2006 USGA Championship Season In Review

Sorenstam's Women's Open Victory, U.S. Open Finish Serve As Highlights

December 7, 2006

Far Hills, N.J. - Annika Sorenstam of Sweden ended a 10-year victory drought at the U.S. Women's Open by defeating two-time USGA champion Pat Hurst in an 18-hole playoff at Newport (R.I.) Country Club for her third title at this championship, while Australian Geoff Ogilvy survived a bizarre and wild finish at Winged Foot Golf Club's 72nd hole to secure a one-stroke victory at the U.S. Open. Those two events highlighted the 13 national championships conducted by the USGA in 2006.

Sorenstam, the world's top-ranked female player, finished the fog-delayed Women's Open tied with Hurst at even-par 284. The first round of the Women's Open was canceled due to heavy fog and forced the USGA to conduct the final 36 holes on Sunday.

Annika Sorenstam won her third U.S. Women's Open this year by outlasting Pat Hurst in a playoff. (USGA Photo Archives)

In Monday's 18-hole playoff, Sorenstam jumped out quickly with birdies on two of the first three holes and finished with a 1-under-par 70, four strokes better than Hurst . The victory gave Sorenstam 10 major titles and prevented Hurst from joining JoAnne Gunderson Carner as the only players to win the U.S. Girls' Junior, U.S. Women's Amateur and U.S. Women's Open titles.

"It's been a long wait, a long road, but along the way I've learned a lot, and this week obviously means a lot to me, to come back the way that I did," said Sorenstam, who won back-to-back Women's Open titles in 1995 and '96.

A few weeks earlier at Winged Foot in Mamaroneck, N.Y., Phil Mickelson was looking for a hat trick of his own, and through 71 holes of the 2006 U.S. Open, it appeared the left-hander might win his third consecutive major - he entered the Open with wins at the 2005 PGA Championship and 2006 Masters Tournament. Needing only a par to beat Ogilvy by a stroke or a bogey to force a playoff, Mickelson instead made a double-bogey 6 after slicing his tee shot off a hospitality tent and hitting a tree with his second shot.

Mickelson wasn't the only victim of Winged Foot's treacherous finishing hole. Scotland 's Colin Montgomerie , a two-time Open runner-up, also made a double bogey, although his came after hitting a perfect tee shot into the fairway. Jim Furyk , the 2003 champion, fell away after he missed a short par putt on 18.

Ogilvy, meanwhile, slipped in without fanfare. While others stumbled into the clubhouse, the 29-year-old Aussie finished with two brilliant pars. Playing one group in front of Mickelson and Englishman Kenneth Ferrie, Ogilvy chipped in at the par-4 17th and then got up and down from the front of the 18th green for another par when he holed a challenging downhill 5-footer to put him at 5-over-par 285, the highest total by a U.S. Open champion in 14 years.

"I think I was the beneficiary of a little bit of charity," said Ogilvy, who joined 1981 champion David Graham as the only Australians to win the U.S. Open. "I think I got a bit lucky."

No such collapses were in order for Allen Doyle and Diane Lang , who both successfully defended USGA titles.

Doyle , who rallied from nine strokes back at the 2005 U.S. Senior Open with a final-round 63 at NCR Country Club, rallied again at this year's Senior Open. This time, Doyle fired a 2-under 68 to defeat Tom Watson by two strokes at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.

Watson came into the championship as the regional crowd favorite, having grown up in Kansas City, and through 54 holes the 1982 U.S. Open champion had not disappointed. But his putter went cold in the final round and the crafty and ultra-competitive Doyle seized the opportunity to join Gary Player and Miller Barber as the only back-to-back winners in Senior Open history. The 58-year-old from LaGrange, Ga., also surpassed inaugural winner Roberto De Vicenzo as the oldest winner of this championship.

At the USGA Senior Women's Amateur at Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course) in St. Simons Island, Ga., Lang , 51, needed some late heroics in the final match to overcome Anna Schultz , 1 up. The Jamaican-born Lang , who now resides in Weston, Fla., was 3 holes down after eight holes to the 2000 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur runner-up, but squared the match after 11 holes and then took the lead for good by rolling in an 18-foot birdie putt at the 15th. Lang joined Carol Semple Thompson (1999-2002) as the only players to successfully defend this championship at match play (the format was changed in 1997).

History was also made at the U.S. Women's Amateur when 14-year-old Kimberly Kim of Hilo, Hawaii, became the championship's youngest winner, defeating 26-year-old German Katharina Schallenberg in a thrilling 36-hole final at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club's Witch Hollow Course in North Plains, Ore. Kim, the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links runner-up and the youngest of the four amateurs to make the cut at the Women's Open, fell 5 down after 15 holes, but managed to win the final three holes of the morning 18 to take some much-needed momentum into the lunch break.

Kim kept pecking away in the afternoon 18 and squared the match with a birdie at the 26th hole. Holding a precarious 1-up advantage through 34 holes, Kim executed a clutch fairway-bunker shot to within 12 feet at the par-4 17th to set up a birdie. Schallenberg also birdied to halve the hole. Then at the par-5 18th, the 36th of the match, Schallenberg rolled in a long birdie putt from the fringe to force Kim to make her short 5-footer. When the incredulous teen did, the title was hers, surpassing 1971 winner Laura Baugh (16 years, 2 months, 21 days) as the youngest champion.

Scotland had not witnessed a U.S. Amateur champion since H.J. Whigham captured the second of his two titles in 1897. That changed at Hazeltine Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., when 2005 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cupper Richard Ramsay, 23, of Aberdeen defeated John Kelly of St. Louis, Mo., 4 and 2, in the 36-hole final. Ramsay overcame a pair of loss-of-hole penalties - one in his 22-hole quarterfinal victory over Rickie Fowler and another in his semifinal win over Webb Simpson - to secure the Havemeyer Trophy. In the championship match, Ramsay put on a brilliant display of shot-making, hitting 30 of 34 greens in regulation, including 15 of 16 in the afternoon 18.

Two championship finals came down to a battle of intra-state rivals. The U.S. Junior Amateur at Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.) Golf Club saw 17-year-old Philip Francis of Scottsdale, Ariz., hold off Canadian-born 15-year-old Richard Lee of Chandler, 4 and 2. Francis 's victory capped off a brilliant summer in which he also won two prestigious American Junior Golf Association events.

At the U.S. Mid-Amateur at the Canyon Course at Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Ariz., Georgians Dave Womack (McDonough) and Ryan Hybl (Winterville) met in the 36-hole final, with the former posting a 1-up victory. The 27-year-old Womack, a 2001 graduate of Georgia State, secured the title by holing a 5-foot par putt at the 36th hole after the 25-year-old Hybl missed an 8-foot birdie putt to extend the match.

Jenny Shin , 13, of Torrance, Calif., outlasted Vicky Hurst , 16, of Melbourne, Fla., in 37 holes at Carmel Country Club in Charlotte, N.C. In the first 36-hole final in the championship's history, Shin watched Hurst miss a short par putt at the 36th hole that forced the match to extra holes. At the 37th hole, Hurst found the water with her approach shot and later conceded the match before Shin ever had to make a putting stroke. Shin became the event's second-youngest champion behind only Aree Song Wongluekiet. They are the only two 13-year-old Girls' Junior champions.

Youth was on display at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship at Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, Colo., where 19-year-old Tiffany Joh of San Diego turned back Kimberly Kim , 14, of Hilo, Hawaii, 6 and 5, in the 36-hole final. Joh was the equivalent of 11 under par over the 31 holes (with match-play concessions), including an eagle-2 at the par-4 29th hole. As it turned out, this was just the start of Kim 's brilliant summer.

Casey Watabu , 22, of Kapaa, Hawaii, handed 2005 USA Walker Cupper Anthony Kim , 21, of Traverse City, Mich., a 4-and-3 defeat in the 36-hole championship match at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship at the Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Wash.

Mike Bell , 59, of Indianapolis, Ind., took advantage of a rare second chance to win the USGA Senior Amateur title at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind. Bell only got into the field as an alternate when Jerry Jackson of Kokomo, Ind., withdrew due to family health concerns. But when he defeated Tom McGraw of Montgomery, Texas, 1 up, in the final, Bell duplicated the feat of Greg Reynolds (2002) as players to win this title as alternates. He also was the first player to win the Senior Amateur in his home state since Bill Shean Jr. in 1998.

Meghan Bolger , 28, of Oxford, Miss., also won a USGA title in her home state, albeit her adopted one. A New Jersey native who is now the University of Mississippi women's golf coach, Bolger defeated Thuashini Selvaratnam of Sri Lanka (lives in Phoenix), 5 and 4, to win the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur title at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

Although not a national championship, the biennial Curtis Cup Match between women's teams from the United States of America and Great Britain and Ireland held in late July at picturesque Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Pacific Dunes course) in Bandon, Ore. The USA , captained by seven-time USGA champion and 12-time Curtis Cup participant Carol Semple Thompson , posted its fifth consecutive victory, 11½-6½. Jennie Lee of Huntington Beach, Calif., recorded the decisive point in Sunday singles for the USA , which has not lost since the 1996 Match.

For complete results, visit www.usga.org/championships/index.html.

2006 USGA Champions

U.S. Open

Geoff Ogilvy - 285 (+5), by one stroke over Phil Mickelson , Jim Furyk and Colin Montgomerie

Winged Foot Golf Club ( West Course), Mamaroneck, N.Y. - June 15-18

U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links

Tiffany Joh def. Kimberly Kim , 6 and 5

Walking Stick Golf Course, Pueblo, Colo. - June 20-25

U.S. Women's Open

Annika Sorenstam - 284 (even par) in 18-hole playoff (70-74) over Pat Hurst

Newport Country Club, Newport, R.I. - June 29-July 2

U.S. Senior Open

Allen Doyle - 272 (-8), by two strokes over Tom Watson

Prairie Dunes Country Club, Hutchinson, Kan. - July 6-9

U.S. Amateur Public Links

Casey Watabu def. Anthony Kim , 4 and 3

Olympic Course at Gold Mountain Golf Club, Bremerton, Wash. - July 10-15

U.S. Girls' Junior

Jenny Shin def. Vicky Hurst , 37 holes

Carmel Country Club, Charlotte, N.C. - July 17-22

U.S. Junior Amateur

Philip Francis def. Richard Lee , 3 and 2

Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.) Country Club - July 17-22

Curtis Cup Match

USA def. Great Britain & Ireland , 11½-6½

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Pacific Dunes), Bandon, Ore. - July 29-30

U.S. Women's Amateur

Kimberly Kim def. Katharina Schallenberg , 1 up

Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club (Witch Hollow Course), North Plains, Ore. - Aug. 7-13

U.S. Amateur

Richard Ramsay def. John Kelly , 4 and 2

Hazeltine National Golf Club, Chaska, Minn. - Aug. 21-27

U.S. Mid-Amateur

Dave Womack def. Ryan Hybl , 1 up

Forest Highlands Golf Club (Canyon Course), Flagstaff, Ariz. - Sept. 9-14

USGA Senior Amateur

Mike Bell def. Tom McGraw , 1 up

Victoria National Golf Club, Newburgh, Ind. - Sept. 16-21

USGA Senior Women's Amateur

Diane Lang def. Anna Schultz , 1 up

Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside Course), St. Simons Island , Ga. - Oct. 7-12

U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur

Meghan Bolger def. Thuashini Selvaratnam , 5 and 4

Old Waverly Golf Club, West Point, Miss. - Oct. 21-26