62nd U.S. Senior Women's Amateur Championship – Inside The Field

The event tees off on September 21and runs through September 26, Broadmoor Golf Club, Seattle, Washington.
 

WHO’S HERE: A breakdown of the 132 golfers competing in the 62nd U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship:

Oldest Competitors: Therese Quinn (73), Jacksonville, Fla.; Annette Gaiotti (71), Park City, Utah; Kathy West (71), Tulsa, Okla.

Youngest Competitors: Julie Streng (50), Greensboro, N.C.; Dawn Woodard (50), Greenville, S.C.

Average Age of Field: 58.3

Field breakdown by age:

Age 50-54: 34

Age 55-59: 38

Age 60-64: 41

Age 65-69: 16

Age 70-73: 3

International – There are 11 countries represented in the championship:

United States of America (104), Canada (9), Australia (5), Japan (3), Mexico (3), Germany (2), Switzerland (2) Belgium (1), Colombia (1), England (1), Finland (1)

U.S. States Represented – There are 34 states represented in the championship:

California (15), Florida (9), Texas (9), Arizona (6), Massachusetts (5), North Carolina (5), Georgia (4), Alabama (3), Colorado (3), Connecticut (3), Michigan (3), Ohio (3), Oregon (3), South Carolina (3), Virginia (3), Hawaii (2), Illinois (2), Missouri (2), Nevada (2), New York (2), Pennsylvania (2),  Washington (2), Wisconsin (2), Alaska (1), Arkansas (1), Iowa (1), Kansas (1), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (1), Minnesota (1), New Jersey (1), Oklahoma (1), Tennessee (1), Utah (1) 

Players from Washington (2): Kim Shek (Bellevue), Tomoko Ratzlaff (Sammamish)

U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Champions (7): Sarah Gallagher (2023), Karen Garcia (2015), Judith Kyrinis (2017), Ellen Port (2012, 2013, 2016), Anna Schultz (2007), Shelly Stouffer (2022), Lara Tennant (2018, 2019, 2021)


U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Runners-up (7): Susan Cohn (2013), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (2023), Pamela Kuong (2015), Judith Kyrinis (2014), Ellen Port (2021), Terrill Samuel (2017), Sue Wooster (2018, 2019, 2022)


U.S. Women’s Amateur Runner-up (1): Sarah LeBrun Ingram (1993)


U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Champions (6): Kathy Hartwiger (2002), Joan Higgins (2008), Sarah LeBrun Ingram (1991, 1993, 1994), Martha Leach (2009), Ellen Port (1995, 1996, 2000, 2011), Corey Weworski (2004)
 

U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Runners-Up (5): Brenda Corrie Kuehn (1995), Martha Leach (2011), Ellen Port (2002), Kerry Postillion (1996, 2005, 2007), Anna Schultz (2000)


USA Curtis Cup Team Members (3): Sarah LeBrun Ingram (1992, 1994, 1996), Brenda Corrie Kuehn (1996, 1998), Ellen Port (1994 & 1996)


USA Curtis Cup Captains (2): Sarah LeBrun Ingram (2021, 2022), Ellen Port (2014)


Local Player Notes

Kim Shek, 52, of Bellevue, Wash., has won back-to-back Washington Senior Women’s Amateurs. Shek missed the cut (85, 77) in the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh (Pa.) She finished runner-up at the 2023 Senior PGA National Club Championship. Shek plays out of Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish and was named the 2022 and 2023 WA Golf Senior Women’s Player of the Year.


Tomoko Ratzlaff, 52, of Sammamish, Wash., finished runner-up at the 2023 Pacific Northwest Golf Association Senior Women’s Amateur Championship. Ratzlaff won the 2019 Seattle Women’s Golf Association City Championship, outlasting Shek in the final match. She is a multiple club champion at Sahalee Country Club, which hosted the 2010 U.S. Senior Open.


Player Notes

Sarah Gallagher, 51, of Canton, Ga., claimed the 2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, defeating Brenda Corrie Kuehn, 1 up, at Troon Country Club in Arizona last October. Gallagher won the inaugural Georgia Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2023 at the Country Club of Columbus. She also made match play at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Forest Highlands in Flagstaff, Ariz., and advanced to the Round of 32 in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Berkeley Hall Club in Bluffton, S.C. The 2018 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur was her first USGA championship in 25 years.


Shelly Haywood, 57, of Huntington Beach, Calif., is playing in her ninth USGA championship and sixth U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur after reaching three consecutive Rounds of 32 the past three years. Haywood was the second female graduate of the Professional Golf Management Program (PGM) at New Mexico State University, where she competed on the women's golf team. From 2004-2019, Haywood coached at the University of Arizona, including three seasons as head coach (2008-10), earning National Coach of the Year honors during her tenure with the Wildcats. She now owns The Modern Vault, which specializes in authentic mid-century modern furniture and accessories and competes regularly in senior women’s events in Southern California.


Sarah LeBrun Ingram, 58, of Nashville, Tenn., is a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and the 1993 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up. Ingram, who overcame a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis that took her off the golf course for more than 20 years, has since captained the USA Curtis Cup Team to consecutive victories in 2021 (Wales) and 2022 (Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.) The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame inductee also represented the USA in three Curtis Cups in the 1990s. She returned to competition in 2019 and won the 2020 Tennessee Women’s Senior Amateur and the inaugural LNGA Senior Amateur title in 2021 at Anthem (Ariz.) Golf & Country Club. Last year, she qualified for her first U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in more than 20 years, advancing to the Round of 32 at Stonewall in Elverson, Pa. Most recently, she advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2023 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.


Brenda Corrie Kuehn, 59, of Asheville, N.C., has competed in more than 45 USGA championships, including 10 U.S. Women’s Opens. Kuehn, a two-time USA Curtis Cup competitor, finished runner-up in last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur. She was the runner-up in the 1995 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur to another Curtis Cup competitor, Ellen Port. She secured the winning point for the USA in the 1998 Curtis Cup Match at The Minikahda Club in Minnesota, and watched her daughter, Rachel, achieve the same distinction both in Wales (2021) and Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. (2022). Rachel played in her third Curtis Cup late last month at Sunningdale Golf Club in England. The golf bond between Brenda and Rachel dates to the 2001 U.S. Women’s Open, when Brenda competed in the championship while eight months pregnant with her soon-to be-daughter. They both played together in this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club, in Tulsa, Okla. Brenda qualified for and competed in the 2023 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship, where she made the cut and advanced to match play.


Judith Kyrinis, 60, of Canada, won the 2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, 4 and 3, over fellow Canadian Terrill Samuel in the final match, becoming the seventh USGA champion from Canada and the third to win the Senior Women’s Amateur. Kyrinis, a retired nurse, has twice earned low-amateur honors in the U.S. Senior Women’s Open – once in 2019 and again in 2023 at Waverley Country Club, where she carded the lowest 72-hole score by an amateur in the history of the championship and finished tied for sixth at the  same venue where she claimed her Senior Women’s Amateur title. Kyrinis is a three-time Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur champion. In 2023, she became the oldest quarterfinalist in U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur history. She also advanced to the Round of 16 in last year’s U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.


Ellen Port, 62, of St. Louis, Mo., is making her 76th appearance in a USGA championship and 12th in the Senior Women’s Amateur. Port nearly won her eighth USGA championship three years ago when she fell short in the final match of the Senior Women’s Amateur at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala., to good friend Lara Tennant, 2 and 1. Port has won four U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur titles with her most recent coming in 2011 and owns a 32-8 match play record in the Senior Women’s Amateur. She is tied with Anne Quast Sander and Carol Semple Thompson for second among female USGA champions with seven titles, trailing only JoAnne Carner (eight). Port made history in 2021, becoming the first woman to win the Met Senior Amateur, the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association's premier senior men's championship, prevailing in a four-hole playoff. She also shared low-amateur honors in tying for 20th in the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn C.C., in Fairfield, Conn. Port’s success on the golf course extends beyond what she achieved with a club in hand – Port captained the winning USA Team in the 2014 Curtis Cup Match at St. Louis Country Club and spent three years as head coach of the Washington University women’s golf team in St. Louis. During her time with the Bears, Port led the team to a top five individual finish at the 2017 NCAA Division II Championship, a 10th place finish in the 2018 NCAAs and helping to produce multiple All-Americans along the way.


Shannon Rouillard, 52, of Chatham, N.J., works for the USGA as Senior Director, Championships, and leads course setup for the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally. Prior to joining the USGA, Rouillard was Oregon’s head women’s golf coach from 2000-08, where she led the Ducks to four NCAA Division I Regional appearances and a national top 25 ranking. As a player at Oregon, Rouillard earned All-Pac-10 Conference recognition and was a team captain. She played on the Professional Players West Golf Tour in the mid-1990s. Rouillard has participated in several USGA championships, including the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open, two U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateurs, three U.S. Women’s Amateurs and the 1995 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links. She met her husband, Tim, while working in the golf shop at The Olympic Club, in San Francisco.


Suzi Spotleson, 57, of Canton, Ohio, is a banking compliance leader and former College World Series softball player making her 22nd appearance in a USGA championship and seventh in the Senior Women’s Amateur. Spotleson didn’t pick up a golf club until after completing her four years on the Northwestern University softball team but has since had several top finishes in Ohio amateur events, including winning four Ohio State Senior and three Ohio State Mid-Amateur championships – most recently in 2021 when she claimed both titles in the same year.


Lara Tennant, 57, of Portland, Ore., became the first player since Carol Semple Thompson (four from 1999-2002) to win three consecutive U.S. Senior Women's Amateur titles when she defeated seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port,  2 and 1, in the 2021 championship match at The Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala. Tennant, who played at the University of Arizona, is a four-time Oregon Senior Women’s Amateur champion and winner of the 2020 California Senior Women’s Amateur and 2019 R&A Women’s Senior Amateur Championship. She made the first hole-in-one in U.S. Senior Women’s Open history in the inaugural championship at Chicago Golf Club in 2018 on the 163-yard seventh hole. Tennant won 20 consecutive matches in the U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur over a four-year stretch before falling in the Round of 16 in 2023. Last year, Tennant earned medalist honors at Troon Country Club.


Sue Wooster, 62, of Australia, was runner-up in the 2022 Senior Women’s Amateur at Anchorage (Alaska) Golf Course, ultimately falling to Canadian Shelly Stouffer, 4 and 3. It was the third runner-up finish in this championship for Wooster. However, Wooster is no stranger to success. The Australian was the 2018 Australian Golf Digest Player of the Year, has won the Canadian, European, Australian and New Zealand Senior Women’s Amateur titles as well as the Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur in a two-year stretch from 2018 through the end of 2019. In 2022 alone, Wooster won the Western Australia Senior Women’s Amateur, the Scottish Senior Women’s Open and the European Senior Women’s title.