Senior Women's Amateur Blog

When Terri Frohnmayer walked off the 17th green a winner, she didn't know what to do. So she hugged a few people, then beelined for her cart.

"I'm elated. Excited. It's surreal," said Frohnmayer, a champion in the first time she played the USGA Senior Women's Amateur.

Frohnmayer, who knocked off defending champion Mina Hardin, 2 and 1, was stupified over what she achieved. It was the first time she played in the event, which elicited "rookie" calls from various people around the course.

Frohnmayer erased a 2-down deficit after the first four holes. She stayed straight off the tee, finding nine of 13 fairways. She also recorded 11 of 17 greens in regulation. To that end, Hardin wasn't as consistent. Two errant drives, off No. 11 and 13, hurt her chances. Frohnmayer went 3 up after the 13th hole. It was a lead she wouldn't lose.

Afterward, Hardin had nothing but superlatives to describe Frohnmayer's game.

"Good for her," said Hardin. "It's a privilege and an honor to be a national champion.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say I was extremely disappointed."

 Frohnmayer joins Jason Allred, Mary Budke, Peter Jacobsen and Jeff Quinney as Oregon winners. 

Frohnmayer was asked if she was nervous at all. She said the entire championship, dating to the first day. Her caddie, Bob Lawson, would calm her down and tell her to take it one shot at a time. Or to breathe, or relax. Lawson caddies at The Honors Course.

 

By Rhonda Glenn, USGA

 That Great Old Song…  

Early this morning, just as Mina Hardin and Terri Frohnmayer hit their shots from the first tee and the final was underway, a train whistle sounded in the distance. Couldn’t help but think, “Pardon me, boys. Is that the Chattanooga choo-choo?”   

   

A Challenge? 

Joe Richardson, president of this fine club, had a thought after the semifinals. “We won’t have a true champion here until she tees it up with Betty,” Richardson said with a laugh. Betty Probasco, the honorary co-chairman of the Senior Women’s Amateur, is a member here. Probasco has a wonderful playing record and was a stalwart competitor. On media day, Betty fired a 74, which is a few strokes below her age. 

   

The Honors Course 

Could there be anything better than enjoying a fine breakfast on the back porch of The Honors Course? We don’t go to that many clubs that offer a side dish of grits which, as Southerners know, stands for Girls Raised In The South, but they’re a favorite. These well-travelled players know of such delicacies and even the Northern and Western women enjoyed the dish. 

   

Natural Wonders 

The Honors Course is such a lovely, peaceful layout. It’s in the middle of virtual wilderness and wildlife has a fine time here. There are two black bears on the property, we’re told, but they must have been in hiding this week. Leaving the course late one night, I saw a lovely doe amble across the road toward the practice area. We don’t see many deer in Florida, so the sight of one is a blessing. It also brings a smile to watch the 12 ducks that frolic in the little cut of stream that empties into the pond next to the ninth green. This morning, it was quiet and no one was about when we watched them circle overhead and glide in to land on the fringe. Ten sat resting, while two ducks stood as sentinels, ever vigilant. Soon they made it to the stand of cattails in the stream, and they ducked and splashed and gamboled about. It was recess for these feathered friends and you could almost hear them laugh. 

   

 

So, it looks like Mina Hardin will have a chance to defend her title. She eliminated Anna Schultz, 4 and 3. In perhaps a surprise, Terri Frohnmayer knocked off medalist Lisa Schlesinger in 20 holes.

On the 20th, the par-5 second, the green repelled Schlesinger's ball and bounced into a collection area. Meanwhile, Frohmayer reached the green in 3. From the short side, Schlesinger used a flop shot to get her ball on the green. It stopped 36 feet away from the hole. She susbsequently would two-putt, giving her a bogey 6. Frohnmayer ended up two-putting from 40 feet, draining the second one from 4 feet. It brought out a thundering fist pump.

"My legs are like Jello right now," said Frohnmayer, who qualified for the USGA Senior Women's Amateur for a first time this year.

A disappointed Schlesinger could only walk away thinking 'What if?'

"I'm disappointed," said Schlesinger. "I really thought I had the chance to win this. I think my putting let me down."

In Lisa Schlesinger's mind, she's chasing the illusion of perfection.

 

It doesn't matter if it's stroke or match play. She simply wants to be the best. In a nip-and-tuck quarterfinal match, Schlesinger barely survived Mary Jane Hiestand, 2 and 1, on Wednesday.

"Omigosh," said Schlesinger, "I'm a very competitive person at anything. I just want to be the best."

She had the upperhand against Hiestand, who had held the lead just one hole in the entire match. Hiestand, though, relied on gritty play to stay close. In the end, she couldn't overcome two costly mistakes. The first one occurred on No. 12. With Schlesinger clinging to a 1-up margin, Hiestand found herself in a front greenside bunker with virtually no play. The ball, in the sand, was next to a stiff hill. Hiestand needed two shots to get out. She skulled her second shot and the ball took off across the green. "Your hole," said Hiestand, which put Schlesinger 1 up.

Hiestand's second mistake came on No. 17, wich turned out to be the final hole. Hiestand again found herself in a bunker, this one in the fairway. Hiestand grabbed a rescue club and proceeded to watch as the ball hit the lip of the bunker before bouncing back. Hiestand slapped her thigh in frustration. It didn't matter that on her next shot she hit it stiff, to within 3 feet of the flagstick.

"I made a mistake in the middle of the fairway and you can't do that," said Hiestand.

Hiestand was disappointed but maybe more so in the fact that she no longer can play the course.

"I'm going to miss playing here. It's so beautiful."

For Schlesinger, she marches into the semifinal.

"Physically I feel fine," said Schlesinger. "Emotionally, I'm a little tired."

By Rhonda Glenn, USGA

The Honors Course  

The Pete Dye-designed layout has received universal acclaim from the players in this field. Former champion Carolyn Creekmore said, “It’s one of my all-time favorites. It’s just perfect. I don’t think there’s a bad hole out here.” Defending champion Mina Hardin said, “I love the course. It sets well to my eye.” The 1972 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, Mary Budke, said, “The course suits my eye. There’s a lot of room, so I drive it well.” Two-time USA Curtis Cup player and 2012 Curtis Cup captain Pat Cornett said, “It’s got shots out there that are risk-reward. You could compare it to Pebble Beach.” 

Rheney Repeat  

Susan Rheney, 52, of Greensboro, Ga., didn’t need her MBA from Harvard University to see the parallels between her performance in this year’s championship and last year’s. In 2010, Rheney said she was three holes down after four holes in every match, yet still made the round of 16. In this championship, Rheney faced 2009 champion Sherry Herman in her first match. Herman was 4 up through nine holes but Rheney thought, “I’ve done this before. I just have to keep playing. I’m nobody, so I have nothing to lose.” Rheney defeated Herman on the 19th hole. Now she’s a quarterfinalist. 

In the Committee Family  

Along with the USGA staff, the Senior Women’s Amateur Championship Committee is dedicated to running a wonderful championship. Committee members come from all over the United States and pay their own expenses to serve as Rules officials and do the myriad tasks that make this championship one of the best. Some two decades ago, Claire Candler, a friend from Sea Island, Ga., was a dedicated member of the Senior Women’s Amateur Committee. Candler has since passed away but her daughter, Claire Carruth, also of Sea Island, is carrying on her work. Carruth is the second generation of her family to serve on the committee.     

Doctors In The House  

Three physicians made the cut for match play: Angela Stewart, an obstetrician from Greenville, S.C., lost in the first round. Pat Cornett, a hematologist oncologist from Mill Valley, Calif., lost in the second round in an extra-hole match. Mary Budke, past U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and an emergency room physician who has recently retired, made it all the way to the third round before losing. 

 

Mina Hardin is motivated to defend her title.

"Absolutely. It would be terrific," she said after trouncing an ill Brenda Pictor, 5 and 4, in the third-round match.

Against Pictor, Hardin fell into a rhythm with her irons. She mentioned that in her morning victory she had been "a click off."

Pictor battled a queasy stomach after eating lunch during the break between matches. She fought it off as much as she could, but it affected her concentration.  "I was disappointed I didn't give her more of a match," said Pictor, who knocked off seven-time USGA champion Carol Semple Thompson in the morning.

Hardin won three of the first five holes and five of the first nine. It was too deep of a hole for Pictor to climb out. Hardin pushed the lead to 6 up after the 12th hole, a hole that Pictor conceded when she needed four shots to reach the green on the par-4 hole. Pictor won the 13th hole with a birdie. She stiffed her approach shot to 3 1/2 feet and made the birdie putt. But by that point, Hardin's lead was insurmountable.

"One shot at a time," said Hardin when asked what went through her mind with such a large lead. "Don't put the carriage in front of the horses."

Hardin will face Susan Rheney in the quarterfinals - clicking on all cyclinders.

 

By Rhonda Glenn 

This championship is unique in women’s competition. You see more elastic bandages here, for one thing. Said Honors Course member and great player Betty Probasco, when noting one contestant’s ailments, “At this age it’s patch, patch, patch!” 

… A number of cancer survivors are in the field, happy to be here, happy to be anywhere… Opponents often eat lunch together. One has won, one has lost, but they’re friendly… When a player shakes your hand, she looks you in the eye and her grip is strong. Often very strong. Perhaps it’s because 35 years ago, girl athletes didn’t receive much encouragement from the outside world. Perhaps they had to fight for it a little more than today’s generation. Perhaps that strong grip is a way of saying, “I am here and I’m going to play.”… Marlene Streit, three-time champion and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, is 77 now. When she agreed to appear at the Players Dinner for this 50th anniversary of the championship, USGA officials talked her into play. Streit didn’t make the cut, but she came to The Honors Course for breakfast today and stayed to watch play. “Maybe I shouldn’t play anymore,” she ventured to a friend. “So what would you be doing this week that’s more fun?” asked the friend. “Here, you’re playing serious golf on a great course with your friends. So, what else are you going to do?” “Yes, you’re right,” said the great champion.   

 

 

By Rhonda Glenn, USGA

 

Sept. 11 Observance Along with the Star-Spangled Banners on the flagsticks at No. 9 and No. 11 and the American flags waving from the carts of USGA officials, players observed Sept. 11 in their own way.  

The grouping of Maggie Leef of Brookfield, Wis., Victoria Leptien of Vista, Calif., and Cathy Sarkissian of Chino Hills, Calif., dressed for the occasion. Leef, Leptien and Sarkissian each wore navy blue shorts and bright red shirts in remembrance of the American tragedy that happened 10 years ago today. After holing out on the 18th, they paused to comment. 

“I did it for 9/11,” said Leef. “I had to buy a new navy-blue hat for today but I forgot my 9/11 pin.”  

“Me too,” said Sarkissian. “That was a tragic day for me, for everyone at work, for everyone.” 

“I just did it to be supportive of the observance,” said Leptien. 

Seeming somewhat somber on this sparkling bright day, they’re still playing in a national championship so they gathered themselves and went striding to the first tee. It’s their second nine today and the tee is surrounded on three sides by small American flags that flutter gently in the morning breeze. 

   

The Last Stronghold 

We probably make five or six moral decisions a day. Do we toss that piece of paper onto the ground or into a trash can? Do we let the old gentleman have that prime parking place? Do we offer to unload the old woman’s groceries? Do we even take the grocery cart back to the store?  

Every day, we make these decisions and they’re almost always the right ones. Such decisions would be a little harder in golf were this not one of the last strongholds of courtesy and fairness. Whether a golfer plays with his weekend group or comes to her first national championship, the game demands the best of us. In every way. 

Yesterday,  Joanne Kitusky of Glen Allen, Va., was playing from a bunker on the front nine. Now, Kitusky is a fine player or she wouldn’t be here. She’s won her club championship nine times and was runner-up in the 2008 Richmond City Championship, but playing in a national championship has a bit more cachet. She went through sectional qualifying to get here and the travel, the hotel and the meals are not inexpensive. 

Kitusky would like to score well and make a good showing. So, she was hitting from the bunker when her caddie jumped in her golf cart and drove it a few yards down the fairway. Kitusky hung her head. “That’s it,” she said. “I’m disqualified.” A nearby official hadn’t seen the incident, but Kitusky was ready to ease her way out of the championship because her caddie had broken a rule. The official informed her that, happily, she wasn’t disqualified. It was a two-stroke penalty. 

Anne Carr of Renton, Wash., was runner-up in this championship in 2001. During Saturday’s first round of stroke-play qualifying, Carr’s ball lay on the fringe next to the green. Without thinking, Carr bent down and picked up her ball. She called the penalty on herself. One stroke was added to her score. 

Kitusky shot an 85; Carr shot 90. Somewhere that matters. But not so much in my book, when integrity and fairness and so much more were on the line.  

 

Sometimes you can’t believe what happens in golf travel. Fumie Sato, 51, of Santa Barbara, Calif., planned her trip to Chattanooga. She’d fly out of Los Angeles International Airport, connect through Dallas and arrive at the Senior Women’s Amateur in plenty of time for a couple of practice rounds. 

On Wednesday at 8 a.m., Sato, snuggled into her seat and her plane left the LAX runway. Twenty minutes out of L.A., the pilot’s voice came over the loudspeaker in the cabin. One of the lights on the instrument panel wouldn’t go out. They were turning back. 

At LAX, the passengers were shifted to another plane. They took off. Thirty minutes later, the pilot announced that a light on the instrument panel wouldn’t go out. They were turning back.  

“Okay, better to be safe,” Sato thought. 

The mechanical problem was fixed and once again Sato’s plane took off. In Dallas, she missed her connection. Sato found another plane, flew to Charlotte, N.C., connected to Chattanooga, landed, rented a car and promptly got lost on the way to her hotel. At 1:30 a.m. Thursday, she checked into her room.  Her luggage and golf clubs were out there somewhere, lost in America. 

We caught up with her on the 13th green during her practice round.  

“The last place the airline saw my clubs was in Dallas,” Sato said. “I came out to the course after a few hours sleep and bought these clothes I’m wearing.” 

Crisp white golf shirt and khaki shorts. Nice and new. 

“I rented this set of clubs in the golf shop,” she said. “They’re not the brand I use but it’s OK. I’m just glad to be here.” 

She inspected the head of her putter. “And this putter is pretty good,” she said. 

The reporter asked for Sato’s cell phone number. Maybe we could get a photo. Sato isn’t quite sure of her number, so retrieved her cell from her purse. There’s a message. It’s the airline. 

Sato’s golf clubs have arrived! They’re bringing them out to The Honors Course. Right away. No one seems to know, or care, about the luggage. 

Sato shot 90 in Saturday’s first round. She was a bit weary after her ordeal, but she had her clubs, her very own clubs. It was a fine reunion. 

 

 

The 2011 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur on Sunday will mark observance of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy with American flags. Small American flags will surround three sides of the first and 10th tees. USGA officials will carry small flags on the course. Larger American flags will be posted from the flagsticks on the ninth and 11th holes.  

 

 By Rhonda Glenn

Thursday Night Lights 

The Players Dinner at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club was one of the best ever, according to many. Maybe the best ever. It was the 50th anniversary salute to this championship and after a sentimental highlight video, eight past champions shared their memories. Those thoughts ranged from despair at the 9/11 championship when the players bravely voted to play on, to hilarity.  

Diane Lang, a three-time champion, recalled facing four-time champion Carol Semple Thompson for the first time in Lang’s first final in 2005. “I knew that we had a lot in common,” Lang remembered. “For instance, between the two of us, Carol and I had played in 102 USGA championships. Carol had played in 101. I had played in one.” 

Sherry Herman recalled that a portable toilet at The Homestead in 2009 saved her a couple of shots when her ball ricocheted off of it instead of going out of bounds in qualifying in that year that she won. Carolyn Creekmore, the 2004 champ, remembered that she never really had a chance to give anyone a shot-by-shot replay of her victory. It was all in great fun, but Edean Ihlanfeldt, the 1982 champion, was unmatched. 

Ihlanfeldt flew in from Seattle to attend the 50th anniversary Players Dinner and flew home the following day. As the last speaker on the program, she regaled the crowd of more than 200 with tales of her life in golf. Many laughed so hard that they wiped away tears. “Wow,” said Pat Cornett, a competitor and the 2012 USA Curtis Cup captain. “I never knew that Edean was such a talent!” 

It wasn’t just a women’s night. Many of the men leaving the dining room were heard to say it was the finest banquet they’d ever attended.  

Name That Player 

Lew Erickson, championship chairman and a member of the USGA Women’s Committee, and I were talking about the lack of nicknames among these players. We do have “Fitzie”, Nancy Fitzgerald, and “Creekie,” Carolyn Creekmore, but that’s about it. 

In what I consider to be the glory days of women’s amateur golf, the 1930s through the early 1960s, nicknames were plentiful, pointed and colorful. “Duchess,” “Biddy,” “Dummy,” “Four-Eyes,” “Sparky,” and all of the Seven Dwarfs, from “Happy” to “Grumpy.” 

“That group ran in packs,” said Erickson, who remembered when players caravanned from tournament to tournament in some 15-20 events a year. “They played together, ate together and stayed together.” 

The players’ nicknames fit, too. Referring to the list above, in order they were Ihlanfeldt, Maureen Orcutt, Mary Ann Downey, Judy Bell, Betty Probasco, Judy Eller Street and Barbara McIntire. Of course, there were a few other nicknames that are unprintable on a family Web site, but we’ll keep those to ourselves.   

 Acceptance 

Alice Lupton, the wife of The Honors founder, the late Jack Lupton, has reached a level of acceptance in golf that we could all stand to imitate. When speaking with a USGA committee member about the difficulty of 330-yard, ninth hole, a devilish little par-4, Mrs. Lupton said, “I finally made peace with number 9. I play it as a par 5.” 

 

Good morning. A two-hour and 15-minute fog delay greeted the competitors who made it to the course this morning. The sun has been trying to peek through, attempting to burn off the fog. The first round just got underway. Afternoon tee times were pushed back until 2:30 p.m.