U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur – Syndication Server

With husband Steve at the Ryder Cup, Nicki Stricker competes in first USGA event in 31 years

“The shots I hit good or bad, the scores I shoot good or bad, don’t define me.”

At first, Nicki Stricker didn’t tell anyone in the family that she’d signed up for U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur qualifying. She wanted the challenge to be hers for a little while.

Stricker, 54, and her mental coach, Kathy Hart Wood, sister of Dudley Hart, came up with trying to qualify for a USGA Championship as a way to give purpose to her practice.

“Just getting really frustrated because everyone was kicking my butt in my house,” said Stricker, wife to Steve and mom to Bobbi, 25, and 17-year-old Izzi, with a laugh. “I’m a fairly competitive person so was just like, what is happening?”

Caddie Nicki Stricker, caddie for Steve Stricker, of the United States looks on from the 11th hole during the second round of the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort’s Ocean Course on May 21, 2021 in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Needless to say, everyone in the Stricker house is competitive, and Nicki, a former collegiate player, wasn’t having too much fun on the golf course. She also wanted to set a good example for her girls. Nicki didn’t like how she treated herself on the golf course after a bad shot, and with one daughter playing the game professionally and another one playing high-level junior golf, she knew they were watching.

“The shots I hit good or bad, the scores I shoot good or bad, don’t define me,” said Nicki of what she’s learned.

Wood taught Sticker to hit shots from one of the three c’s – calm, confident, certain. Rather than put numbers down on a scorecard, she’d write which “c” she hit from.

Beginning on Saturday at the 61st U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur at Troon Country Club, there will be numbers on the card. It’s the first tournament Stricker has competed in in some 20 years, and the first USGA championship since the 1992 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Kemper Lakes.

With Steve working as a vice captain this week at the Ryder Cup in Rome with eldest daughter Bobbi by his side, and Izzi playing in the postseason for high school golf, Nicki won’t have any family by her side in Arizona, though she will have Wood, who will caddie.

Nicki, of course, has caddied for Steve throughout his career. Bobbi played tennis through high school and didn’t take up golf until college. Izzi, a high school senior, won a Wisconsin state golf title last year. It’s not uncommon for the two sisters to take on their parents in a match.

“The game keeps us together,” Bobbi told Golfweek last year. “We travel with (dad), we practice with him.”

Steve was getting a lesson from Nicki’s father Dennis Tiziani at Cherokee Country Club (now TPC Wisconsin) the day they met. Nicki, who was a lifeguard at the club, went over after her shift ended to see her dad and there was Steve.

“My dad had said something after,” she recalled. “ ‘You know the guy you met? He asked for your number.’ ”

After waiting for three days, Nicki finally decided to call Steve and ask him out. Nicki was going into her freshman year of college at Wisconsin and Steve was a junior at Illinois.

The couple married in 1993.

Stricker family: Nicki, Steve, Bobbi and Izzi (courtesy Bobbi Stricker)

Steve, now a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour and a 17-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions, including six titles this season, won the 2019 U.S. Senior Open with Nicki on the bag.

All that time caddying for Steve changed Nicki’s approach to a golf course, how she looks at green complexes and how she views the importance of short game. She shot 7-over 77 at Glenview Park Golf Club in Illinois to secure her spot in this week’s field of 132. She’d love to advance to match play and see what happens.

“They’re super proud of me,” said Nicki of what her kids think of mom back in a USGA Championship. “Which to have your child say that they’re proud of you for something obviously warms my heart … makes me choke up a little bit.”

As Tom Weiskopf’s last design opens in Utah, his first is hosting USGA event in Arizona

“It’s a real showcase for Tom and the club.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — In a way, it’s all come full circle.

Tom Weiskopf’s final golf course design, Black Desert, just opened in May in St. George, Utah, a burgeoning golf community. This gem has already landed a PGA Tour stop, coming fall of 2024. The LPGA is also going to stage an event there, starting in 2025.

Black Desert, a venue he did with partner Phil Smith, is the 73rd golf course in Weiskopf’s portfolio, which features layouts located around the world. There are dozens of courses in the U.S., of course, but also Scotland, Italy and China.

His very first design, though, was built in Arizona in a then-remote part of north Scottsdale, at Troon Country Club, the name serving as a tip of the cap to Royal Troon in Scotland, where Weiskopf won his lone major, the 1973 Open Championship.

“It’s funny because we did count them up and it’s 73,” said Smith. “Can you believe that? Between design and renovation we came up with 73 and that just seems to be his lucky number.”

The private layout at Troon CC, which Weiskopf did with Jay Morrish, is set to host the 2023 U.S. Women’s Senior Amateur Championship, Sept. 30 to Oct. 5. It’ll be the second U.S. Golf Association event played there (1990 U.S. Mid-Amateur) and the 17th USGA tournament in all held in Arizona.

A mural at Troon Country Club includes a photo of golf course designers Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. (Photo: Golfweek)

“The thing about Weiskopf courses is they can be played anybody or they can be set up to be played by the best in the world,” Smith said. “We based our design philosophy on that always. You think about TPC Scottsdale, where 95 percent of the time it has to be played by the municipal player and then one week out of the year you gotta be able to challenge the best players in the world [for the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open] so that’s sort of been our philosophy and Tom’s philosophy from Day 1, so I think it’ll be great.”

Ranking 12th on Golfweek’s Best list of private golf courses in Arizona, Troon CC’s best stretch is on the back nine:

The par-4 14th, dubbed “The Cliff”, which features a dramatic, elevated second shot down over a desert transition to a large green
The par-3 15th, called “Troon Mountain”, which may be the most picturesque point on the property, with the iconic Pinnacle Peak seemingly towering over the green
The par-4 16th hole, known as “The Gunsight”, featuring a pair of large boudlers that you hit your tee shot through while aiming at what many say is a gunsight-shaped formation on the distance landscape.

Like many Weiskopf designs, Troon CC features a driveable par 4, and the fourth will play 244 yards for the senior amateurs.

The USGA first did a site visit for the Senior Women’s Am in 2019. Troon CC was officially awarded the event 2021 and Weiskopf, who passed away in August of 2022, was an active participant in the course’s tournament preparations.

“It’s ironic. Troon is where he started and it’s where he found out he was sick, that’s where we were the day he found out he had cancer,” said Smith.

The USGA received a record 594 applications for the tournament, which was first played in 1962. There are 132 golfers in the field, including defending champion Shelly Stouffer. Three-time tournament winner Laura Tennant is also playing. She won it in 2021, 2019 and 2018. There was no event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The entire field will play two rounds of stroke play Sept. 39 and Oct. 1. The top 64 golfers will then play five rounds of match play, with the 18-hole championship set for Thursday, Oct. 5.

“The most important thing about Troon is it’s where Tom started and he won best new course right out of the gate. Who does that, right?,” marveled Smith. “I think that just shows the fact that even in the beginnings of Tom’s career he had the talent and the chops to produce a world-class golf course and that’s where it all began.

“I think it’s just great they’re hosting this event. It’s a real showcase for Tom and the club.”

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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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Lara Tennant wins her third straight U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship

Lara Tennant is now the 11th player in history to win a USGA event three straight times.

For the third time in a row, Lara Tennant outlasted all competition and won the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at The Lakewood Club (Dogwood Course) in Point Clear, Alabama.

She also won in 2018 and 2019; the 2020 event was canceled due to COVID-19.

Tennant was the No. 1 seed going into the tournament, and took down seven time USGA champion Ellen Port in the final, 2 and 1. The match started Wednesday, but was delayed until Thursday morning due to heavy rain. One of the par 4s played as a par 3 in response to course conditions.

“I love that trophy; it’s so beautiful, and it’s been at my house for quite a while, because of COVID and winning the two previous years, so I’ve gotten kind of attached to it,” said Tennant, 54, at the post-match ceremony. “It’ll go in the front entry, where it’s been now for three years, as a beautiful reminder of how lucky I am.”

Tennant is now the 11th player in history to win a USGA event three straight times. The last time Tennant lost a match in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur was all the way back in 2017, in the round of 64.

The next two U.S. Senior Women’s Amateurs will be played at Anchorage (Alaska) Golf Course (July 30-Aug. 4, 2022) and Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. (Sept. 30-Oct. 4, 2023).