Todd White added The R&A Senior Amateur title to the U.S. Senior Amateur crown he claimed last August. White, 56, of Spartanburg, S.C. edged defending champion Brent Paterson, of New Zealand by a shot at Staunton Golf Club in England.
In last year’s U.S. Senior Amateur at Martis Camp in Truckee, Calif., White edged Paterson in a 21-hole thriller in the Round of 32. He would go on to defeat 1995 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup competitor Jody Fanagan, of the Republic of Ireland, in the 18-hole championship match. Fanagan finished in a tie for 26th in the British Senior Amateur.
White was making his debut in the championship.
Nadine Gole, of Australia, won the British Senior Women’s Amateur title.
Saunton Golf Club provided the ultimate test for the world’s best senior men and women. White won the men’s trophy with a 7-over-par 291, carding a 2-under 69 in the final round on Friday. He opened the championship with a 68 and followed with rounds of 78 and 76. Paterson closed with a 71. Northern Ireland’s David Mulholland, runner up in 2021, was third with a 72-hole total of 9-over 293. Englishman John Kemp, second last year, and 2021 champion Gene Elliott, who claimed the 2021 U.S. Senior Amateur at the Country Club of Detroit, shared fourth at 294.
White was coming off a missed cut in the U.S. Senior Open at Newport (R.I.) Country Club. He will be playing in the British Senior Open in two weeks at Carnoustie.
White joined countrymen Dale Morey (1985), William Shean Jr. (1999), Kemp Richardson (2001, 2004) Paul Simson (2008, 2010), Chip Lutz (2011, 2012, 2016), Patrick Tallent (2015) and Elliott (2021) in a select group of players to have won the U.S. Senior and Senior Amateur championships. It’s a fitting accomplishment considering White teaches history at Spartanburg High School.
“That’s some rather nice company to join,” said White, a member of the victorious 2013 USA Walker Cup Team.
White was the only player in the field to return two sub-70 scores, having opened with a 68. Indeed, his were two of only four sub-70 scores recorded all week on the challenging East and West courses at Staunton Golf Club.
His performance was all the more impressive considering he was making his links golf debut. This is White’s first trip to Europe along with fiancé Sherri Jacobs, who caddied for him this week.
“It was a team effort out there because her companionship, our conversations, allowed me not to get caught up in the moment. It helped me relax. I couldn’t have done it without her.
“I have had a little experience back home playing courses like Chambers Bay [in Washington] where you often have to run the ball into greens, but nothing like this week. Saunton is just a superb golf course.
“Winning is obviously a thrill but, as I was telling Sherri, whatever happened this week was always going to be a fabulous experience.”
When White returns to the United States, he'll tee it up in the 124th U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., and then defend his U.S. Senior Amateur crown at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., in late August. He'll also be in the field at the U.S. Mid-Amateur at Kinloch Golf Club in Manakin-Sabot, Va.
