Ask any of the 132 players who teed it up on Saturday in the first round of the 62nd U.S. Senior Women's Amateur Championship and they’ll tell you the opening 18 holes were a grind.
USGA championships take pride in being proper tests of golf that aim to get every club in the bag dirty, and Broadmoor Golf Club understood the assignment. The parkland golf course on the banks of Lake Washington in Seattle got the better of the field as no player broke par in round one. At the end of the day, Shelly Stouffer was atop the leaderboard at 1-over 71. Dawn Woodard and Terrill Samuel are T-2 at 2 over.
“I was seeing the ball well today,” said Stouffer after the round. “I know it’s quite tough out here so I was trying to stay in the present, take advantage of every shot and do the best I can.”
The Canadian, who won the 2022 U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, feels right at home in Seattle as she’s from Vancouver Island, just north of the border.
“Every tournament that you play in is a great experience. You have a bit more confidence if you’ve won that event before,” Stouffer explained. “But really, I’m from the area, I’m from Vancouver Island so it’s the same type of grass and everything that I’m used to. I knew I’d like it here.”
“I’m used to playing in these types of conditions in the Pacific Northwest and I love when it’s nice and lush,” she added. “I’m just very confident around here.”
The championship, which debuted in 1962, is open to any female golfer 50 years of age as of the first round of play and whose Handicap Index® does not exceed 14.4. After two rounds of stroke play, the field is cut to the top 64 for as many as six rounds of match play. Knowing how to navigate the marathon week can be like a 15th club in the bag for players, and the benefits of experience were evident on Saturday.
“I think the first two days are just about figuring out the course,” said Brenda Corrie Kuehn, last year’s runner-up, who sits T-10 after a first-round 76. “You don’t need to be medalist and, ideally, you aren’t just sneaking in either. Really just about feeling out the greens so you’re prepared for match play.”
Defending champion Sarah Gallagher began her title defense with a 4-over 74 and is T-4 after day one alongside Nadene Gole, Suzi Spotleson and Sue Wooster.
Spotleson is a banking compliance leader and former College World Series softball player who is making her 22nd appearance in a USGA championship this week and seventh in the Senior Women’s Amateur. The former Northwestern University softball player didn’t pick up a golf club until after college and has found success in the amateur game, including four Ohio State Senior and three Ohio State Mid-Amateur championships – most recently in 2021 when she claimed both titles in the same year.
Gole, from Melbourne, Australia, is competing in her second USGA championship after she lost to Gallagher in the quarterfinals last year. She has her golf writer husband, Sam, on the bag this week. Wooster, a fellow Aussie, was runner-up in the 2022 Senior Women’s Amateur, where she lost to Stouffer in the final, 4 and 3, for her third runner-up finish in the championship.
Another player in the field, Shannon Hare Rouillard, feels she has a unique advantage compared to her competitors. Rouillard works for the USGA as senior director, Championships, and leads the course setup for the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally.
“I look at a golf course differently, and in fact, I was predicting where today’s hole locations would be during my practice round yesterday,” said Rouillard, who has competed in seven USGA championships. “It’s an advantage, but I still need to hit the shots and execute.”
After a 10-over 80 in the opening round, just two shots inside the projected top-64 cut, Rouillard will need to execute on Sunday if she hopes to make match play. Other notable names near the cutline after day one include Shelly Haywood (T-48, 11 over), who is playing in her sixth U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur and has reached the Rounds of 32 the past three years, and seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port (T-48, 11 over), who celebrated her 63rd birthday on Saturday by making her 76th appearance in a USGA championship and 12th in the Senior Women’s Amateur.
