WHO’S HERE – Among the 132 golfers in the 2012 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur there are:
USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champions (7)
Carolyn Creekmore (2004), Terri Frohnmayer (2011). Mina Hardin (2010), Diane Lang (2005, 2006, 2008), Anna Schultz (2007), Marlene Stewart Streit (1985, 1994, 2003), Carol Semple Thompson (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003).
Total Senior Women’s Amateurs Won By 2012 Championship Field (14)
Carolyn Creekmore (1), Terri Frohnmayer (1), Mina Hardin (1), Diane Lang (3), Anna Schultz (1), Marlene Stewart Streit (3), Carol Semple Thompson (4).
USGA champions (16)
Peggy (Harmon) Brady (1968 Girls’ Junior)
Mary Budke (1972 Women’s Amateur)
Carolyn Creekmore (2004 Senior Women’s Amateur)
Robin (Weiss) Donnelley (1989 Women’s Mid-Amateur)
Terri Frohnmayer (2011 Senior Women’s Amateur)
Mina Hardin (2010 Senior Women’s Amateur)
Mary Ann (LaPointe) Hayward (2005 Women’s Mid-Amateur)
Joan Higgins (2008 Women’s Mid-Amateur)
Diane Lang (2005, 2006, 2008 Senior Women’s Amateur)
Martha Lang (1988 Women’s Mid-Amateur)
Martha Leach (2009 Women’s Mid-Amateur)
Ellen Port (1995, 1996, 2000, 2011 Women’s Mid-Amateur)
Anna Schultz (2007 Senior Women’s Amateur)
Marlene Stewart Streit (1956 Women’s Amateur; 1985, 1994, 2003 Senior Women’s Amateur)
Carol Semple Thompson (1973 Women’s Amateur; 1990, 1997 Women’s Mid-Amateur; 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Senior Women’s Amateur)
Corey Weworski (2004 Women’s Mid-Amateur)
Here are some individual tidbits on the field:
Christie Austin, 55, of Cherry Hills Village, Colo., is in her sixth year as a member of the USGA Executive Committee and first as treasurer. She served as chairman of the registration committee for the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club.
Charlotte Barley, 55, of Springfield, Ore., is a retired high school mathematics teacher. She and her husband, Ken, founded PhotoBallMarker, LLC, an online company that creates personalized photo-golf-ball markers.
Nancy Beck, 55, of Dallas, comes from a long line of female golfers – both her grandmothers and her mother were club and city champions. Beck’s daughter, Spindrift, is a rising senior swimmer at the University of Texas and has competed at the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Debbie Blount, 54, of Atlanta, has a collection of more than 100 pairs of golf shoes. She plans to wear a special chocolate brown pair (the color of Hershey’s Kisses) at the 2012 Senior Women’s Amateur. A retired X-ray technician, Blount has been a ski instructor for 27 years at Vail Ski School in Colorado.
Peggy Brady, 61, of Stanley, N.C., won the 1968 U.S. Girls’ Junior (as Margaret Harmon) and advanced to round of 16 at last year’s USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. She is a member of the Vanderbilt University Hall of Fame. She and her daughter, Chris, are the only mother-daughter All-Americans in school history.
Taffy Brower, 67, of Boynton Beach, Fla., is participating in her 17th Senior Women’s Amateur and 46th USGA championship. Brower has reached the Senior Women’s Amateur quarterfinals three times and has advanced to match play every year she has played since the championship changed from stroke play in 1997.
Lea Anne Brown, 52, of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., is married to Hart Brown, Director of Golf at the Country Club of Charleston, the host of the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Brown, who reached the round of 16 at the 2010 Senior Women’s Amateur, was a 2011 inductee into the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame.
Mary Budke, 58, of Palm Springs, Calif., a retired emergency medicine physician, won the 1972 U.S. Women’s Amateur, played on the 1974 USA Curtis Cup Team and was captain of the 2002 Curtis Cup squad, reached the round of 16 at last year’s Senior Women’s Amateur.
Barbara Byrnes, 58, of Mesa, Ariz., was named 2011 Arizona Women’s Golf Association Volunteer of the Year. She is a past president and treasurer of the 25,000-member AWGA. Byrnes started playing golf at age 38.
Janie Carpenter, 54, of Garland, Texas, is a veterinarian who was appointed by the governor to serve on the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. She has been on Board of Directors for Metroplex Animal Coalition in Dallas since 2002.
Carolyn Creekmore, 60, of Dallas, won the 2004 USGA Women’s Senior Amateur and was the runner-up in 2009. She is a 2010 inductee into the Arkansas Golf Hall of Fame. Her grandfather Steve is a member of the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame as a football quarterback and golfer.
Denise Desilet, 57, of Wichita, Kan., is the owner of Desilet Diamonds and is a certified diamontologist. She served as president of the Kansas Women’s Golf Association from 2006 to 2008.
Natalie Easterly, 58, of Charlottesville, Va., is a floral artist whose clients include former President George H. W. Bush and Richmond-area hospitals and hotels. She is also a certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method, which helps people with pain, limited movement and injuries through habitual movement.
Kim Eaton, 53, of Tempe, Ariz., reached the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur quarterfinals in 2009 and 2011. A retired City of Evans police officer, she is a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame. She was the Arizona Women’s Golf Association Senior Player of the Year, 2009-11.
Alexandra Frazier, 54, of Conshohocken, Pa., was the 2010 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur runner-up. She serves as executive director of the Valentine Foundation, a Philadelphia-based group that provides funds to empower women and girls. Frazier also founded Women Golfers Give Back, which assists girls’ golf programs.
Terri Frohnmayer, 56, of Salem, Ore., is the defending USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion. She was named the 2011 Oregon Golf Association Golfer of the Year and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association Senior Women’s Player of the Year. Frohnmayer owns a commercial real estate company.
Mina Hardin, 52, of Fort Worth, Texas, won the 2010 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur and was the runner-up in 2011. A native of Mexico City, she is the first Mexican woman to win a USGA championship and the first to play on the LPGA Tour, in 1983.
Marilyn Hardy, 50, of Houston, is the head boys’ and girls’ golf coach at Northland Christian School. She is married to Jim Hardy, a golf instructor and the 2007 PGA of America National Teacher of the Year. Hardy played for UC-San Diego’s 1981 NCAA Division III national champion volleyball team.
Julie Harrison, 52, of Baton Rouge, La., is playing in her second consecutive USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. Her husband, Britt, is the former head men’s golf coach at Louisiana State University and a three-time All-America player at Oklahoma State University.
Mary Jane Hiestand, 53, of Naples, Fla., was a quarterfinalist in the 2011 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. She was inducted into the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame in 2004 and was the Golf Association of Michigan Woman Player of the Decade (1990-99). Hiestand is a two-time Florida Women’s State Golf Association Senior Player of the Year.
Joan Higgins, 56, of Glendora, Calif., won the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. She has served on the board of directors for the Glendora American Little League for more than a decade.
Alicia Kapheim, 50, of Pennington, N.J., is playing in her first USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. A dog photographer at Barking Lab Studios, Kapheim won the Garden State Women’s Golf Association Stroke Play Championship in 2009 and 2011.
Denise Kieffer, 52, of University Place, Wash., is a Tacoma police sergeant. She is playing in her second USGA Senior Women’s Amateur and was the 2006 Washington State Women’s Golf Association state amateur champion.
Leigh Klasse, 52, of St. Anthony, Minn., reached the round of 16 at last year’s USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. A two-time Minnesota Women’s Golf Association Senior Player of the Year, Klasse led her state to the 2001 USGA Women’s State Team Championship title.
Andrea Kraus, 51, of Baltimore, has worked pro bono for the last two years at a domestic violence legal clinic. She helped Maryland finish fourth at 2011 USGA Women’s State Team Championship. Kraus played against Se Ri Pak in the second round of 1995 U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Kathy Kurata, 51, of Pasadenia, Calif., is a professional Japanese classical dancer. She reached the round of 16 at last year’s USGA Senior Women’s Amateur.
Diane Lang, 57, of Weston, Fla., is a three-time USGA Senior Women’s Amateur champion. She played on the first golf team at Florida Atlantic University and made the cut at the 1985 U.S. Women’s Open. Lang has dual citizenship in Jamaica and the U.S. Her father, Eddie Aris, was a tennis player who competed in the 1953 Davis Cup as a member of the Caribbean/West Indies team.
Martha Lang, 59, of Birmingham, Ala., is serving her second one-year term as chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee. She won the 1988 Women’s Mid-Amateur. Lang was a member of the 1992 USA Curtis Cup Team and captained the 1996 Curtis Cup squad.
Martha Leach, 50, of Hebron, Ky., won the 2009 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur and was the runner-up in the 2011 Women’s Mid-Amateur. Leach introduced her sister, six-time USGA champion Hollis Stacy, for induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.
Maggie Leef, 52, of Elm Grove, Ill., was named 2011 Wisconsin Women’s State Golf Association Senior Player of the Year following her victory in the WSGA Senior Stroke Play Championship. She reached the round of 16 at last year’s USGA Senior Women’s Amateur.
Terri McAngus, 50, of Eagle River, Alaska, is the 2012 Alaska Senior and Alaska Stroke Play champion. A 2012 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links participant, McAngus was a three-sport athlete at Saint Mary’s University in Texas. An All-American in softball, she is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame.
Noreen Mohler, 58, of Bethlehem, Pa., is playing in her 29th USGA championship. Mohler was married in Derry Presbyterian Church, near Hershey Country Club’s fourth hole. She played on the 1978 USA Curtis Cup Team and captained the 2010 Curtis Cup Team.
Patty Moore, 62, of Charlotte, N.C., was a 2010 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur semifinalist. She has been voted Carolinas Golf Association Senior Women’s Player of the Year seven times and has won 15 CGA championships. Moore is a member of the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame.
Courtney Myhrum, 50, of Pittsburgh, is a member of the USGA Women’s Committee. She owns Worth by Courtney Myhrum, a line of custom-designed women’s clothing. A collegiate field hockey and lacrosse player at Denison University in Ohio, Myhrum once played 18 holes with Arnold Palmer.
Brenda Pictor, 57, of Marietta, Ga., reached the round of 16 in the 2011 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. She has twice received the Tommy Barnes Award as the Georgia State Golf Association’s overall player of the year. She fired a 59 in a 2009 couples tournament in Carrollton, Ga.
Ellen Port, 50, of St. Louis, is the only four-time winner of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. A teacher and golf coach at John Burroughs School, Port was recently inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. A two-time Curtis Cup team member, she has won seven Missouri Women’s Golf Association state amateur titles. In November 2012, Port will enter, along with Joe Torre and Bob Costas, the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.
Martha Redfearn, 50, of Newport Beach, Calif., is playing in her first USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. Representing California, she was first runner-up at the 1990 Mrs. America Pageant. Redfearn, who was 1980 Miss Rodeo California, is national sales director of Cookie Lee Fashion Jewelry.
Carol Sarkissian, 53, of Chino Hills, Calif., makes her third USGA Senior Women’s Amateur appearance, but first with her twin sister, Cathy, in the same field. Carol is a special education teacher, athletic director and girls’ golf coach at Anaheim Magnolia High School.
Cathy Sarkissian, 53, of Chino Hills, Calif., is playing in her second consecutive USGA Senior Women’s Amateur, but first with her twin sister, Carol, in the same field. Cathy, who reached match play at last year’s Senior Women’s Amateur, is a title officer for Old Republic Title Company.
Anna Schultz, 57, of Dallas, won the 2007 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur and was a semifinalist last year. Her three sons played collegiate golf:, Mark and David at Texas A&M, and Kevin for Texas. Her parents survived World War II concentration camps.
Lisa Schlesinger, 54, of Laytonsville, Md., was the stroke-play medalist and reached the semifinals at the 2011 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. Schlesinger, who played basketball at the University of Maryland and in the Women’s Basketball League (WBL) with two teams, is a member of the Greater Washington, D.C. Fastpitch Softball Hall of Fame.
Connie Shorb, 68, of York, Pa., is the current treasurer and past president of the Pennsylvania State Women’s Golf Association. This is her 39th USGA championship. She played in six U.S. Women’s Opens. Shorb was the York Daily Record Female Athlete of the Decade (1970-79).
Nancy Smith, 65, North Port, Fla., was a 2011 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur quarterfinalist. She recently appeared in an upcoming move, Code Name: Geronimo, with her son Anson Mount IV. Smith played the mother of a Navy SEAL who is deployed to Pakistan.
Angela Stewart, 58, of Greenville, N.C., is playing in her seventh USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. She captured the 2011 North Carolina Women’s Senior Championship to become the first African American to win a Carolinas Golf Association event. Stewart took up golf at age 38 after suffering a torn ACL that ended her recreation softball career.
Marlene Stewart Streit, 78, of Canada, is tied for fifth with three USGA Senior Women’s Amateur championships (1985, 1994, 2003). She was the first Canadian to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1956, defeating eight-time USGA champion JoAnne Gunderson Carner, 2 and 1. Streit was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004.
Carol Semple Thompson, 63, of Sewickley, Pa., is tied for second with four USGA Senior Women’s Amateur championships (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002). Thompson, who won the 1973 U.S. Women’s Amateur, owns seven USGA women’s titles, second to JoAnne Gunderson Carner, who captured eight USGA championships. Thompson was enshrined into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2008.
Sydney Wells, 50, of Menominee, Mich., was inducted this year into the Wisconsin State Golf Association Hall of Fame. She lives in Michigan but plays her competitive golf in Wisconsin due to ease of travel. A four-time WWSGA player of the year, Wells was a two-time All-American at Michigan State University. She is a founding board member of Fore Their Future, a non-profit group that promotes junior golf.
Sally Wessels, 73, of Mt. Morris, Ill., is playing in her 12th USGA Senior Women’s Amateur. A retired teacher, Wessels has been inducted into the Rockford (Ill.) Golf Hall of Fame and has won eight Illinois Women’s Golf Association state senior amateur championships.
Brian DePasquale is a manager of championship communications for the USGA. Email him at bdepasquale@usga.org.