF
Carner hit the first tee shot at the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open in 2018 and shot 79 in that first round – walking. She took a cart for the first time in 2021. Carner has a cart for life from the USGA and a 10-year exemption into the event by virtue of her U.S. Women’s Open victories, but walks away satisfied: “I’ve had a fantastic career.”
Her only regret is that this championship took so long to come together.
“I waited for the Senior Open forever,” she said. “I had a chance to set the record for USGA wins, and for 20 years they had the men’s Senior but never the women’s, so I missed out on 20 years of play.”
Carner won’t be hanging up her clubs, by any means. She’s excited to tee it up with older sister Helen Sherry, 91, who took up the game at 70 and walked every hole this week at NCR. Carner said Helen grins like a Cheshire Cat when she plays.
The youngest daughter of a carpenter and a housewife, Carner’s entrance in the game came when she used to hunt golf balls to pay for golf and take the neighborhood kids to the movies. From there, she learned the game by playing moonlight golf with two of her sisters after the paying customers on a nine-hole course.
She grew into a legend.
Player after player this week shared their stories of Carner giving away her short-game secrets.
“She was a great mentor to young players brave enough to ask and gladly gave her time,” said Rosie Jones, who counts a shot she learned from Carner as one of the greatest tools in her bag.
Even Carner’s not-so-subtle corrections to young players over the years are treasured memories. Everyone loved to learn from one of the all-time greats.
“She was always one of my favorite to play with because she never laid up,” said Juli Inkster.
JoAnne Carner just might be playing her final round in a USGA championship on Friday at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. No woman has won more USGA titles than Carner, who has eight, and one would be hard-pressed to find a player more beloved in any field.
Leta Lindley’s goal this week is to have her picture taken with Big Mama at NCR Country Club. The women in this field are grateful that their careers have overlapped 83-year-old Carner’s. That she shared a laugh, a drink, a fairway, maybe even a tip or two.
“She was always one of my favorite to play with because she never laid up,” said Juli Inkster. “She was always just letting it rip. She was amazing out of the trees. All of a sudden, she’d be in the trees and all of a sudden this ball would be on the green. She had a great imagination, and she was fun.”
Everyone has a good Carner story. Here are some doozies:
The living legend won her first USGA title in 1956, not long after the LPGA was founded.
KETTERING, Ohio – JoAnne Carner shot her age for a fourth time at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, but the 83-year-old legend wasn’t too happy about it. Carner’s first tee shot at NCR Country Club leaked right, and she never “found the slot” all day.
Carner shot 10-over 83 with a double-bogey on the last hole and said a good round for her these days would be a couple over par. She headed to the range after lunch. The goal every year at this championship, she said, has been to make the cut.
“The whole swing was basically off,” said Carner. “I wasn’t driving into it, I was firing and falling back, ducking into it.”
While Carner wasn’t too pleased with her effort, everyone in the field is inspired simply to be in her presence this week. Amateur Noreen Mohler, who threw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game when she was Curtis Cup captain, said she’s never been more nervous than she was teeing it up alongside Carner on Thursday.
“You just think, ‘Oh gosh, I hope I don’t top it off the first tee,’” said Mohler.
JoAnne Carner reacts to missing a putt on the 18th hole (she shot her age83) during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at NCR Country Club (South Course) in Kettering, Ohio on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)
Carner broke the record for the oldest to play a USGA championship last year at age 82. Thursday’s 83 marked the fourth time she has shot her age or better in this championship.
She hit the first tee shot at the inaugural event in 2018 and shot her age, 79, without the use of a cart.
The USGA allowed Carner to take a cart for the first time at the 2021 Senior Women’s Open because of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). She’ll have the use of a cart for as long as she competes in USGA events, though on Wednesday Carner hinted that this might be her last one.
Tammie Green holds the early lead at 5 under and a host of past champions are hot on her heels, but these first two days are all about Carner, a national treasure who makes every little thing seem cool.
Suzi Spotleson, an amateur from Ohio, stood at the back of the interview room on Wednesday to listen to Carner’s pre-tournament press conference.
“… I want to see JoAnne Carner no matter what she’s doing,” said Spotleson, “whether she’s eating lunch, whether she’s giving an interview, whether she’s out on the golf course. That’s an absolute legend in the game. There’s just nobody around like her, and I want to hear every word she’s saying every time she talks.”
Carner made one birdie in the round, on the par-3 15th, and was pleased that she didn’t get “skunked.” She kept a pack of Marlboro 100’s in the cart and hired the caddie that she used last year at Brooklawn.
Her 91-year-old sister Helen walked every hole, purposefully taking the hills for an added kick.
Helen, the oldest of five, lives on a 20-acre ranch in Washington and trained thoroughbred horses when she wasn’t working at Boeing. She went down to Florida last week to watch “Jo” put in her final preparations for the Senior Open and marveled at the work her sister put in for NCR.
“I said, that’s not the same person,” said Helen. “She was looking like her old self, instead of the last time I saw her. Her swing was getting so much like it used to be … the work was just doing her good all the way.”
Carner is a full decade older than the closest to her in age this week, 73-year-old Carol Semple Thompson. Caddie Trevor Marrs said Carner hits 7-iron 135 yards and sends it about 210 off the tee when she catches it solid.
Scenes from a fun day following Big Mama, who shot her age at a major yet again! pic.twitter.com/uoNaCHdIAX
Marrs caddied at Brooklawn Country Club for a summer while working an internship for his degree in packaging at Michigan State. The caddie master asked him to come back to work the Senior Women’s Open and sent a list of players for him to choose from.
Naturally, Marrs chose Big Mama.
“My dad was like, you’re caddying for the Arnold Palmer of women’s golf,” said Marrs with a broad smile. “It’s pretty cool.”
Marrs now lives just outside Detroit and works for a cannabis company. He said Carner emailed him about two months ago and asked if he wanted the job again: “I couldn’t turn that down.”
The leaderboard is awash in nostalgia, with past champions Helen Alfredsson (3 under), Laura Davies (2 under) and Annika Sorenstam (even) in the hunt at NCR.
Green, who leads with a 68, finished second to Patty Sheehan at the 1994 U.S. Women’s Open and called it bittersweet.
“Even at age 62,” she said, “I’m still after that U.S. Open trophy.”
Carner’s simply chasing a good round.
The living legend won her first USGA title in 1956, not long after the LPGA was founded. She didn’t turn professional, however, until age 30, and was Rookie of the Year at an age when many current LPGA stars are forming an exit plan.
“When I first came out,” said Alfredsson, “I think she was similar to my age, and she hit it farther than me, and I was like, ‘What is this old lady hitting it further than me?’ And she just loved every moment … she’s given us a lot.”
Carner ultimately won 43 times on the LPGA, her last victory coming in 1985. Her eight USGA titles is more than any other woman in history.
If tomorrow truly is the last time Carner will tee it up in a USGA event, it will be a bittersweet day in the game’s history, for there will never be another like her.
Carner has won more USGA titles than any other woman with eight.
KETTING, Ohio – Four years ago, JoAnne Carner rallied in her opening round of the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open, carding four birdies on the back side at Chicago Golf Club to shoot her age, 79.
Last year, an 82-year-old Carner shot her age in the first round at Brooklawn Country Club and followed it with a 79 in Round 2.
Can she do it once more at the Senior Women’s Open? The now 83-year-old Carner is one of 120 players in the field at NCR Country Club, a stern test by all accounts.
Only five players have shot their age or better in USGA championships more than once: Jerry Barber (9), Tom Watson (3), Hale Irwin (3), Harold ‘Jug’ McSpaden and Carner (3).
2019 Senior Women’s Open champion Helen Alfredsson played two practice rounds with Carner at NCR and marveled that Carner’s 91-year-old older sister, Helen Sherry, walked all 36 holes.
“Whatever they are taking,” said Alfredsson, “I want to get some.”
Joanne Carner became only the fifth player in history to shoot his or her age in a USGA championship more than once.
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – JoAnne Carner wasn’t at all pleased with her 82. The LPGA legend known as “Big Mama” said she thought she could come out on Friday at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open and put up a 75 at Brooklawn Country Club.
Game on, Fairfield. Better come early and bring a seat.
Those fighting words came after Carner became only the fifth player in history to shoot his or her age in a USGA championship more than once, and the first player to do it when in her 80s. At the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club, Carner matched her age, 79, in the opening round. Jerry Barber (9), Tom Watson (3), Hale Irwin (3) and Harold ‘Jug’ McSpaden round out that impressive group.
Carner also became the oldest player to compete in a USGA championship on Thursday, clipping McSpaden, who was 81 when he competed in the 1990 U.S. Senior Open.
“Not good,” said Carner. “I got some back spasms out there. Could not do what I wanted to do.”
The most difficult part of the day might have occurred in the scoring tent, where Carner and playing competitors Ellen Port and Carol Semple Thompson camped out for an extended period of time. Carner said she’d initially made six errors on her card.
“We couldn’t add right,” she said, “had to go back, and then we couldn’t remember the hole.”
Luckily her caddie Trevor, an Evans Scholar who caddied for two years at Brooklawn and recently graduated from Michigan State, was called in to help.
JoAnne Carner, Carol S. Thompson and Ellen Port, representing 22 USGA Championship titles between them, at the 12th tee before playing their tee shots to start their first round at the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
Carner, who is using a cart this week because her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) makes it too difficult to walk hills, said her goal is to make the cut. The top 50 and ties will play the weekend.
LPGA Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam and Dana Ebster, a teaching pro and junior college golf coach, lead the field at 5 under. Kris Tschetter sits alone in third at 3 under.
Carner, a record-holding eight-time USGA champion, hit 11 greens, seven fairways and took 36 putts. The 43-time LPGA winner was most frustrated with her performance on the greens.
“Even if you’ve got a tap-in you’ve got to look at it,” said Carner. “Even a tap-in can break.”
After a 14-month break from golf due to the pandemic, Carner got back to work two months ago back home in south Florida. She lost 24 pounds in preparation for this week, but said she’d also lost more distance. She averaged 191 yards off the tee on Thursday.
When asked if she might have overdone it in the weeks leading up to the championship, Carner quickly dismissed the notion.
“I always say go until you die,” she said. “Before the flag goes, yeah, wear yourself out.”
JoAnne Carner plays her second shot at the seventh hole during the first round at the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. on Thursday, July 29, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
Port, a seven-time USGA champion, opened with 1-under 71 and said friends Thompson and Carner were ideal playing partners. With 22 USGA championships between them, none of them had anything to prove.
“They’re like war veterans,” said Port. “I felt like I was with my comrades.”
Two years ago at Pine Needles, 59-year-old Port wanted to get out and watch Carner’s last nine holes, thinking it might mark the end of Carner’s championship career. While having a drink after the round, Carner put her hands together as if gripping a club and said, “I think I’ve figured something out.”
Carner struck the first tee shot in 2018 at the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open and remarkably shot her age.
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – When JoAnne Carner went to register for the first U.S. Senior Women’s Open, she ran across a small problem. She scrolled to “April,” then scrolled to “4” and then, well, the year category stopped at 1946. Carner, 82, was born 1939.
“I’m sitting there thinking about it,” she said, “and they didn’t figure anybody over 75 was going to be playing.”
Carner struck the first tee shot in 2018 at the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open and remarkably shot her age, 79, at Chicago Golf Club. She’s back for a third time at Brooklawn Country Club, this time with the aid of a golf cart.
Her COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), an inflammatory lung disease that causes obstructed airflow from the lungs, makes it too difficult to walk hills. She also had surgery on her right hip on Christmas Eve in 2019.
The USGA’s policy allows players or caddies who submit the necessary documentation to use a cart. In this case, a spokesperson said, Carner provided medical documentation that shows a disability under the ADA that prohibits the ability to walk long distances or stand for long periods of time.
After taking 14 months away from the game during the COVID-19 pandemic, Carner returned to golf two months ago to get prepared for Brooklawn. She played five times per week at her home club, Pine Tree in Boynton Beach, and lost 24 of the 26 pounds she’d gained while hunkered down away from the virus.
“Basically, it was golf 101,” said Carner. “I mean, it was awful. I had no strength. The arms, the legs, the brain was dead. Everything was starting all over again.”
Joanne Carner plays her shot at the ninth hole during a practice round at the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
She began walking on flat ground again, working up to 1 mile. The winner of eight USGA championships and 43 LPGA titles wasn’t about to miss this week, even if her famed distance has substantially faded. That, to her, is the most frustrating part.
“I don’t even know if I hit it 200,” said the player known as “Big Mama.”
The swing has always been short, she said, but this time around it came back even shorter. She returned to a familiar flaw of “ducking in” and never getting off the right foot: “In fact, I said, when they bury me, my right foot is going to be outside the coffin.”
During the long break from golf, Carner said it was the camaraderie that she missed the most, the heckling and side bets.
“I play harder for a drink,” she quipped.
With the COVID-19 pandemic canceling this championship in 2020, Carner was asked if there was a player she’d seen this week that she had particularly missed.
“Well, not really,” she said. “I mean, all of them. When you’re away from it for 14 months and whatnot, you say, now who is that?”
When asked about her expectations for the week, Carner said the cardinal rule is to make the cut. Her game, she continued, is not quite solid enough to really contend. The field of 120 players will be cut to 50 and ties after 36 holes.
There was a rumor going around Brooklawn that Carner had quit smoking, but she quickly cleared that up.
“I’m the only player with a golf cart,” she said, “and the only player who smokes.”
Joanne Carner signing flags on her arrival during the a practice round at the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. on Monday, July 26, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
Carner tees off at 8:47 EDT on Thursday alongside Carol Semple Thompson, who at 72 is the third-oldest player in the field, and Ellen Port. Together they have 22 USGA titles between them. Carner holds the record for any woman with eight USGA titles while both Port and Thompson boast seven.
Carner makes her 47th appearance in a USGA event this week, giving her a staggering winning percentage of 17 percent.
The second-oldest player in the field is 78-year-old Jerilyn Britz, who won the USWO when it was held at Brooklawn in 1979.
Laura Davies, 57, won the inaugural USSWO in Chicago by 10 strokes but will forever share the spotlight from that event with Carner.
Will Davies follow in Carner’s footsteps, competing into her 80s?
“Oh, absolutely, yeah, I can’t wait,” she said. “Me and JoAnne, she’ll be 100. I’ll be about 80-odd. It’ll be great, though. I can’t wait for that match.”
There are 11 U.S. Women’s Open champions in the 120-player field this week.
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Laura Davies withdrew from last week’s Amundi Evian Championship because she didn’t want to add more potential risk to her participation in the 3rd U.S. Senior Women’s Open. Even she’s still a bit surprised by the move.
“If you’d have told me that 10 years ago,” said Davies, “I’d say don’t be ridiculous. But that’s how important this one is to me and all the other players.”
Annika Sorenstam’s first title on the LPGA came at the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open. The 50-year-old Sorenstam, a three-time USWO champion, called it a privilege to be at Brooklawn Country Club making her U.S. Senior Women’s Open debut.
“I think it’s important to support the USGA because they’re the ones that put up this tournament,” said Sorenstam. “If we don’t support it, they will go away, so I think it’s my way to say thank you to the USGA. The USGA has (played) a big part in my life, a big part in my heart.”
Winning, of course, factors in, too. Juli Inkster has twice finished runner-up at this event – first to Davies in 2018 and Helen Alfredsson in 2019 – and would like to “move up a notch.”
Inkster is one of 13 players in the field who competed at Brooklawn in the 1979 USWO.
“My mom reminded me last week that I actually did play here before,” said Inkster, “which I didn’t know. But she brought out the old photo albums, and yeah, there I was.
“So I was a 19-year-old kid then, playing as an amateur. And, of course, I don’t remember anything about it. But I think I should have because it reminds me a lot of the course I grew up on, Pasatiempo, with the undulating greens and the undulating fairways and stuff like that.”
Carol S. Thompson with Juli Inkster and Pat Hurst as they walk off of the 7th tee during a practice round at the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
After a nearly 13-year layoff from the tour, Sorenstam teed it up last February in her first LPGA event at her home course of Lake Nona and made the cut. She also has played in a couple of celebrity events against the men. She’s enjoying the par-72 6,011 layout at Brooklawn.
“(The men) hit it 100 yards past me, and I’m hitting longer irons in,” said Sorenstam, “and here I come, and I feel comfortable. I’m hitting shorter irons in and I can be a little more precise and I can fire at the flag. My approach shots are not releasing 20 yards over the green. Here actually I had two shots that were spinning back. I can’t remember the last times I had shots spinning back.
“I think this course fits me very well. I love it.”
Davies said distance control will be key at Brooklawn, which was always a strength of Sorenstam’s game.
“Pin high is your friend,” said Davies. “Short and long is definitely not your friend. You can even miss it pin high and still have some easy chips, especially if you miss it to the low side of the green. But that’s what the practice rounds are all about. Very important this week to get to know the course … the greens are what they are, but we now have to deal with some serious problems around them if you get a bit scrappy with your distance control.”
There are 11 U.S. Women’s Open champions in the 120-player field including two-time winner JoAnne Carner, who at 82 is the oldest player in the field. There are eight World Golf Hall of Famers and 33 amateurs. A total of 58 players made it to Brooklawn through qualifying and 41 are here for the first time.
What feels like a reunion week at Brooklawn also doubles as a bona fide championship. It’s an intriguing mix of happy-to-be-here and playing-to-win.
“I was playing a TV match in Norway with Suzann (Pettersen) and Lorena (Ochoa) and I believe it was Se Ri (Pak),” said Sorenstam, “and Suzann came up to me and she said, ‘You know, your swing hasn’t changed. I said, thanks. And she goes, ‘but you don’t hit it anywhere.’ That’s Suzann for you. I’d like to see what her swing looks like now when she has two kids.
“But no, kidding aside, the swing looks the same. My game is not really the same, but I feel as good as I can be at this age and what I do in my life. … I’m still a fighter, still a competitor, and we’ll see what happens.”
