USGA Mainstays Woodard, Wooster Advance to Championship Match at The Homestead

Two of the most seasoned competitors in the field will square off for the 63rd U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur title on Thursday at The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va. With dozens of USGA appearances between them, tomorrow’s final guarantees that for one of them, a long-awaited moment will finally arrive when they lift the trophy.

The finalists are Sue Wooster, 63, of Australia, making her fourth appearance in this championship’s final and 12th appearance overall in the event, and Dawn Woodard, 51, of Greenville, S.C., who is competing in her 35th USGA event but her first championship match. 

Wooster, a runner up in this event in 2018, 2019 and 2022, will have an opportunity to claim a long-awaited title after a 19-hole semifinal victory over 2023 champion Sarah Gallagher. The unique closing stretch that goes par 3-5-5-3 created drama befitting the match. Wooster made par on No. 15 to tie the match, birdied 16 to go 1 up before Gallagher once again brought the match level with a par on 17. A clutch bunker shot on 18 that ended up two feet from the hole kept Gallagher alive, and after tying 18 with two pars, the competitors went to the par-5 16th for their first playoff hole. There, Wooster put her third to a few feet for a tap-in birdie; Gallagher missed her 10-footer to extend the match.

“It feels amazing,” said Wooster. “Whether I win tomorrow or I lose, I'm 63 years old and I've been in three finals and lost all of them. To be honest, I never thought I would make another one. I haven't been playing that good this year, and something just clicked a couple of weeks ago. I started to get in a groove, and I guess here I am. I can't believe it.”  

In a back-and-forth battle in the other semifinals match, Woodard dramatically came out on top over Shelly Stouffer. Having gone 2 down after the first four holes, Woodard won the difficult par-5 5th before quickly going 2 down again. Birdies on Nos. 8 and 10, however, kept her in the match.

Stouffer, the 2022 champion, played like she'd been there before through the 12th, where she regained a 2-up lead. Yet Woodard would not go away, and with a par to win No. 14 and a birdie on No. 16, she tied the match. It came down to the 18th, a par 3 of 147 yards, where Woodard closed the match out with a par to Stouffer’s bogey. 

“It was a long day of golf.” said Woodard. “I mean, it was both matches. Both players were tough. Stefani [Markovich] played awesome this morning. Then this afternoon, Shelly. I could tell we were both getting a little tired. We both just kind of gave a few away back and forth, and every time I could get close, I felt like I shot myself in the foot somewhere. But, you know, it's just a grind at this point. It's such a great golf course and you know you're going to have some opportunities there if you can just keep giving yourself chances.”

The penultimate day also featured a quarterfinals match between two former champions: Nadene Gole, of Australia, who won at Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle last year, and Stouffer, of Canada, who won at Anchorage Golf Course in Alaska in 2022. 

The duel more than lived up to the hype. Stouffer struck first with a win on the 2nd hole, but Gole answered by taking Nos. 5 and 6. Unfazed, Stouffer surged ahead with a blistering stretch of four consecutive wins from 7 through 10, only to see Gole halt the run with a victory at the par-3 11th. A birdie at the 14th pulled Gole within one, but Stouffer responded immediately, reclaiming a 2-up lead with a birdie at the par-3 15th. Gole made one last charge with a birdie at 17, but the pair matched birdies on the closing hole, securing a hard-fought 1-up triumph for Stouffer.

What’s Next?

Thursday’s 18-hole championship match between Dawn Woodard and Sue Wooster is scheduled for 9 a.m. ET. Admission is free and spectators are encouraged to attend.

Notable

• Both finalists are exempt into the 2026 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Mich., and next month’s U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach, Calif. 

• The most recent instance of a defending champion losing in the quarterfinals came in 2024, when Sarah Gallagher, the 2023 titleholder, was narrowly defeated 1 up by Brenda Corrie Kuehn.

• Semifinalists Shelly Stouffer and Sarah Gallagher, who were defeated in their respective matches, each receive bronze medals and are exempt into the next two U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championships at Portland (Ore.) Golf Club and Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md.

• Sue Wooster has made match play in all 12 of her U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur appearances. This is her first time since 2022 getting past the Round of 32. 

Quotable

“You know, I think coming back and seeing the girls. When you win the championship, there's no one around. Often, they've left and had to go home, and I think having the players dinner is a really special thing. I said if there's an equivalent to a Masters dinner, it's that moment, because we don't have anything like that anywhere else. It was really special to be able to speak in front of everyone and just catch up with people.” - Defending champion, Nadene Gole, on her favorite part of the week

“It's just such a great golf course, especially for match play. It really gives you some opportunities if you're in the right place, but it just reaches out and grabs you every now and then. It's like, oops. You didn't put that where you were supposed to.” - Dawn Woodard on how the course played today

“Playing here was good. The course is pretty challenging, and it was nice to get all the way to the semifinals I guess. Would've been nice to get to the finals, but better luck next year I guess.” - Shelly Stouffer on takeaways from the week

“I'm proud of my mental game. I've really been struggling with it. I was going to give up tournament golf because I had so much anxiety, nerves and tension, and I just surrendered to it a couple weeks ago. You get nerves, you get tension, you're a normal human being. Don't fight it. Just let it happen. I kind of had a release and since then I've been playing good.” - Sue Wooster on the best part of her game

“I did not play particularly well today, but I tried to stay super patient and hang in there. I gave myself a chance; I just didn't execute. That's all right.” - Sarah Gallagher on her tight match against Sue Wooster